Hello all, this is my first post here though i have lurked for a long time. I finally joined as i thought i had something neat to share. I recently picked up a Kubota B2320 to do some work on some land I acquired in Northern PA. It was a 2012 model with 100 hours, front loader and tiller. I've since done some work with it around home, and was a bit disappointed with how it dug. I watched some youtube videos to improve my technique, and purchased a BXpanded pirhana tooth bar, which helped some, but not a lot on rocky hard pack soil. I have dug in some softer pack with great success, but the hard stuff was slow goings with the bucket, even with a tooth bar. So, i decided to make a spade shovel. I decided clamp on would give me the most versatility. It was designed by me in Solidworks.
Its primarily made of 3/16 Hot roll plate, with some 1x1 hot roll for the clamp areas. Instead of bending the shovel portion, i used 8" wide, 4" wide, and 2" wide all cut with 45's to give me a spade like appearance and each angle change lended some strength and let me pull this off with minimal machining and or bending. I then MIG welded it together with a Hobart Handler 140.
I added two attachments points for chains or ratchet straps. These both hold the shovel on and give it some support further out. I weights about 60 lbs complete.
I have to say it works really well. It allows me to push the spade into dirt that previously i would have to try to dig with the corner of the bucket. I can use it to take small bites easily, pop up rocks, dig small holes to plant trees, or uproot existing trees. One perk i did not anticipate is that i can see the first 12 inches of the shovel from the cab. Typically i can't see the bucket tip, just "imagine" where it is. Seeing the spade allows me to be pretty surgical if i'm only trying to skim an inch of something or get the tip exactly under a rock.
Attached are some pics, if anyone is interested i could probably supply drawings in PDF format over email. It cost me about $80 in steel, 2 hours of cutting/machining, and about 4 hours of fab. You can make it without any true "machining" at all, i just put some holes through the plates so i could use bolts to hold the main assembly together while welding, then removed them.
Also, here is a youtube link to the only video i have of me working with it; the quality is not great but gives you an idea. The ground i'm digging into was very difficult even with a toothbar and a run. The spade slid in like a hot knife through butter. kubota bucket spade mmc205 - YouTube
Enjoy, and thank you for letting me post in your community.
Its primarily made of 3/16 Hot roll plate, with some 1x1 hot roll for the clamp areas. Instead of bending the shovel portion, i used 8" wide, 4" wide, and 2" wide all cut with 45's to give me a spade like appearance and each angle change lended some strength and let me pull this off with minimal machining and or bending. I then MIG welded it together with a Hobart Handler 140.
I added two attachments points for chains or ratchet straps. These both hold the shovel on and give it some support further out. I weights about 60 lbs complete.
I have to say it works really well. It allows me to push the spade into dirt that previously i would have to try to dig with the corner of the bucket. I can use it to take small bites easily, pop up rocks, dig small holes to plant trees, or uproot existing trees. One perk i did not anticipate is that i can see the first 12 inches of the shovel from the cab. Typically i can't see the bucket tip, just "imagine" where it is. Seeing the spade allows me to be pretty surgical if i'm only trying to skim an inch of something or get the tip exactly under a rock.
Attached are some pics, if anyone is interested i could probably supply drawings in PDF format over email. It cost me about $80 in steel, 2 hours of cutting/machining, and about 4 hours of fab. You can make it without any true "machining" at all, i just put some holes through the plates so i could use bolts to hold the main assembly together while welding, then removed them.
Also, here is a youtube link to the only video i have of me working with it; the quality is not great but gives you an idea. The ground i'm digging into was very difficult even with a toothbar and a run. The spade slid in like a hot knife through butter. kubota bucket spade mmc205 - YouTube
Enjoy, and thank you for letting me post in your community.
