coolslug said:
I asked my dealer about getting a toothbar and he suggested that I buy another bucket with teeth instead. He said the tooth bars break. Have you heard of these things breaking?
Are they hard to install?
I would not go the route your dealer recommended. A good tooth bar is very stout, and actually helps protect the leading edge of your bucket (even if it does not cover the cutting edge, it helps stiffen it). I've never had a problem with mine, and I've worked it pretty hard. Even if you did break a tooth, most can be replaced (some might take some welding to do so). Do not go with the teeth that just bolt on to your bucket. This is a light duty set-up. Without the bar, you don't have anything extra stiffening your bucket lip.
The toothbar is easy to install. There are two "ears" which stick up from the sides of it with holes or slots in them. You drill one hole in each side or your bucket to match, and bolt it on. Properly installed, the bolts are not load bearing... they just keep the toothbar from falling off when you tilt forward. Once you have the holes, it's a two minute job to install or remove the toothbar.
A couple of tips:
(1) Use a hole-saw, rather than a solid drill bit to drill the holes (I forget if mine used 3/4" or 1" bolts). I was able to cut both sides with my 18v cordless drill on one battery, and still have juice left in the battery... a holesaw make sit a pretty quick and painless operation.
(2) It's better to have the tooth bar a bit narrower than the inside width of your bucket (even 1/2" or more is not too much). Mine fits snugly, and this makes for a bit more grunting and "persuading" to get it on and off. A loose fit pops right in and out, once the bolts are removed. You can always take up some of the gap with washers, if needed.
(3) The teeth, or in some designs even the whole bar, wrap around the cutting edge of your bucket. You want to drill your holes in such a manner that this wrapped edge or wrapped tooth is what bears the load when digging, not the bolts themselves.
(4) Some toothbars have elongated slots on the "ears" for the bolts to go through. If you are lucky, you can set the bolt holes towards the front of these slots (but stil pay attention to #3 above). If the slots are long enough, you can loosen the bolts, pull the toothbar forward, and then flip it up and into the bucket without removing the bolts. The bucket isn't worth much for scooping this way, but it is a quick way to switch back and for from toothbar digging to having a smooth edge on your bucket for back dragging.
John Mc
