bam747
Silver Member
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2004
- Messages
- 209
- Tractor
- John Deere 4720 (2007)
For people looking for ideas on how to put hooks and other attachments on their FEL buckets, here is what I did on my heavy duty industrial skid-steer attach JD bucket on my 400CX FEL on my JD4720.
My bucket has a fully boxed top edge which is very strong. The back and top meet at a 90 degree angle and the top edge of the bucket is relatively short. Using three receiver tubes welded to the back plate of the bucket (one in the middle, one towards each outside edge), I can attach many different modular receiver plug ins. I can also remove all receiver plug ins and have nothing sticking up over the top edge of the bucket if desired.
My standard plug in has both a Jeep style tow hook and a weld on 3/8" chain grab hook. The two hooks are mounted 180 degrees out of phase so depending on which way you plug them into the receiver tubes, you get your choice of using the tow hook (for ropes or nylon tow straps) or the chain grab hook.
Using receiver plug ins allows use of a wide range of attachments. In addition to the tow hook/grab hook plug ins, I have a plug in that connects to a large clevis. I can also plug in regular ball mounts and use the center receiver tube to move empty trailers around. One of my ball mounts is a standard 3-ball unit (1 7/8, 2, and 2 5/8 balls) that I also had a Jeep style tow hook welded on. I also have a standard receiver extension tube if I need a little extra reach for my receiver plug in attachments.
All things considered, I am very happy with this arrangement.
My bucket has a fully boxed top edge which is very strong. The back and top meet at a 90 degree angle and the top edge of the bucket is relatively short. Using three receiver tubes welded to the back plate of the bucket (one in the middle, one towards each outside edge), I can attach many different modular receiver plug ins. I can also remove all receiver plug ins and have nothing sticking up over the top edge of the bucket if desired.
My standard plug in has both a Jeep style tow hook and a weld on 3/8" chain grab hook. The two hooks are mounted 180 degrees out of phase so depending on which way you plug them into the receiver tubes, you get your choice of using the tow hook (for ropes or nylon tow straps) or the chain grab hook.
Using receiver plug ins allows use of a wide range of attachments. In addition to the tow hook/grab hook plug ins, I have a plug in that connects to a large clevis. I can also plug in regular ball mounts and use the center receiver tube to move empty trailers around. One of my ball mounts is a standard 3-ball unit (1 7/8, 2, and 2 5/8 balls) that I also had a Jeep style tow hook welded on. I also have a standard receiver extension tube if I need a little extra reach for my receiver plug in attachments.
All things considered, I am very happy with this arrangement.
