Need opinions on building a FEL toothbar

[paulinkansas]

The bucket on my 57 hp tractor is 60" wide. It's just a basic bucket with a flat blade. I plan on moving/digging alot of earth, rocks, roots, limbs and other hard materials with it for the next few years.

I've looked at many toothbars, but want to build my own. Every toothbar I've seen bolts onto the 2 sides of a bucket (one bolt on each side), and they also have a lip or something like that on each tooth that hooks around the existing cutting edge of the bucket.

I was thinking about making a toothbar that would bolt on directly to the bottom of the bucket instead of the sides. The toothbar would still have a lip that would overlap the existing cutting edge, and the bolts would have a "backing plate" on the other side of the bucket that it's mounted to.

Does anyone think of anything wrong with this idea? I thought that the existing bucket might be a little weaker with the mounting holes that would have to be drilled into it, but I really doubt that I would be removing the toothbar once it's bolted on.

 

[wldrbob]

it might be nice to remove it easily so you can level or backblade sometimes without the teeth in the way

 

[Brad_Blazer]

Lots of bolts to remove and they are in a high wear zone. Are you saying it will hook over the cutting edge for support? The way you have it drawn the bolts take all of the stress. A detail sketch would help.

Overall it can probably work but I would consider it not as good as the conventional method.

 

[jbooth]

I have the type with a bolt on each side on the 6 ft. bucket for my skid steer. I am very happy with it mainly because of the ease and quickness of installation and removal. The toothbar has really made a difference in the digging ability of the machine. Seems I paid about $250 for mine but it is really holding up well with absolutely no maintenance issues. It has replaceable points on the teeth.

 

[Crusty Nut]

I just built one last week. It bolts into the sides. I am real happy with it so far and it is real easy to take off and on.
check it out here
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/170430-here-couple-home-built-attachments.html

 

[Joe H]

I just built one for mine with pieces from Fabco that I bought through Terra Cut Supply Ltd. Talk to Cory at 800-561-5414. Got that info here somewhere in one of the 200 threads about tooth bars.

QTY. DESCRIPTION PRICE TOTAL

8 SA-15625 Shanks $7.83 $62.60
8 8002A Teeth $2.15 $17.20
8 RP H2A Flex Pins $0.38 $3.00
Freight $50.00
Total $132.80

Freight was FedEx for a shoebox size that weighed 50#

I bought 10 of each as my bucket is 88" inside.

Fabco Inc.

I downloaded the catalog for the 2A series pieces and blew up the drawing of the shank until it matched the catalog dimension. I printed the shank & cut it out to see how it fit the bucket.

These are top mounts but they also make bottom mounts.

I used a piece of 1/2" x 3" strap for the bar and pieces of 1/4" x 2" strap to shim the shanks up as there was no 3/4" strap available locally.

Most likely if you ever want to remove it you'll have to grind the bolts off as the heads will disappear quickly.

Joe H