Loader dirt and gravel moving

rookiefred · Dec 18, 2010

My tractor cmae with a tooth bar. Should I remove it to move dirt and gravel? My barn/tractor shed/workshop is done. They set the power pole Monday, it passed elect insp Tuesday and I met with the power folks on Wednesday. Hopefully, the underground will be run this coming week or next. I parked the tractor in the barn for the first time Friday. Had to wait for the concrete to cure and get some gravel up to the edge of the concrete.
I don't have a box blade yet, maybe Santa will help with that. Thanks for any advice. It could not get much better.

whistlepig · Dec 18, 2010

If I had a tooth bar I would put it on for moving dirt and gravel.

tmxj · Dec 18, 2010

If you are digging into the undisturbed ground, you need teeth, if you are loading from or spreading a pile of loose material, you shouldn't need the teeth, probably don't want them. If you use the rippers on a box blade, a plow or a tiller to tear up the ground first, you could dig some without a toothed bucket. If you need to remove a few inches of topsoil over a fair sized area it may be easier to keep the depth uniform by plowing or tilling then removing the soil layer without using the teeth. Unless loading with a track loader, or large wheel loader, I'd tear the ground up before digging in, any time it is possible.

whistlepig · Dec 18, 2010

tmxj said:
If you are digging into the undisturbed ground, you need teeth, if you are loading from or spreading a pile of loose material, you shouldn't need the teeth, probably don't want them. If you use the rippers on a box blade, a plow or a tiller to tear up the ground first, you could dig some without a toothed bucket. If you need to remove a few inches of topsoil over a fair sized area it may be easier to keep the depth uniform by plowing or tilling then removing the soil layer without using the teeth. Unless loading with a track loader, or large wheel loader, I'd tear the ground up before digging in, any time it is possible.

All of this mentioned above would be easier just using a tooth bar.

tmxj · Dec 19, 2010

Yes, it might be easier. Probably depends on the soil type. Spreading a new topsoil or gravel pile, if you grade with the heel of the bucket, or with the bucket level, the tooth bar shouldn't be a problem. I have seen several TLB loader buckets with a cutting edge welded (horizontal) on the heel for grading or backdragging.