How Do You Guys Coax Big Rocks Into Your Bucket????

[4570Man]

A thumb for the backhoe works pretty good for picking up things. A hydraulic thumb would be a lot better, but that adds a bunch of $$$.

 

[MossRoad]

Teeth on a bucket make loading rocks into a bucket much easier.

Or, you could just wait for some glaciers to do it for you.

 

[oosik]

I tried most everything. I will say that a tooth bar on the bucket helped. HOWEVER - after mashing my hand/fingers for the umpteenth time, I gave up and bought a grapple. Its glorious to be mind/matter over solid rock. I smile every time the grapple reaches down, closes around and snatches up a big rock.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, a grapple is great! But the OP is asking about a bucket. How do you get rocks into a bucket? Buy a grapple! :laughing:

 

[oosik]

Moss - I think the reason everybody is recommending a grapple or even pallet forks is because there is no "secret method" of cokesing a rock into a bucket. Some times you can get under it and it will fall back into the bucket. Most times, you are out there using brute force to leverage it into the bucket.

Lord knows - its apparent a lot of us have tried.

 

[timster2]

I have hooks on either side of my bucket. I hang a chain between the hooks and loop it over the rock roll the bucket back and sometimes the rock cooperates and falls right in other times I have to adjust the length of the chain.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Around our area rocks are worth big $$. I have to go hunting for landscaping rocks and they're not easy to find. I usually find them on the edge of a farmers field after he moved them there. I've seen 6-8 inch diameter rocks for sale for $5 and I thought they were crazy but people were buying them. That was at an FS farmstore a decade ago.

 

[N2DFire]

I have grown up around some of the best operators I have ever seen (including my Father and his 40ish years of running equipment).

Ask any of them and they will all tel you the same thing - there's no trick, shortcut, or secret.

To channel the great Yogi Bera for a moment - it's 10% Skill, 10% Finesse, and 90% Luck.

The 10% Skill is putting the bucket where you want it to be & making it do what you want it to do
The 10% Finesse (aka the secret I think you're looking for) is putting the edge of the bucket as far under the rock as possible, sometimes you take a little dirt to make that happen. Sometimes you push the rock a country mile just praying for it to catch on something.
The 90% Luck comes when you think you're finally far enough under the rock that you curl the bucket back and pray the rock falls in and not out.

It took me over a year to convince my Father that we needed a grapple - I think it is the single most useful attachment a tractor can have and it is our default. We only put on the bucket or pallet forks when we need them to do something the grapple just can't do (like move dirt or pallets).

If you only have a few rocks to move and/or unlimited time / patience then you can get it done with a bucket, otherwise go ahead and invest in a good grapple. You'll kick yourself for not doing it sooner. :thumbsup:

 

[LD1]

I have a grapple, just bought it last week so havent tried it on rocks yet.

Needless to say, I have alot of experience loading rocks into a bucket. The key is a good bucket level indicator, and speed. Bucket level indicator so you dont dig a bunch of dirt, or not be curled down enough.

Even with the bucket perfectly flat, you can push that rock all over a field and never get it. But raise the bucket a few inches, back up a few feet. Then using a ~4mph gear...."punch" it. Drop the bucket right at the last second. Continue forward speed while curling back.

Only rocks this doesnt work on for me, are ones that are too big and hit the top lip of the bucket with most of the mass till outside the bucket.

 

[drizler]

Yea, I figured as much......no real solution. I don't like ramming them as most have "friends" nearby who aren't inclined to move and me no wanna go smashing my nice new machine. I like the comment about scrounging landscape rocks. It reminds me of a guy from Missouri IIRC who once said he had never seen a round head and wanted to. Well you guys are entitled to mine, help yourself.
It's never the really big ones that are a hassle but rather the 12 to 15" kind. The ones like Fred Flintstone bowled with using that Twinkle Toes move of his. And there are hundreds of them. Well, at least they make decent fill so they are good for something.