Heavy duty bucket?

[beenthere]

Have not dented my heavy duty one yet.. and it gets used for lots of "heavy" duty. Moved may a rock in its day, living on the terminal moraine of a glacier.

 

[dirt ditch]

I got the HD bucket with my loader. Never wished I'd have gone with the standard bucket. John Deere puts a lot of extra "beef" in the HD buckets for $175. 4 straps on the bottom of the bucket instead of 2, holes drilled for bolt on cutting edge, leading edge of sides and top of bucket are reinforced. Don't have to worry about bending the top of the bucket when using welded on hooks.

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[RedHawkRidge]

I've had both light and heavy duty buckets. There's advantages to both.
The light duty JD buckets have a sharp edge on the front lip, which is very beneficial for scrapping surfaces clean, or removing a thin layer of soil. Works better for backdragging the bucket to smooth stuff like gravel. But then, using the bucket to push on stuff (like a tree stump) will bend the lip or similar work. It particularly is prone to happening when you turn the bucket down fully, then try to move something big by swinging the bucket up or closed.
The heavy duty buckets' front lip is thicker and rounded. If you want to tackle serious loads, you can accept the limitations of the more blunt front edge.
Jim

 

[wolc123]

There are other advantages to the heavy-duty bucket. You can bolt simple, cheap, structural steel pieces to it. I often bolt a couple 4" x 1/4" x 4 ft long pieces of angle iron below the bucket, in line with the loader frames. I use one of the 9/16" holes thru the cutting edge with a half inch bolt and drilled 7/16" holes, thru the bottom of the bucket, about half way in, for a 3/8 bolt to hold each one on. The resulting "forks" work great for moving and loading logs, or moving pallets, etc.. A couple wood "fork-extensions" bolted to the angles work great for putting the heavy cap on and off my pickup truck without any help.

I also drilled a 3rd 7/16" hole, near the center of the bucket (in addition to the two in line with the loader frame for the forks). I use that hole, and two of the factory 9/16" holes, closest to the center, to bolt a 12" x3" x 30" long, steel C-channel below the center of the bucket. That makes a great "tree-spade" for quickly moving trees and shrubs. It also allows the front loader to dig a narrower trench, much like a backhoe. I did have to upgrade the (2) 1/2" and (1) 3/8" attachment bolts to grade 8 to keep them from shearing when I dug a ditch for a drain tile, thru some rocky soil along my old barn. That was a tough job, but the heavy-duty bucket held up perfectly. I spent less than $10 on the bolts and did not need to rent or purchase a backhoe to get the job done in a couple days. I would still be digging, 6 months later, with a pick axe and shovel, without the tractor and it's heavy-duty bucket. I found the c-channel in my scrap pile, so that was free.

 

[oosik]

I had a light duty bucket on my first tractor - Ford 1700 4WD. I was lifting big rocks and cracked the welded on lip of the bucket. It cracked because the "bed" of the bucket flexed with the weight of the rock. I have an extra HD bucket on my current Kubota. I think it weighs around 150# more than their standard duty bucket. For what I do - I would never again have a light duty one.

 

[beenthere]

There are other advantages to the heavy-duty bucket. You can bolt simple, cheap, structural steel pieces to it. I often bolt a couple 4" x 1/4" x 4 ft long pieces of angle iron below the bucket, in line with the loader frames. I use one of the 9/16" holes thru the cutting edge with a half inch bolt and drilled 7/16" holes, thru the bottom of the bucket, about half way in, for a 3/8 bolt to hold each one on. The resulting "forks" work great for moving and loading logs, or moving pallets, etc.. A couple wood "fork-extensions" bolted to the angles work great for putting the heavy cap on and off my pickup truck without any help.

I also drilled a 3rd 7/16" hole, near the center of the bucket (in addition to the two in line with the loader frame for the forks). I use that hole, and two of the factory 9/16" holes, closest to the center, to bolt a 12" x3" x 30" long, steel C-channel below the center of the bucket. That makes a great "tree-spade" for quickly moving trees and shrubs. It also allows the front loader to dig a narrower trench, much like a backhoe. I did have to upgrade the (2) 1/2" and (1) 3/8" attachment bolts to grade 8 to keep them from shearing when I dug a ditch for a drain tile, thru some rocky soil along my old barn. That was a tough job, but the heavy-duty bucket held up perfectly. I spent less than $10 on the bolts and did not need to rent or purchase a backhoe to get the job done in a couple days. I would still be digging, 6 months later, with a pick axe and shovel, without the tractor and it's heavy-duty bucket. I found the c-channel in my scrap pile, so that was free.

Good ideas.. and would like to see some pics posted of your fabrications..

 

[Catman8]

I take it that this must be the light duty bucket, I bought the tractor with 34 hour on it and I have not dug out any tree stumps. Is there a way to straighten it and reinforce it.

 

[jneddermeyer1]

I take it that this must be the light duty bucket, I bought the tractor with 34 hour on it and I have not dug out any tree stumps. Is there a way to straighten it and reinforce it.

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I would put a 1/2 inch cutting bit on it. I'd think that would straighten it out.

 

[Catman8]

I would put a 1/2 inch cutting bit on it. I'd think that would straighten it out.

Like on post #12 is that a cutting bit.

 

[jneddermeyer1]

Like on post #12 is that a cutting bit.

Yes sir. You can get bolt on or weld on