toothbar idea

[Freds]

A few days ago I scraped down 4" of packed dirt in an area about 8' x 50' with my FEL. Tough going without a toothbar. I told a friend about it that night and mentioned how that if I had a toothbar, things would have gone a lot easier but, I don't know how I would have back dragged the dirt to remove it or smoothed out rough areas without having to remove the toothbar. I was trying to leave a nice grade for the concrete guys. He told me that a friend of his leaves his toothbar on all the time and welded a pc. of angle iron across the bottom/back of his FEL where he can curl the bucket up to bring the angle iron into play with the ground. Does anyone here use this setup? If so, does it do a decent enough job to be a good idea to duplicate? I was thinking that the angle iron might be a good place to also put some holes for chains like I saw somewhere here before. I was curling my 302 'bota FEL and it looks like it would work, sort of a mini blade.

 

[Mrwurm]

Sounds like a good idea to me as long as you have enough travel in the down direction when the bucket is curled. Good luck /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Freds]

Looks like my buddy's friend might have come up with something no one here has tried before. I'll let you guys know how it works. I've got some 3x3-1/2x1/4" angle iron coming today and bought a Farmhand welder generator from the local TSC two night ago (I needed a welder anyway). It looks like there is plenty of of travel and it's also out of the way if I put it on the section of the bucket that angles up when the bucket is sitting flat. I'll post a pic when I'm done, if it works.

Fred

 

[Steveng]

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

I'll post a pic when I'm done, if it works

<hr></blockquote>


Hey, post the pic anyway! First: we love pics, second: even if it does not work we can learn something, right?
Anyway, I see no obvious reason why it should not work, if the iron is strong enough... this looks like a simple yet very useful ideal! Good luck!

 

[paccorti]

Freds,

Not to discourage you from welding some new toy but... I leave my toothbar on all the time even while backdragging. I actually think that it does a better job. When level, the teeth tend to break up clods of dirt real well. By curling the bucket up I can then backdrag without the teeth touching the ground at all. I've yet to think of a good reason to remove the toothbar.

Peter

 

[Turfman]

I backdrag a lot with the bucket curled. Anyone added steel wear plates to the back and bottom of the bucket?

 

[Kodiak]

The bucket on my Woods 1012 loader came with reinforcing wear plates there.

 

[gerard]

Haven't yet but probably will at some point as it starts to wear. Pretty easy job to weld a piece of flat stock at the wear point if you remove the bucket and flip it over. Don't want to do it just yet though, don't need the added weight!

 

[Freds]

Well, maybe in all practicality I didn't need to weld the angle onto the bottom of my bucket to backdrag when I get a toothbar, but I had my new welder out so I did anyway. Doesn't seem like it's hurting anything and it gives me a nice edge (like a small blade) to push or pull gravel and dirt with. It's actually a little easier to see/judge what I'm doing as compared to when I used the bottom of the bucket before to try and level dirt. Maybe it's just a gadget, but I like the way it works.

 

[TerryinMD]

I didn't see this mentioned at all so I throw this in....

Do you know how to float your bucket when backdragging? If you do, that's great. It is probably the single best thing other than the toothbar when trying to move and level material. As previous mentioned, the tooth really helps in breaking up the clumps along with removing roots, rocks, etc. This is with digging, grubbing, and backdragging to fill and level.

When you float the FEL, that allows the blade to move with the contours and smooth out the area. When backdragging, the toothbar helps move the soil around and distributes it fairly even. It also takes some of the wear and tear off of the FEL cutting edge. To float my FEL, you place the blade on the ground and quickly slap the joystick forward to release the pressure in the valves. You will hear a distinctive pop as the hydraulic pressure is relieved and the FEL blade just drifts across the ground. Once you move the joystick, it's back to business as usual.

Since installing my toothbar, I only remove it in the winter. I haven't seen its use to move snow and it could get in the way since you cannot see the teeth buried in the snow.

Terry