John D
Silver Member
Jim theres no reason to get so fancy on my rock bucket but if you dont mind.........Can you paint it green for me 
Input for my homemade rock bucket design?
- Thread starter jimgerken
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jimgerken
Veteran Member
spruce Deere
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Nice! Some paint an it will look "factory". Keep us posted on how it does on its maiden voyage.
jinman
Rest in Peace
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Jim, are you putting any gussets on the siides of your bucket? If you don't, I think the whole bucket will twist. Any rock bucket using round bar like yours needs sides.
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jimgerken
Veteran Member
Yea, side plates are in the plan. After last nites' one-hour welding session, some lynch pin gaurds and the bucket side plates are about all that's left to do. Also, I am contemplating cutting off some of the "fingertips". They extend about 6.5 inches after the cross tie hardware, which is probably 3 inches too much, if I want them to stay somewhat straight. I don't think the bucket would not miss the capacity from shortening them. It looks to have a lot of volume considering the density of rocks and the lift capacity of my loader. Weight seems pretty light right now. I am able to roll it around and slide it on the floor for welding. I wouldnt want to lift it off the floor, but I am guessing it is considerably under 300. So that leaves 800-900 lbs payload capacity.
Still time to prime it and maybe paint it before the weekend.
Still time to prime it and maybe paint it before the weekend.
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jimgerken
Veteran Member
Had it painted by the weekend, and had a couple hours to use it before the rain moved in. Overall it worked well. I learned to use it to screen thru tall grass (dead from last year), to locate the rocks from the jumping action, then back up and put the teeth downward to scoop up the rock, flip it into the "gullet" of the bucket, re-level and continue screening. I did over an acre this way in about 1.5 hours. I came across one biggg rock and could barely get it dug out. Once out of the ground, I could lift it, alone in the bucket, only one foot. So it must have weighed about 800 pounds. Later I noticed one tooth had bent down maybe 1/4". So I guess when I get a chance I will straighten the tooth, and cut about 2 inches off the tip of each tooth. Here's a shot before I scraped off a lot of the nice paint. Sorry, no action shots yet, maybe next weekend.
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spruce Deere
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Nice work! Good lookn bucket! You mentioned a bent finger, well, I managed to bend one of mine too, side-ways from be'n packed with grass, brush and then ramming a 3 in. or so rock between the fingers. Its just slight, didnt notice till after I was done and taking the rock bucket off. Thats the first one for me.
