Building A Rock Bucket

jinman · Jan 10, 2009

2manyrocks said:
Does it damage the tractor hydraulics or the cylinders when you really shake a bucket to get material out of it?

That's a very good question because shaking is just part of using a rock bucket. I have seen no damage to my loader or hydraulic cylinders other than wear in the pivot point bushings. The wear must be normal because I lube my loader like crazy and you can tell by the old grease oozing out at every joint.
I try to be sure and not bottom out my cylinders when I'm shaking the bucket. Sometimes it works best to just tap the bucket on the ground or roll the rocks to the back of the bucket and then forward to the ridge built into the bucket. Sometimes, you just get some dirt with the rocks and you have to live with it. It's not a perfect system, but I have seen absolutely no external oil leaks in my cylinders.

2manyrocks · Jan 10, 2009

Thanks. I have raked more than my fair share of rocks up here. 2manyrocks

Arkaybee · Jan 10, 2009

jinman said:
That's a nice looking bucket. What I would do is look for any place to reduce the amount of metal where stress will not be high. You might even remove some metal from the solid skid steer plates. If you save a few pounds here and there it will add up.

Maybe consider the possibility of making the rear vertical portions of the tines/fingers of lighter weight metal. It seems the stress there is much less than the ground-contacting parts. Just thinking of ways to reduce weight.

Every step in His presence.
Arkaybee

john_bud · Jan 10, 2009

So, are you making a dxf file of the individual parts so that a shop can cut it out with a water jet, plasma, flame etc?

And if so, would you care to share that file with us lesser mortals?

(I hope!)

jb

Philscbx · Jan 10, 2009

2manyrocks said:
Does it damage the tractor hydraulics or the cylinders when you really shake a bucket to get material out of it?

Not at all, same thing is done to moving snow. A quick rattle of bucket confirms it's empty.

It will also indicate sloppy pins that needed grease.

burtrl · Feb 5, 2009

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all of your input! I have modified my design to lighten it up... it was a little on the heavy side. New specs are:

3/8" Steel tines spaced on 3 3/4" centers (3 3/8" clearance between tines
1/2" rods (optional) on ~4" centers
Overall width ~ 68"
Weight 604 lbs
Webbing between tines is now 1 solid pc, making it easier to cut & assemble.

Here's a couple of renderings as well.

The best price I could get up here for laser cutting would run around US$1000, including steel plate. For me this is a good deal since a bucket like this is over $2000 up here. I suspect that you guys would probably be able to get the cutting done in the US for much less. Anyhow, if anyone is interested to have parts cut, let me know. I could also just provide the plans & .DXF files for a very modest fee.

joes_427_vette · Feb 5, 2009

[,

I could also just provide the plans & .DXF files for a very modest fee.[/QUOTE]

Maybe things are more expensive in your part of the world but I saw a 6' Vermeer rock bucket at a local dealer and I was quoted 1200 dollars for it . I believe they had one come back. the buyer felt the tines were too close and the dirt would not fall through properly.

Taking a advertised machine design.... writing it to a computer file .... and charging a modest fee. Times are tough, but not that bad................. yet !