Built a Shrub Bucket

[Champy]

Attached are some photos of a "new" shrub bucket I built with the help of some friends. I saw some pictures of these buckets and worked up a design of my own (with some help from Mr. Jimi - thanks) that works for my JD 300CX FEL quick attach bucket. Pops right on and clips into place neat as a pin.

Since I have zero welding skills (and no welder), the local high school shop class helped out by using it as a class project and doing all the welding for me - fully supervised and mentored by their instructor of course.

Now I need to primer it and finish painting..........

 

[Champy]

Here are some more pics and also an Adobe pdf copy of the design drawing if someone has a desire to build it yourself........

 

[Corm]

Very nice! Ought to make a useful addition to your tractor attachment arsenal. And thanks for taking the time to create that PDF file. I printed it off and filed it.

Corm

 

[scott_vt]

Afternoon Champy,
Real heavy duty and nicely done ! The JD quick attach is a nice setup, Im jealous !

 

[MrJimi]

Looks real good Champy

 

[TwinWillows]

Very nice & thanks also for posting the design pdf file.

Have you used it yet? If so what if anythign would you change?

 

[AlanB]

Looks sweet Champy.

Might think about adding a couple teeth on there to make it dig easier.

 

[Farwell]

Champy,
I would love to see some action photos real soon. I have 8 bushes I need to transplant and if your bucket works good I am going to make one.
Great job.

 

[jimgerken]

Man, I like that. Nice job! Now I have another damm thing to build. Get 'er painted green. Or Yellow.

 

[Champy]

Here is a shot of it taking out a small sapling. Haven't had time to try something bigger.......


I am expecting adding some teeth (maybe), and some changes would possibly be reinforcement ribs along the bucket (if needed). We some more use I can see the need for some position indicators or locator flags to judge exactly where you are hitting around the tree/shrub.

I'm also working to better understand how to "lever" the bucket & forward push of the tractor to get a deeper cut made. Any suggestions are welcomed, though probably practice will help the most i guess.