Wait, wait. The bucket spade does not fit your bucket with your aftermarket cutting edge attached. Don't causally impugn anyone's reputation with an incomplete, inaccurate post. Acknowledge your personal responsibility. You ordered the tractor options.
Impossible for manufacturers producing a standardized product to allow for aftermarket additions, like your bolt-on edge.
When you take the aftermarket bucket edge off I am confident the spade will fit securely.
And, Turkey, .....you are welcome for the pictures and the effort my 72-1/2 year old body made to mount/dismount the 110 pound spade solely for your pictures.
Jeff, I respect your experience in many matters, and of course when you said your L2296 worked with the bucket spade, I hoped mine would too. I'm a newbie. I may have missed fine print. Or did I? I do not agree with the presumptions of your post that it was incomplete or inaccurate.
I researched everything I could think of before I purchased in my new tractor toys. I bought it all from the Kubota dealer for an extra bit of making sure it would work together. The _only_ thing I did not buy from the Kubota dealer was the bucket spade, in fact when I mentioned it to them they said it was a bad idea, presumably w.r.t. the bucket integrity but I couldn't say.
Nothing in my purchase process flagged my bucket configuration as "aftermarket". There was no clue to me. The purchase order is L2296 72" HD Bucket w/ TL1748 bolt on edge. I just assumed ALL L2296 buckets were likely to have bolt on edges.
Then there's the bucket spade site. To be sure, I could have been more careful. If I'd carefully measured my bucket (which I didn't have yet), and if I'd clicked on and analyzed the "Product Dimension Picture" I _might_ have figured out that it wouldn't fit, or I might not. There's no dimension for the lip edge. There's no caution about the lip edge at all, in fact, and its need to fit, on the web site. At least not easily visible from the main page for the product
Tractor and Skidsteer bucket spade shovel. There is a small gif showing the thing sliding onto a bucket, with something resembling an edge. That's it.
As far as I'm concerned what's on the web site was somewhat incomplete. What I had was a reasonable expectation it would clamp to my bucket. There was you saying it fit your same model bucket. And not one scent of "oh, bolt on edges mean it won't fit", anywhere.
As for impugning the vendor's reputation, I specifically said that it wasn't my intent to malign the product, that it seems well built, but that there was some impedance mismatch in ordering it.
And, at this point, I have reached out to the vendor, whose replies were not what I wanted to hear, along the lines of wedging in steel plates.
So at this point my take is this.
1. Yes, I accept some of the blame, perhaps there was more I could have done to vet the bucket against the bucket spade product.
2. However: the bucket spade site does NOT adequately disclose the dimensions and critical contact points that must be met to use the product, or indicate in any _obvious_ place associated with the product any clues as to how it might not fit with some buckets.
3. I still believe it's a fine product, just not for my bucket.
4. I'm not entirely happy with the vendor's disclosure of these things, or handling of my inquiry.
I do not accept Jeff's statements that I should have understood a common bolt on edge configuration would make the bucket spade incompatible with my bucket. There was insufficient information to make that clear. Even if I them and asked if it fit an L2296 bucket, the presence of a bolt on edge might not
even have entered the conversation because to me it was pretty much a standard thing, so perhaps a phone call wouldn't have done much. Or perhaps they would have asked. That ship has sailed.
If I didn't have pallet forks I might be out $400 on a product I can't use, it isn't clear if the vendor would accept any return or responsibility. Fortunately I do have pallet forks, and the product works with those. But if you're a considering purchasing this product for a bucket and don't have pallet forks, BUYER BEWARE - it may not fit your bucket.
I will make peace with the fact that I must use this with my pallet forks and not my bucket. I'm done arguing about it, that wasn't my intent in the first place.
