I am a fan of Bucket Solutions' clamp-on Bucket Spade.
Hi Jeff, I really like the idea of the bucket spade, I have small trees to plant and/or transplant, don't plan on a backhoe.
My dealer says these spades are a bad idea here in New England because of all the rocks. Just curious if you or anybody else can shed light on that, though I guess you're in Florida so perhaps not.
This is partly a "which bucket should I get" question along with "should I get the spade" and "is pallet fork better for spade mount".
I'm trying to figure out my bucket and pallet fork options on what I expect to be a MX5400 purchase.
My primary (demanding) task for the bucket is moving gravel. It may also be called upon to move snow and mulch (I suppose the light materials bucket is bigger for mulch, does it work for gravel? )
I'm guessing the L2296 is best for that spade, looks like a $300 or so upgrade from the L2235A, $400 from the L2236 light material bucket, based on the Kubota "build your own" estimate.
What about pallet forks, I have an HLA HD4248 pallet fork frame in the quote, which seems to be the go-to thing for Kubota dealer quotes. Would the pallet forks be a safer way to use the spade than potentially bending a bucket when I hit rocks?
The types of rocks in new england soil are two. First, the loose rocks, which might range in size from an egg to a bolder, sometimes you never know what you'll hit (I had one removed from my road last year that required heavy machinery, had no clue that the tip sticking up through the soil was really one of the great pyramids underneath). The second rock problem is where the bedrocks is hiding under minimum soil. So there's no moving that.
So what I envision happening is I go out to dig a new hole for a tiny tree in my field, and there's a 50/50 chance I'm going to hit either those variable size rocks (which _suck_ when you're digging with shovel and pick), or bedrock such that I'm going to have to try digging elsewhere.
Can the spade force out those smaller loose rocks without breaking my bucket/forks? Is it possible to do a reasonable shovel probe and and back off if I hit rocks too tough to dig through, without breaking my attachments?
Any New Englanders out there with experience with these rocks and shovel spade attachments?
Oh yeah, incidentally, and probably not for the spade, I'd like to use my bucket or _some_ attachment to help keep my bedrock lined driveway drainage trenches clear of debris, advice on that welcome too. The bucket is probably too rigid to do much there. Maybe some front-mounted loader attached rake?
