to toothbar or not to toothbar........

[garchib]

I apologize if I am working for the "Department of redundancy department", but I searched this site and others and have not found
the answer I am looking for . /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I will be buying a 410 FEL for my 4100 HST and I was planning on
buying a toothbar, however, since I will be using my FEL for snow
removal during the winter AND I plan on needing to do some
"back-blading" after ripping up dirt.....I got thinking do I need a toothbar ?
I have heard both sides of the argument......so my questions are, can
you back-blade at all with a toothbar installed ? Also, can you dig
in with an FEL without a toothbar, or is it impossible ? Any feedback
would be great, particularly from 4100/4110 owners....
Thanks to all, G /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[rancar]

<font color="blue">since I will be using my FEL for snow
removal during the winter AND I plan on needing to do some
"back-blading" after ripping up dirt.....I got thinking do I need a toothbar ? </font>

No, you do not want to use a toothbar to remove snow. It's much easier to push snow with the toothbar removed. No, you do not need a toothbar to back blade. It's much easier to back blade without one.

<font color="blue"> can you back-blade at all with a toothbar installed ? </font>

You can back blade with one on but it's much easier with it removed. If you get one, get a bolt on one that can easily be removed.

<font color="blue"> can you dig in with a FEL without a toothbar, or is it impossible ? </font>

To dig into a pile of material such as dirt, gravel, manure, etc., it is more efficient if you had a toothbar attached to your bucket. The teeth as shown in the attachment will dig into that material pile much more efficiently than if you were trying to dig into that pile with just the bucket's cutting edge. The toothbar attached will cut most jobs down substantially in terms of time. Using another analogy, you would think you converted your bucket into a little tyrannosaurus with that toothbar attached. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

...Bob

 

[garchib]

thanks rancar........what I am trying to avoid is digging, removing toothbar,
backblading, putting toothbar back on, removing toothbar for winter
put on in spring, etc. etc. Believe me, I am not a lazy guy, but with
two kids under the age of 3, my tractor time is sometimes precious
and I don't want to waste it. I want to be in the seat ;-)

 

[buzst]

garchib,
If you plan on doing any digging in our rocky NH soil you will want a toothbar, if only to protect the bucket edge. Its very difficult to extract rocks without the teeth and you don't have to look at many used fel buckets to see the damage that can occur. It's really only a three min. task to install/remove the bar. I haven't found back dragging to be a problem as rather than using the teeth I use the bucket bottom. But, I also have a box blade for the more serious flattening work.

 

[garchib]

Thank you buzst ! It is good to get such great advice from a fellow
New Hampshire-ite What town are you in ? I am in East Kingston

 

[40Kchicks]

garchib

I don't know anything about the 410 loader but I know skid steer style quick attaches are made for most loaders now. If you have this or could add it to your loader the better option would be to get a smaller tooth bucket (with dedicated teeth) and a larger general purpose or even light material/snow bucket. I have multible buckets for different jobs on my skid steer and its great. No one bucket will do everything the best and the quick attach only takes about 40 seconds to switch buckets so multible buckets work the best. Also you can get other sorts of buckets, implements, and forks which greatly add to the versatility of the loader.

I realize this is the more expensive option but teeth are less money that a tooth bar and will make up a little of the difference.

I'm just throwing this out to give you and your dealer something to think about. It works great for my applications.

Eric

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Only one thing to add here. If you're going to be putting on and taking off your toothbar on a regular basis as I do, you'll need to keep your bolt threads clean and undamaged. Since I didn't want to catch an ankle on exposed bolt threads my bolts run from the outside of the bucket inward. Since my bolt is long enough to extend beyond the nut to the inside exposing threads to dirt and damage I simply bought an extra nut to put on to cover the extra threads. Now my threads are completely covered and protected from dirt and damage.

 

[adegiulio]

Good tip Gary.....its the kind of thing I would think of a little too late...

Anthony

 

[garchib]

Thanks for everybody's great advice..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Amazingly, Anthony... This time I got the idea BEFORE I learned the hard way. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif