FEL Tooth Bar or BH Thumb?

[dmacneil]

Ok.. another good thread here gives many opinions being that a toothbar is one of the best value adds for your tractor. I could certainly see that. What I'd like to know is if you had a choice between a FEL tooth bar or a BH thumb which would you rather have?

Of course there is the consideration of 'depends on what you use your tractor for'. So, let's try to minimize that question by saying "general use" - tractor is used for:

- digging out tree stumps
- moving wet heavy snow
- digging out garden
- digging holes for trees
- drainage grading and trenching for tile
- landscaping
- leveling hills
- replacing fill with screen top soil
- clearing brush
- etc.

However, if there is a use for either the toothbar or thumb that is not listed that would definetely sway your choice then please list this.

Thanks for any thoughts..

 

[nspec]

I've got a B2630, backhoe with a welded on two 3 position fixed thumb, and no toothbar. My summer project involved ripping out stumps, building a rock retaining wall approximately 8 feet high by 100 feet long, and then backfilling it with 500 yards of fill. Never for one second did I wish I had a toothbar. That thumb got one heck of a workout, though. Thumb any day, hands down. Should be standard equip. on any backhoe.

I placed every rock in the photos with the thumb - and some were huge. Even if I couldn't lift them, the thumb helped in positioning and in keeping them from rolling where I didn't want them to go. That rock wall isn't pretty from the back side, but each rock I was able to turn and position just like I had a small stone in my hands - and let me tell you, it is a very strong wall.

I backfilled in stages, a few feet at a time, packing it as I went. All in all, I added about 5,000 sq. feet of really nice yard. All of the grading I did with the loader bucket. Never felt the need for a back blade or box grader or anything like that.

I do think the toothbar would have been in my way more than I would have used it.

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[escavader]

thumb;
building a rock retaining wall
placing crushed stone in tight places
pulling up berrie bushes
digging out ditches
loading a trailer/or dump cart
filling in around foundation forms
lifting logs to cut for firewood
hauling small brush piles behind tractor
etc etc possibilities are endless

 

[LBrown59]

. Thumb any day, hands down.

YEP Thums up Pun intended.
I have a BX 23 with a BH and a BX1500 with a tiller . If that won't break up the soil what good is a tooth bar gonna do?

 

[TRUST]

I got a thumb and no toothbar. I will probably get a TB eventually, but I got the thumb first. I did a little stump digging over the weekend.

J.

 

[CharlieKtractor]

I got a MARKHAM toothbar bolted on and no thumb and it has only been off once in 7 yrs. to scoop up some muck from the bottom of my pond that was on the concrete patio in the back yard. To each his own. Chas.

 

[dmacneil]

Ok, going to show some of my inexperience. The thumbs for the BX aren't hydraulic? So - in order to use the thumb, you need to position the bucket, get off the seat, lock the thumb, get back on the seat and then the same deal to disengaged the thumb? Is this correct?

I bet I'll get bashed for this, but this just doesn't seem productive to me. Someone help me understand...

 

[BX2230Dude]

in order to use the thumb, you need to position the bucket, get off the seat, lock the thumb, get back on the seat and then the same deal to disengaged the thumb? Is this correct?

All you have to do is position the fixed thumb in front of whatever you're trying to lift and then curl the bucket until it grips.

 

[LBrown59]

Is this correct?

is it ?

 

[dmacneil]

Riiight. Ok, not as bad as I thought. So position the thumb into a good spot for use while needed, then position it back when done. I feel stupid - something so simple, but hard to reason until you see it (or are told). Thanks.

Um.. how the **** did you get your TLB in the drink like that? And how did you get it out?!