Vigo327
Platinum Member
To add to that, a stump bucket on a tractor loader might be pretty underwhelming if you dont use leverage to your advantage. The length of the bucket gives you opportunities to use it as a fulcrum in a way you generally wouldnt use a standard bucket.
For example, if youre trying to pry something up with the tip, you can wedge the bucket under something and with the middle of the bucket as a fulcrum against the ground, you can push DOWN with the loader until your front wheels come up so that in addition to your bucket curl force you also have the weight of the front of your tractor pushing down on the back of your lever, and you wont hurt anything because stump bucket forces are pretty much always centered between the loader arms and all your cylinder rods are in tension in this scenario.
My approach to using a stump bucket (i have maybe 10 hrs on a loaner) is to dump the bucket to near vertical and push it into the ground until the front end comes up. Then try to curl up until the bucket is closer to 30 degrees down. If youre in a hydrostatic machine you may have to let the tractor roll back a bit during this curl. Then as you try to drive forward to push the bucket into the ground you have to balance lowering the loader as it drives in because you want enough weight on the front tires to get 4wd traction (if 4wd) but not so much that your front tires are keeping your bucket from going any deeper and you end up just trying to drive it forward as a plow instead of a spade.
For example, if youre trying to pry something up with the tip, you can wedge the bucket under something and with the middle of the bucket as a fulcrum against the ground, you can push DOWN with the loader until your front wheels come up so that in addition to your bucket curl force you also have the weight of the front of your tractor pushing down on the back of your lever, and you wont hurt anything because stump bucket forces are pretty much always centered between the loader arms and all your cylinder rods are in tension in this scenario.
My approach to using a stump bucket (i have maybe 10 hrs on a loaner) is to dump the bucket to near vertical and push it into the ground until the front end comes up. Then try to curl up until the bucket is closer to 30 degrees down. If youre in a hydrostatic machine you may have to let the tractor roll back a bit during this curl. Then as you try to drive forward to push the bucket into the ground you have to balance lowering the loader as it drives in because you want enough weight on the front tires to get 4wd traction (if 4wd) but not so much that your front tires are keeping your bucket from going any deeper and you end up just trying to drive it forward as a plow instead of a spade.