Help! - Tooth Bar

[WVBill]

atk-man:

I'm building my own tooth bar also. The main reasons are:

1) My bucket is only 38" wide and about 15" deep and the tooth bars offered by carver and others would end up having five teeth across that extend out 5" from the front of the bucket. Now, I know that you WANT your teeth to extend out but to me, that is way out of proportion for my small bucket.
2) The tooth bars offered commercially all weigh 200+ pounds. That's 20% of the lifting capacity of my FEL!
3) Cost.

So I decided to make my own. I found "combine guards" at Farm & Country that looked to me to be just the right size for tooth bar teeth for my bucket. They were only $9.99 each and five of them ( ten teeth total ) fit nicely across my bucket. They have a 3/16" slot in them where I inserted a 3/16" X 2" piece of steel that I got for $4.95. This left the distance between the steel and the "tails" of the combine guards exactly 1/4" which is how thick the front lip of my bucket is.

I've fitted it all up and it looks like it will work. Now I need to get the combine guard/"teeth" welded to the piece of steel and bolt it on to my bucket. I'll probably use 1/2" bolts through the "eye" on the tails of a couple of the teeth.

Accompanying is a picture of the combine guards I used for teeth.

Next several posts will have the resultant toothbar fitted to the tractor.

 

[WVBill]

more pictures

 

[WVBill]

more pictures #2

 

[WVBill]

more pictures - last set

 

[JerryG]

Bill,
They look good and fit well. The one problem that I see and I hope that you don't have is that most of those types of teeth are brittle. I hope that they work well for you and don't snap when you hit a rock.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<pre>
Toothbars for Buckets w/
Standard & Bolt-on Edge

LAF# Approx.
Weight No. of
Teeth Approx.
Width

1036 44 lbs 5 36"
1042 49 lbs 5 42"
1049 56 lbs 6 49"
1054 64 lbs 6 54"
1063 73 lbs 7 63"
1072 83 lbs 8 72"
1082 93 lbs 9 82"
1064* 78 lbs 7** 63"
1073* 88 lbs 8** 72"
1079* 98 lbs 9** 80"

* Toothbars for buckets with bolt on edge,
** Quantity of teeth may vary depending on bolt hole pattern.
</pre>



Bill... a commercial toothbar for your bucket is about 44 lbs. vs. 200lbs.... In fact it may weigh less than the one you are building... /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

I don't want to hit you over the head, but I think those "cast guards" will have an extremely short life the second you go to dig into something substantial... the material will break and it's not designed as your intended new use...

Somewhere around $240 + freight would get you a lifetime toothbar for your bucket... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

But, I wish you the best on your project and look forward to seeing the results... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color=blue>...those types of teeth are brittle...</font color=blue>

Jerry...

Sorry... just saw your post... {I read in chronological order.../w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif}

... I agree...

 

[WVBill]

Well, I figured there would be a flaw in my theory somewhere but since I've got less than $60 invested it will be an interesting experiment.

Those guards DO look like they're cast but they say "forged" on them so I was hoping....

I'll let you all know how they work out when I get them bolted on and tried out.

I was going from memory of what carver e-mailed me on the weight - now that I think of it, 200# does seem a bit high...

 

[Kodiak]

Hi Bill was just wondering how those combine teeth are holding up on your tooth bar?

 

[pcmem]

Kodiak,

I thought I'd read that Bill said they were working out fine for the last 6 months but it would be best to get the official results from the creator himself.

Bill please post a followup on how they are working out and any changes/modifications you would suggest. I'm thinking they would be just the ticket for the 48" bucket on my BX for light digging.

Thanks much,
Michael