In praise of the 4-in-1 bucket.

alchemysa · Oct 16, 2006

I mentioned previously that I had recently bought a 'well used' B1550. I gave it another good workout on the weekend - still with a terrible hydrostatic trans whine that I haven't had a chance to remedy. But the purpose of this posting is to say how sensationally useful a 4-in-1 bucket is. I don't know what they cost new, mine came with the tractor, but now I can't imagine not having one.
For ripping up and carrying vine covered bushes it was just amazing. It ripped heavy, 4 feet deep posts out of the ground like they were toothpicks and picked up some huge blocks of stone with ease. (This is just an 18hp tractor remember). The power of these buckets lies in the fact that the lift is applied very close to the front of the tractor so that 'negative' leverage is minimised. The grading blade of the bucket was also used a lot and allowed me to tackle things that I dont think i would have hit with an ordinary bucket. All up I'd say that probably 80% of the work i did on the weekend (demolishing a shack and cleaning up) was done using features of the bucket other than basic scooping. The 4-in-1 bucket really is a fantastic option if you can afford it.

Now if I can just fix that **** whine before something explodes.

David.

Jethro · Oct 16, 2006

alchemysa said:
The power of these buckets lies in the fact that the lift is applied very close to the front of the tractor so that 'negative' leverage is minimised.

Is this leverage any different that a standard bucket? I'm not really clear on what you mean.

I was leary of buying a 4-in-1 bucket beacause they are so heavy. I had assumed that they would be too much weight for my B1550. Obviously not.

alchemysa · Oct 16, 2006

What I was trying to say was that when you grab something with the claw of the bucket it grips the thing very near the back of the bucket, closer to the hydraulic loader lift rams. So it can apply a lot of uplifting force. In contrast, when I attach my homemade forks to the front of the bucket it can barely lift a couple of dozen sheets of corrugated iron because the weight is another 3 feet ahead of the bucket. Yes the bucket is pretty heavy but so far its 'worth the weight'. Heres a better picture of it, but its now got the bolt-on backhoe on it rather than this mower. The backhoe did a great job ripping up about 50 square yards of concrete slab.

David

IslandTractor · Oct 16, 2006

Does Kubota still make a 4n1 bucket for the B series? Does it come with the universal QA as an option or just the Kubota pins/QA?

cart99 · Oct 16, 2006

I have the same praise for ATI grapple and teeth I added to my standard bucket. It's so useful that I don't know how I'd ever get used to having "just" a bucket.

alchemysa · Oct 17, 2006

Looking at their site it appears they don't offer a 4in1 bucket for ANY models. Rather odd. http://www.kubota.com

David

fishpick · Oct 17, 2006

Aren't you gonna need some extra hydro valvage

to run one of these? I ask because I was amazed with the flexibility on the big Ford BH we used in the pool tear out with the 4-in-1 on the front... I thought one would be sweet on my BX24 - but then realized there are more cylinders doing different things - so I ruled it out...

IslandTractor · Oct 17, 2006

fishpick said:
Aren't you gonna need some extra hydro valvage to run one of these?

Sure do. I already have a grapple so I'm set up with appropriate hydraulics already.

DAP · Oct 18, 2006

fishpick said:
Aren't you gonna need some extra hydro valvage to run one of these? I ask because I was amazed with the flexibility on the big Ford BH we used in the pool tear out with the 4-in-1 on the front... I thought one would be sweet on my BX24 - but then realized there are more cylinders doing different things - so I ruled it out...

You will find the general consensus is that the largest of the B Series (3030 or 2910/7800) are probably a tad too small for a 4-in-1 bucket.

Can you plumb one and fit it on? Sure ... Long has a product to fit the B series. ... the loader capacities (both in lift and in volume) will diminish significantly with the weight of the 4-in-1, not taking into account that the LA402/3 is already a little on the light side with respect to lift margins and pumping power. Another chap I know refers to the LA40X series as 'anemic'... But I digress ...

I suspect a grapple would be consideraly less weight and probably supply the same usage requirement .....

I had my heart set on a 4-in-1 before I got my B7800. The tractor size is perfect for me in just about every way except for the 4-in-1 - the numbers just were not there ... couldn't throw out the baby with the bath water this time ...

Dos centavos ...

KubotaOne · Oct 18, 2006

DAP said:
You will find the general consensus is that the largest of the B Series (3030 or 2910/7800) are probably a tad too small for a 4-in-1 bucket.

Not to be overly sensitive, but I disagree that the B3030 is too small for a 4-in-1. See these pics http://web.mac.com/marty.smith/iWeb/Site/Kubota.html