flINTLOCK said:
I'm establishing a number of food plots for deer in NE PA. Rocks a plenty. Vary from beachball to tennis ball size. Thought a rock bucket might be useful. Also, adding a grapple may work for log transport and brush pickup.
I have a TC40DA with SS and 17 LA loader, skid steer quick attach. Any experience with similar machine and bucket??
The Virnig bucket AKtinman has is ideal for your machine in size and weight. The one on my TC45D with 16LA is about 250 lb heavier than his. The only advantage I see with mine is that the tines are spaced a little closer and I can definitely pick up tennis-ball sized rocks without them dropping through. On the other hand, in wet soil, I get a lot of sod and have to shake the "basket" pretty good to get the dirt out.
If I had seen the Virnig before I bought my S-Houle bucket, I would have had a tough time making a decision, but probably would have come down on the side of the Virnig because of price and weight.
Also, any of these buckets can get bent tines by getting rocks or small limbs wedged in between the tines. I keep a big pipe handy to straighten out my tines when this happens. Most often it's when I'm pushing some brush out of the way to get to rocks. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen.
My rock bucket is 60" wide and was $1595. I think the Virnig is about a third less. Also my bucket by itself weighs about 650 lb, so that reduces the FEL lift by at least that much. With the 17LA that already sits out farther from the tractor than the 16LA, that extra weight could be a severe limitation on your total load carrying ability.
I'm attaching a picture of my bucket full of rocks. In all fairness, I didn't use the bucket to scoop up all these rocks. At least 1/3 of them I got off the tractor and pitched into the bucket. You won't be able to get a load like this by just scooping.