Dirt Moving Tooth bar manufacturers for dirt bucket

[PTWannaHave]

Thanks again for the insight, Ken.

Our land is already cleared with minimal brush clearing required. On average, about a day's worth of tree pruning per year that I then collect into a burn pile.

 

[woodlandfarms]

My PT had a bucket first, and then a grapple attached to the bucket. In the beginning it worked well, but as I have got into more and more work, I made my own grapple bucket bottom and moved the pincher over, leaving the bucket as a stand alone.

What I am getting at is putting a grapple on a bucket is not hard and if you are doing just a few days of brush cleaning probably worth the investment.

 

[KMA]

Yeah, I'm with PTWH. The grapple bucket always looked cool to me too, but it wouldn't get enough use to justify the cost. It definitely depends on the type of work your PT sees.

 

[MossRoad]

Look at it this way....
If you are planning on getting only one bucket, get a grapple bucket. You will regret it later when you order one in a few years, you will pay more because, well, the cost of everything goes up always. You will pay exhorbitantly more in shipping a single item VS getting it shipped with your initial tractor purchase, and that alone will offset much of the cost of purchasing it in the first place.

If you are planning on getting a minihoe, a thumb on the minihoe is almost a grapple, but unless you pay someone for aftermarket hydraulics, its not a grapple, its a fixed position thumb. While useful, it won't carry the amount of material that a grapple will carry. And sometimes it will be in the way, requiring you to pin it out of the way if its moveable, or removing it alltogether if its not a moveable thumb.

A grapple bucket with teeth can be used for grappling, hauling loose material, excavating harder material, snow removal (keep the teeth up), firewood hauling, etc.... all with one attachment. I seriously wish I would have purchased one. My attempts to make my small bucket into a grapple show that the bucket is not reinforced enough and I would have to add serious bracing to counter the effects of the hydraulics. While I can do it, I just wish I would have done it from the start.

 

[KMA]

Here's another two cents... if you already have a bucket of any kind (rock or LM), then add a tooth bar to that one and get away the cheapest. It may not be perfect, but it would be a good trade-off when cost is factored in. I considered buying another bucket since my LMB was a bit large for digging into the ground. In the end, it only cost me about $20 in materials (say $100 or so if you count the saw I bought) to make tooth bar for it. If you absolutely need to buy the bucket too, then the grapple bucket starts to look much more appealing once you factor in shipping costs and the added functionality. All that being said, I think the grapple bucket looks terrific, but I wouldn't have spent the money on it in the end... I just wouldn't get enough of the benefit out of it at this point. 8 years ago? Yeah, it would've paid for itself by now, but now I mostly dig a few ditches, move rock and mulching around the property, and do some light brush cutting one a year or so. It sounds like PTWH is in a similar position where all he really needs is to dig into the ground a little better.

Now... if I come into some extra money all of a sudden, then sky's the limit. I'm buying all the buckets x2

 

[KentT]

Look at it this way....
If you are planning on getting only one bucket, get a grapple bucket. You will regret it later when you order one in a few years, you will pay more because, well, the cost of everything goes up always. You will pay exhorbitantly more in shipping a single item VS getting it shipped with your initial tractor purchase, and that alone will offset much of the cost of purchasing it in the first place.

If you are planning on getting a minihoe, a thumb on the minihoe is almost a grapple, but unless you pay someone for aftermarket hydraulics, its not a grapple, its a fixed position thumb. While useful, it won't carry the amount of material that a grapple will carry. And sometimes it will be in the way, requiring you to pin it out of the way if its moveable, or removing it alltogether if its not a moveable thumb.

A grapple bucket with teeth can be used for grappling, hauling loose material, excavating harder material, snow removal (keep the teeth up), firewood hauling, etc.... all with one attachment. I seriously wish I would have purchased one. My attempts to make my small bucket into a grapple show that the bucket is not reinforced enough and I would have to add serious bracing to counter the effects of the hydraulics. While I can do it, I just wish I would have done it from the start.

If you have woods to care for and maintain, I second this message X 1000. As far as cost -- the grapple bucket alone has more than paid for my total investment in the PT and the dozen attachments I have. It has saved me MONTHS of labor in the 1100+ hours that I now have on the machine.

 

[SpringHollow]

I have both the grapple bucket and 2 mini hoes with grapple thumbs on them. I use the grapple on my swinging mini hoe to move logs etc. A very different animal than a grapple bucket. I rarely use the grapple bucket because I am not doing lots of brush work etc. Having said that, it is definitely nice to have. If you are handy, I would recommend adding it to your bucket which would save you some money vs buying a grapple bucket. If you expect to keep your tractor for 15 or so years, then even buying a new grapple bucket makes some serious sense. But we do not usually have the resources necessary to do everything that makes sense.

Ken

 

[PTWannaHave]

Thank-you so much for all the useful info/comments !! :thumbsup: