Front-End Loader Rock bucket

[Millwood]

I need to find a rock bucket to fit Kubota LA504 FEL. Not a QA, but pinned. I've pulled and hauled out 8 dump trailer loads of huge 4ftx4ft boulders from this new ground so now it's get the little rocks out before bringing in mulch and getting the ground ready for 2016 planting. Doesn't need to be new. Any info would be appreciated.

 

[ishiboo]

I have a 72" rock bucket and I LOVE it, however it takes a lot to drive it through the soil. With that size machine and being a Kubota-specific pin-on, I doubt you will find a ready-made solution.

How much space do you have to do? For surface rocks, I find it's just as fast and much easier on the machine to use the landscape rake to windrow the surface rocks, as the rock bucket has to take a full-width bite of soil to work its magic. It also leaves a pretty good finish for planting.

 

[Millwood]

Unfortunately surface raking will not remove the rocks from the root area I want for crops. I have a 7 foot 3pt rock rake and tried windrowing. Way too much soil came up with huge amounts of rocks and I was down only 3". This land (about 2 acres) is ancient river bed created by bursting of ice dam at Lake Missoula eons ago at the end of the ice age. I'm hoping that scooping up rock bucket load, bumping FEL control to shake dirt out and loading rock in dump trailer will get the job done. I have all summer and am retired, so this is my hobby.

Local Kubota dealer that sold me the new B3300 three years ago says he has an aftermarket source for the pin-on rock bucket, but $2200 + shipping seems a bit steep.

 

[pat32rf]

Built a 5' wide rock bucket for my JD 4300 last month. Teeth are 30" long, 1" square steel with 2" gaps between. Cost $300 for the steel and took two days of my amateur welding skills... Wish I knew how to add pictures....

 

[Millwood]

I also wish you knew how to add pictures! Would very much like to see what you built. If the weld holds, no matter the appearance, then it's not amateur. I learned on a stick machine when I was a kid and even though not many of my welds broke, some looked like Crow poop on a fencepost. Anyway thanks for the reply and if you figure out how to post a photo or two that would be great!

 

[Apsterbobed]

Have you thought about building / buying a screen? I was able to get ahold of some of the wire shelves used for pallet shelving (about 1" or 1.5" square holes), then I just built a frame out of 4x4s plywood and a few pieces of angle iron. It's a little small for my Kioti but it worked great with my JD 790, if i can find another shelf I will make it wider so I can use it with the kioti.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

For the B3300, I'd build one long before buying one even if the cost was higher. I've got the same tractor and built a brush bucket/grapple last fall with 30" tines made from 1.75 round tubing and hate it. The tines are WAY too long, both for comfortable working on the ground and dumping into my trailer. I'm going to make another one with 20" tines.

I've also got a few thousand acres using a rock bucket as a kid, first on a 60hp Isiki then a 6300 JD. I wouldn't want the task ahead of you with my B3300 that's for sure, even with all the time in the world. Most of the commercially available ones are far too heavy for the relatively light lifting capacity of the 504 loader

Is there anyone local that you could pay to go over it with a proper rock rake and at the least windrow it for you?

 

[pat32rf]

I also have a set of forks for bigger rocks. This set is about 40" wide with 1.5" teeth about 20 inches long. It picks up larger boulders, rips out beaver dams and works over the potato patch in the fall. The space between teeth on this one is about 6".
Someone must have some hints on adding photos.....