dfkrug said:
Good side-by-side comparison photos, Bob. I, too, am surprised by
how wimpy some of the standard buckets are.
There are a couple very long threads about buckets and loaders. What surprises me about some of the buckets is how small so many of them are on some pretty big tractors. I'm sure if you put a low capacity (small volumn) bucket on a big tractor it will "feel" more powerful than the same size tractor that has a bucket that hold 35% to 50% more, but you actually do less work with those tractors. Personally I buy a tractor to reduce my work, simple things like bucket shape, construction and capacity can have a dramatic affect on the total time it takes to complete a task.
For example if 2 tractors, each 35hp have similar capacity loaders, but one has a bucket that is 35% smaller (less capacity) than the other, then the tractor with the larger bucket may get the job done roughly 1/3 faster than the other tractor.
Similarly if 2 tractors come without bucket hooks, and one has a heavily reinforced top lip and the other has a simple folded top lip and you want hooks, the process is easy on the reinforced bucket. But by the time you pay a welding shop ($65/hour) to reinforce the light duty bucket with angle iron, you probably are better off spending more money up front to get the heavier bucket in the first place!
For long term tractor owners, especially those who store their equipment outside, I typically recommend loaders with rigid pipe instead of hydraulic hose. Hose wears out (cracks, gets soft, snags on branches, decays from UV exposure, etc), pipe does not. Hose is cheaper, may never be an issue, but I'm willing to pay for pipe because it lasts for the life of the loader.
Deere offers some great bucket choices. They have light material buckets, heavy duty buckets, etc. Kubota offers less choices, but matches their buckets to their loaders. A lighter duty tractor will have a lighter duty bucket, a heavier duty tractor will have a heavier duty loader/bucket. New Holland seems to just build buckets like the army builds tanks. Even on the smallest TCs, the buckets are high capacity and reinforced (but typically NH is not a budget choice).