My latest ebay purchase

[kubotabilly]

I made new pins today and I drilled out the center portion of the pin to allow for future greasing of the pin when installed on the hoe. I recessed the area where the grease zerk went so hopefully I won’t knock off the fitting when digging. At one end I drilled a ¼” hole to accommodate the bolt to pin the pins to the ears when installing the bucket on the hoe and on the other end of the pin I welded a large flat washer to make it easier to pull the pin.

Bill

 

[kubotabilly]

The bucket never had any cutting edge on the sides like the Gannon buckets do, so when I purchased my steel to do this project I also bought some cutting edge.

Bill

 

[kubotabilly]

After tacking the cutting edge in place, I shaped the ends and fired up the welder one more time.

Bill

 

[kubotabilly]

After all the welding was complete, it’s off to the sandblaster to prep it for some rust preventer, primer and finish paint. More pics tomorrow night.

Bill

 

[kubotabilly]

After sandblasting I noticed that the bucket had no wear plates on the bottom. I thought it might be a good idea to weld wear plates on the bottom of the bucket like the Gannon buckets have, so I added some ¼” wear plates to help prolong the life of the bucket.

Bill

 

[kubotabilly]

Here’s a photo of the finished bucket, ready to get dirty. I have a grand total of $149 in rebuilding the bucket, plus my labor. What do you think I should charge myself for the labor???

Bill

 

[wushaw]

That is one first rate job
You obviously done your homework on your choice in welder & plasma cutter, they made your job a whole lot more fun than work.

 

[BTDT]

Nice job. Where do you go to find that stuff on e-bay? I've never bought anything over internet (still old school I guess).

 

[kubotabilly]

wushaw, It sure does make your project much easier when you have good equipment. My original plasma cutter was the next size smaller and I wasn't happy with it so I returned it and got the next size up. I made the cart in the one photo that I have my plasma cutter on and all the angles were cut with my Grizzley horizontal band saw. The Grizzley bandsaw was another one of those pieces that you didn't know how you did without it all these years.

Bill

 

[kubotabilly]

Nice job. Where do you go to find that stuff on e-bay? I've never bought anything over internet (still old school I guess).

BTDT,
I just did a search for backhoe buckets and it just happened that the company that I won it from was only a 2hr. drive to pick it up. I've been buying and selling on ebay for 6 yrs. now, with only 2 bad transactions, so I guess I'm pretty lucky in that respect. I try to check out the seller as much as I can before bidding. Remember, if it's too good to be true, it probably is.

Bill