Practicalities of a skid-steer bucket on a FEL (for digging)

[flusher]

Your FEL is for scooping, not digging. Get yourself a good 3pt ripper (aka subsoiler) with the appropriate number of shanks for your tractor hp/digging depth to loosen the soil and then scoop up the loose stuff. You're asking for trouble by trying to use your tractor/FEL like a Bobcat skid steer.

 

[k0ua]

I have 2 SSQA buckets and use both of them. The Kioti came with a nice 66 inch bucket, and I kept my 60 inch Kubota bucket (really more like 59 inches). The smaller bucket is superior for digging. I have dug many trenches, holes and dug up rocks and stumps. Without a doubt the smaller bucket is better. I am sure a toothbar or fixed teeth would make it better yet. When I haul materiel's I prefer the stock 66 inch Kioti bucket. When i want to dig small holes up to 18 inches deep, I use my "shovel" attachment I made that chains onto the bucket. The principal is the same in that with a smaller bucket you have more force concentrated in a smaller area.

James K0UA

 

[kco]

I use a coil spring cultivator with straight shanks as a ripper. Here is a photo:



I think it rips better than a box blade. It goes deeper and the teeth can flex over and around large boulders. It will bring soccer ball sized rocks to the surface.

 

[Ken45101]

Your FEL is for scooping, not digging. Get yourself a good 3pt ripper (aka subsoiler) with the appropriate number of shanks for your tractor hp/digging depth to loosen the soil and then scoop up the loose stuff. You're asking for trouble by trying to use your tractor/FEL like a Bobcat skid steer.

I suspect that is wise advice!

I use a coil spring cultivator with straight shanks as a ripper. Here is a photo:

I think it rips better than a box blade. It goes deeper and the teeth can flex over and around large boulders. It will bring soccer ball sized rocks to the surface.

I cannot imagine that penetrating the hard packed clay that we have here. Perhaps with looser soil, it would do a good job.

 

[WVBartMan]

I agree with Gary Fowler's post, I have a Top and Tilt Kit on my tractor and competed against a green tractor (my brother inlaw) one afternoon moving dirt about 250 to 350 feet. I have a FEL with a bolt on tooth bar that does great but I decided on using the box scrape in combination with the FEL and was able to out perform his larger tractor almost 3:1 in the amount of hard clay dirt moved. I would shove the dirt from the previously loosened path the box scrape scarfiers made with the FEL and the have a full load in the box scrape as well each time I made a pass. The result was two loads with my tractor in less time with each pass verses just using the FEL. Each project is unique and this one was ideal for the task at hand.

IMHO I would not purchase a different type of bucket, more than likely you will never see a difference in performance or production, the $250 tooth bar is all you need. My background has been the owner of an excavation company and moving dirt effeciently was the reason we were profitable. The truth is a tractor is a tractor and will never be in the same class as a machine just made for one thing and that's moving dirt. The great thing is a tractor can do a lot more than just moving dirt so there is an added benefit in utilization rate and return on investment when talking tractors.

 

[Summitsrule]

I have a L3940 cab. Bought it new this fall with a 72" smooth material bucket. My largest task this summer was to remove the top soil from an area of our yard, haul in 3/4" crushed gravel, and build a giant parking/turn around area. I had to use my RTR 66" tiller to loosen the soil and then scoop it up. Then I picked up a new 72" SS tooth bucket. Huge difference. Did not need rototiller anymore. Was it as good as a skid steer, no. But it worked for me. I did have to add 45 gallons of rear ballast to the tires, even with the tiller on. Definately get a bucket wider than the rear tires. I would do it all over again the same way.

I have tried to dig through clay, does not work near as good as top soil. Keep in mind the top soil was packed rock hard for the last 5 years too. For clay I found it easier to till up first.

Bucket is heavy, tractor could barely lift it full of soil. But the long flat bottom makes it easy to dig with control.

Just put her in 4wd, low range, and go...

 

[PandDLong]

Well, I took TripleR's advice and rented a bucket - which was a good reminder of the many other specialty SS attachments I could rent for specific jobs but never justify buying (eg. A rock bucket).

I dug out a 10' X 22' area by 4" at one end and 15" at the other. It had grass on top, with loam, clay and a few gravel spots (probably part of an old parking spot). A few rocks but nothing major and no big roots. There was 8" of snow cover, so it was a bit wet but not muddy. I have a Kubota L3540, Ag R1 tires and no wheel ballast or weights - just my snowblower on the back for FEL ballast. I ran it in 4WD.

I used my 72" Kubota materials bucket and my rented 60" toothed, low profile skid-steer bucket. Observations:

1. The tooth bucket is definitely heavier but I could still fill it with loam/clay and lift/curl without any issues.
2. The tractor worked less to push the tooth bucket into the dirt, it was fairly smooth operations.
3. With the materials bucket, I had to use the diff lock quite often, never touched it with the toothed bucket.
4. With the bucket dumped to the limit, the toothed bucket was not as vertical as the materials bucket, but it never caused an issue.
5. The tooth bucket always managed to dig in and lift out, the loss of break-out was not a factor in this job (albeit it was not a large job).
6. I got a nice straight edge on my area with the toothed bucket as it was easy to control, due to above traction/tougher work the materials bucket was not as good, it would want to wander a bit instead of a straight line due to resistance or traction issues.
7. The finished grade on the area was pretty flat with the toothed bucket.

I did manage to exceed my loader limit with the toothed bucket when I pushed into a gravel pile right to the back of the bucket - couldn't curl or lift. Did the same with the materials bucket and it lifted right out of the pile. This is where the bucket weight and cutting edge distance was a factor. But that would be loader work not digging!

The job took about 90 minutes ( including hauling all the dirt about 300 yards away). It would have been faster with a skid-steer but not once I add in travel and paperwork time to rent one. While the FEL is not a digging/excavating machine, as a homeowner with a CUT for many purposes, it was a good compromise for such a job.

Overall, the skid-steer toothed bucket definitely improved the digging performance of my tractor without seeming to give up anything.


I liked the suggestions of using a 3PH implement to rip up the area being dug - I will add that to the repertoire, it should simplify and speed up many jobs.

As for a tooth bar, the price I was quoted by my dealer was $700, which is why I said "for that I could buy a used tooth bucket and have money left over" - hence my quest.

Thanks for all of the advice and experiences.

 

[Ken45101]

As for a tooth bar, the price I was quoted by my dealer was $700, which is why I said "for that I could buy a used tooth bucket and have money left over" - hence my quest.

That was my experience. I bought a toothbar for the skid steer bucket. It was expensive and did not hold up (end teeth broke off three times, poor design IMO). I gave up and bought dedicated tooth bucket for close to the same price and it's been a lot better.

Thanks for the comparison report.