Broke my bucket!!!

[gvw]

Just busted the bee-jeepers out of my bucket! Bucket is the 73" model on a 460 loader which is mounted on my 4700 HST. While back dragging some willows that I had just dug out - the mounting pins on the bottom of the bucket ripped out and the top hooks punched in = big oh-oh!
Bucket just went to the local welding shop to see what can be done as far as re-building this piece of S_ _ _. When we looked at the welds holding the pins in place, the contact area is about 3/16" which is all the thicker the metal is on the backside of the bucket. This is incrediably light weight material and construction - VERY disapointing to say the least!!! I really like the quick detach system as I can drop the bucket and have my pallet forks on in about 2 minutes - but the structural design of the pins mounts to the back of the bucket is pathetic!
Suggest readers with this setup - look at the mounting points - check for cracks and signs of distress - hopefully you will avoid what just happened to me!
Does anyone know of a manufacture that can build - or already makes a heavier constructed bucket that will fit the JD 460 loader -- the one that came with the loader is tin-foil caliber construction.

 

[rancar]

I have the JD 73" HEAVY DUTY bucket on a 460 FEL for my JD4710. I have to say I think this HD bucket is built like a tank. Welds look solid, steel nice and thick....I would suggest you look at the HD bucket instead of the standard bucket that JD sells. It's well worth the extra couple of hundred.

 

[gvw]

This was the HD bucket - and I assure you it is not solid

 

[gvw]

Rancar - now I'm not so sure that I have the HD model - this is what I wanted when I bought - however, mine came w/ only two ribs on the bottom - dealer had more ribs added and told me it was the same as Heavy Duty. Based on my latest experience I'm not so sure - I'm wondering if the flat sheet metal is heavier on the HD model - and where to go to find out - the dealer I bought this from says that the diference is in the exterior reinforcement and mine with the added bottom bracing is the same as a HD model - I'm not so sure at this point.
Also does anyone have part # for the HD unit?

 

[rancar]

gvw,

All the FELs and buckets are made at John Deere Welland Works, Ontario, Canada and are shipped that way to the dealers. If your dealer had to weld these extra ribs to your bucket, then it's likely he added them to a standard bucket (for whatever reason I couldn't say) and he's trying to tell you he turned it into a heavy duty one. I'm not so sure on this.

I bought two buckets...the HD one and JD's 4in1 bucket. All I can say is just looking at the sheet metal on both of them, the HD one looks very tough and durable. This is the reason I bought both. I wanted the HD one to transport field stone, rock, and digging swamp bushes and small stumps with the attached tooth bar. I've yet to put it to the hard test but one thing I can say for sure is I won't be using the 4in1 to dig out field stone simply because of its apparent light gauge steel and likely tendency to warp and bend if knocked around by heavy rock.

Bob

 

[beenthere]

My book on the loader shows 7 different buckets, three of which are 73" wide. They are:

73" Materials bucket with capacity of 10.7 cu. ft.
73" Heavy Duty materials bucket with 10.7 cu. ft.
73" High volume (light density materials bucket) with 15.0 cu. ft.

My 4300 with 430 loader came with the 73" materials bucket, and I wanted heavy duty, so settled with the 61" Heavy Duty Materials Bucket with capacity of 9.0 cu. ft.

The construction is quite different between the regular materials bucket and the heavy duty one. If you have the light duty (sounds like you do), then back dragging with it and the bigger tractor (4700) will but a tremendous force on the two pins. In normal bucket use, there is compression, not tension, on these pins. I hadn't thought of this when back dragging, but I will now.
Sorry to hear about your experience. I would hope you see your dealer, and find out if you really have the heavy duty bucket that you thought you were getting. I remember my dealer wondering how he could sell a materials bucket by itself when I bought the HD one. I expect it is a problem for them, in the form of a nightmare maybe.

It is such a neat quick tach system, as you have already found out, to switch quickly back and forth between the forks and the bucket. But if I tear it out as you did, I will have it welded back in so it works just as it does now.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

It is not only the welds on the bucket that need attention when back dragging, but also the welds on the hydraulics. I have broken the welds on the hydraulics of the FEL on my 4300 twice while back dragging. I thought that the connection of the piston to the swivel should have included a sleeve like the frames on some bicycles.
The dealer finally replaced them with heavier duty models.

 

[beenthere]

<font color=blue> "The dealer finally replaced them with heavier duty models."

"welds on the hydraulics"
<font color=black>

I am not sure what you were referring to when you said the dealer replaced them with heavier duty models?
Also, what are 'welds on the hydraulics" ? Would you enlighten us a bit more? Thanks.

 

[sniezur]

I am not surprised at all. I bought the hi-volume bucket because of the extra capacity I needed it for. The bucket bent the first time I used it!!! The material is very thin for the bucket shell and ribbing.

I brought it into my shop to re-enforce it with extra 1/2" plating and steel angle ribbing. I have since used it without any problems and it is now a HD hi-volume unit.

 

[gvw]

Beware of the mounting points - the metal on the backside of the high vol bucket is major league skinny- the result is the amount/strength of the metal at the top hooks and the bottom mounting pins is maybe and I mean maybe 3/16". The result is that when back dragging one can litterly yank the bottom pins out and cave in the top hooks. We are in the process of taking the top mounting hooks off - backing with 1/4" plate and doing the same for the mounting pins - mainly to get some strength and something to weld to - then we will see.