2nd Smaller Bucket v. Tooth Bar

[Riddler]

I have the quck attach option on my 16LA loader (i.e., making it compatible with skid steer attachments/buckets). I was set to purchase and install a 72" tooth bar on my bucket when it occurred to me that a second smaller bucket with tooth edge might be much more effective and easy to use in brush removal and other surface digging projects. Also, the loader will have a much easier time digging and breaking out of compacted soil with a 4 or 5 feet wide bucket than with the 6 foot general duty bucket that came with my loader (i.e., once a tooth bar is installed).

I was wondering if anyone has gone this route, despite the obviously higher cost. Also, speaking of cost, where would be the best source for new (or, better yet, used) skid steer toothed buckets in the 4 or 5 foot range?

 

[keeney]

I saw a bobcat on a trailer with that exact setup just yesterday.

He had a very large (for the machine size) materials or snow style bucket on the machine, and being carried inside of that was a smaller, heavy-duty bucket with teeth - obviously used for the harder digging tasks.

- Rick

 

[Riddler]

Now I only wish I could find a reasonably priced source for the second, smaller, toothed bucket (new or used). My dealer wants $1,500 (ouch) for a new one from his supply source.

 

[KiotiJohn]

While I agree that a smaller bucket with teeth may not have the resistance of a larger one, I can't see paying the high price of a toothed bucket when the toothbar will make a huge difference.
One thing that I regret about having a small frame CUT is that the bucket can only be so big, (54") and I would love to be able to haul more at a time.
So you buy the smaller bucket and it gets in the dirt easier, but you will make up for it in more trips to the pile, right?
I'd go for the larger bucket you have with a toothbar added and save the money for another great implement. John

 

[Inspector507]

You can always remove the toothbar if needed........3 minutes

 

[Riddler]

John, good point. For the digging I will be doing most frequently though (e.g., uprooting brush, extracting roots and large rocks, etc.) I have a hunch that a narrower bucket is going to be much easier and efficient. Loosening a large volume of dirt for the purpose of moving it elswhere is not (hopefully) on my horizon. If the need to do that springs up, however, I'm hoping that the scarifiers on my 6' box blade will do as well (or better) than a tooth bar on my materials bucket (and then the larger bucket will have the right edge to collect the material and transport it).

The good news is that my dealer has told me that he has a lead on a used 4' skid steer bucket with teeth. If the price ends up being within sniffing distance of a tooth bar, I will be set up just right to tackle some of these projects.

 

[GRUMPA]

You sound like you want the grubber bucket from marham welding. Not all that bad as far as price goes either. MARKHAM WELDING
But it only comes in 14'' wide in the front.

 

[jinman]

Don't forget that with the skidsteer bucket, it's much longer than the normal bucket, so you will lose some curl power if you have a single tooth under a big root or rock. I've expected to see an adapter for a backhoe bucket that would allow it to be mounted to a quick-attach loader, but as yet, I haven't seen anyone try this and it may not be practical. After all, if you have a backhoe, why wouldn't you use it instead of the loader. Grumpa's solution may be the best. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[have_blue]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( tooth edge might be much more effective and easy to use in brush removal and other surface digging projects. )</font>

Digging is the operative word here.

Your thinking is exactly right. A 72" bucket is 3x or 4x too wide for anything except scooping and loading loose material. Heck, even large back hoes and excavators don't have a 72" width. It would take a massive pump, horsepower, and weight to dig efficiently with something that wide. I think a lot of FEL users disallusion themselves that they can do some light excavator work and grubbing with their scoop. "Super light" is more like it. FEL's would be more versatile with a 36"-48" scoop, and deeper than a standard scoop. But the tradeoff as someone mentioned, is volume. I think you would find a toothed 24" bucket great for digging and grubbing. It would feel like a different tractor.

 

[Riddler]

Blue, your point about the depth of a skid steer bucket and the effect it may have on curl force is a very good one. Also, for those of us who don't believe that they have enough meaningful projects to justify the purchase of a back hoe (I'd really love to have one), I am surprised there are not more loader attached implements and scoops available that enable a CUT to dig effectively at relatively shallow depths. A 6' bucket with a tooth bar doesn't make sense to me for digging on any level.

Grumpa, do you know Markham's price for the grubber?