Tooth Bar or Toothed Bucket?

[bdhsfz6]

On average, a toothed QA FEL bucket is 4 times the price of a tooth bar, but is it worth the extra $$?

I do a lot of road grading this time of year. Presently, I use the scarifier on my 8' York Rake to break up packed gravel, but it's very slow. I was hoping to speed up the process using a FEL attachment. I could put a tooth bar on my 72" FEL bucket, but I do a lot of back dragging, and the teeth would get in the way. I'm thinking of getting a QA toothed bucket, which is easy to swap. That would take far less time than removing and reinstalling a tooth bar. I suppose I could save a few $$ by getting a second standard QA bucket and adding a tooth bar.

For those who have experience, is a toothed bucket that much better than a tooth bar?

Yeah, I know, a box blade or land plane are better implements for grading, but I still need the rake to pull material from the ditches. at my age, swapping implements isn't getting any easier and I like to avoid doing it whenever I can.

Any thoughts or ideas are welcome.

 

[Vigo327]

How exactly would you be using the teeth? If youre talking about driving forward then i doubt theres any way you could go faster than youre already going with the rake without putting the loader itself in danger of some damage from hitting something that doesnt want to move. I would consider going forward to grade with a bucket ok on a skid steer but not really on a tractor loader. My .02.

Can you post a pic of the scarifiers on your rake? I might be able to suggest something if i could picture what youre already working with.

 

[oosik]

Doing most any type of grading with a tractor is an activity you want to do with a PULLED implement. NOT a pushed implement.

A tractor FEL can quite easily be damaged if it is not used as intended.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Doing most any type of grading with a tractor is an activity you want to do with a PULLED implement. NOT a pushed implement.

A tractor FEL can quite easily be damaged is not used as intended.

I spoke to my local dealer about this and he said the same thing. Most toothed buckets he sells are for skid steers. He suggested a lighter, less aggressive tooth bar would be best for a tractor FEL.

 

[bdhsfz6]

How exactly would you be using the teeth? If youre talking about driving forward then i doubt theres any way you could go faster than youre already going with the rake without putting the loader itself in danger of some damage from hitting something that doesnt want to move. I would consider going forward to grade with a bucket ok on a skid steer but not really on a tractor loader. My .02.

Can you post a pic of the scarifiers on your rake? I might be able to suggest something if i could picture what youre already working with.

I had hoped to use the bucket teeth angled slightly to the rear with the bucket in the dumped position while going forward. That way, the bucket would ride up should a tooth get caught on something.

The idea was to use it while dragging the scarifier at the same time. That way, I could loosen more material in the same pass. It could be a time saver when doing more than a mile of road.

This is what I'm using now:

 

[Vigo327]

Thats a nice rake!!!

I can see that the scarifier section is not that wide, though. Still cool to have it at all.

As far as having the bucket fully dumped (and loader in float i assume) i think how safe that is depends on what angle the teeth end up at, and whether the bucket has ‘travel stops’ that physically prevent the bucket from rotating any further.

Reason being, if there is no metal on metal interference that prevents the bucket from moving any further, then any snag on the bucket edge/teeth would be trying to rip the bucket cylinder glands (the end cap that the rod slides in and out of) out of the cylinder, and very well might.

If you have robust bucket stops to protect your cylinders AND the teeth end up angled sufficiently towards the rear to make a ‘ramp’ to push the loader up and over any snags, i would say ‘proceed at your own risk’. If either of those elements are missing i would call it a hard no, personally.

I can understand not wanting to venture into the realm of fabrication but it seems like you just need a wider version of the scarifiers you already have on your rake. Perhaps they are kept narrow so as not to limit the rotation of the rake, so a whole separate implement might be called for vs widening them.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Perhaps they are kept narrow so as not to limit the rotation of the rake, so a whole separate implement might be called for vs widening them.

Yes, the rake pivots but the scarifier bar does not. It isn't as wide as the tire track.

I've been eyeing a 10' York Rake, but the price on new units is prohibitive. You rarely see used York's in good condition.

 

[Jrasband]

Now that I have a tooth bucket I see no reason why not to have one for everything, it always makes the job easier.

 

[oosik]

Just a passing observation. Whatever you are using on the gravel around your yard and driveway is doing one Hell of a good job. I don't think I've ever seen gravel that smooth. How often do you see gravel smooth and hard enough to be used as a basketball court.

 

[Jrasband]

Just a passing observation. Whatever you are using on the gravel around your yard and driveway is doing one Hell of a good job. I don't think I've ever seen gravel that smooth. How often do you see gravel smooth and hard enough to be used as a basketball court.

limestone gravel gets like that, wish I could get some here.