TRASH/ROCK BUCKET

[RonMar]

Well here is the first project for the big tractor. The regular FEL bucket is great for loosening and ripping out many of the stumps on my property but most of them are too big to fit in the bucket once they are out of the ground. I also have a bunch of debris and a few existing brush piles that I need to reform and burn(don't want to light off a pile of tires under an existing brush pile by mistake). After looking at what was available and the price, I decided this would be a project to build myself. The bucket is 60" wide with 11 tines spaced on 5 13/16" centers. The tines are 2"X 1/4" box tube 30" long. They have 20" of reach forward of the gussets and have 3 13/16" gap between. The rest of the frame is made from 4"X 1/4" angle with 6" strap for the gussets and 4" strap for the side and top reenforcement plate. I have been playing with it for about a week since I finished it and it works great at straining the big rocks and wood trash from the dirt and making piles. I finally got around to cleaning it off and painting it today so I thought I would post a picture. Tools Used: Lincoln weld pack 100, 14" metal chopsaw, jigsaw and metal blade, 4" angle grinder and a die grinder with wire wheel to clean off the weld slag.

Next project: A front ripper/trencher to get at the roots of the stumps I havn't been able to rip out /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[JohninCT]

Nice project! I like the fact that all the materials are commonly available in most steel supply or scrap yard for reasonable price. How much do you figure your total cost was for materials to put it together? Do you feel the lateral support/strength of the tines is sufficient using the square tubing? Have you seen any tendency for the tines to want to bend or spread during hard use? I've seen that most of these type of buckets have a flat bar welded along the bottom near the front of the tines to keep stuff from getting jammed between the tines and bending them.

Again, great job. Please post some action pics if you can.

John

 

[RonMar]

Thanks.
I bought some other steel at the same time for another project but I would guess around $250 in steel for this project. It weighs around 300 pounds total. I didn't really build it to be heavy duty and I am sure it flexes but I havn't noticed any real bending. I have hooked both end tines under things I couldn't lift(roots and logs sticking out of big piles) a couple of times already and tipped the tactor enough for the opposite rear wheel to start to lift off the ground. I have also had some large wet logs off the ground(15' X 18" wet/rotten) and some piles I couldn't see too well around. Even doing this, the tines are still in line. I havn't jammed anything between them yet that has required me to leave the seat to remove so that test may remain. It is not supported real well for side loads but if used carefully, those shouldn't be too much of a problem. I have a lot of hillside so I am pretty carefull. I was also thinking about some more lateral support such as a cross strap like you mentioned but right now I can hook it over junk and rake it backwards and when lifting it separates the dirt from the debris real well. It is something easilly added later if the need arises though. I will be using it again today so I will work on some action shots.

 

[RonMar]

Got stump?

 

[RonMar]

Same stump, going on the pile.

 

[RonMar]

Logs are no problem.

 

[RonMar]

Back raking, not back breaking.

 

[RonMar]

Once raked, scoop forward in a low gear, lifting a little if she bogs down.

 

[RonMar]

Lift, seperate and repeat untill the bucket is full, then dump. That area where I was rakeing was a wild rose bush thicket that was about 10' X 20' with a bunch of downed logs/branches in it. The rake made quick work of it and it is now piled in the background for burning.

 

[Highbeam]

Nice clean piles. I bet they burn nicely after drying out.

 

[JohninCT]

YES! I like that tool! I just may fire up the welder to build one. I recently bought one of the Andy Tatro grapples which would work real nicely with that bucket.

Thanks for the pix

John

 

[RonMar]

When I initially took my ideas from the sketch pad to the CAD program, I added a grapple to the design. I thought I would try it in the raw bucket mode for a while before I added another hydraulic circuit for the grapple. After useing it for a while, I don't think I will add a grapple now as I have had very little trouble getting and keeping debris on the forks. The stumps with the really big rootwads can be a little tricky but so far they have all went without me having to leave the seat to hand load the bucket. If I had it to do again, I would configure it to provide a little more rollback with the bucket fully lowered.