Welding a chain clevis to my bucket

[J.meyers]

I am the proud new owner of a ck 25 w/ fel and want to weld a chain clevis to the center of my bucket on the top back side for lifting but the plate seems a little thin. will The plate hold a 3/8" clevis?

 

[shvl73]

If you lift much weight the top edge of the bucket can bend. My dealer bolted a piece of angle iron along the top edge before welding my hook in the center. That might work for you, attach the clevis to the piece of angle.

 

[Dodgeram]

How come we haven't seen pictures? Are they posted somewhere else?
Come on, we want to see pictures of the new baby.
If your Ck25 works half as well as my CK30, you're gonna love it and wonder how you ever lived without it.
About those pictures.....
I've got two hooks on my bucket, have lifted every piece of equipment I've got, and haven't noticed a bend yet.
BTW, welcome to the pack.
Tom

 

[shvl73]

I've got two hooks on my bucket, have lifted every piece of equipment I've got, and haven't noticed a bend yet.
BTW, welcome to the pack.
Tom

Your bucket might be stronger than mine. The upper lip of the bucket on mine isn't the most rugged looking thing I've seen. I'm glad to have the reinforcement. There is a guy up the road with a NH TC30 that has a deflection of about 4"-6" in his bucket. Maybe he was just doing something foolish. You know, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure sometimes.

 

[George2615]

I'd re-enforce the bucket with a piece of angle to weld anything to. I welded a 2x2 angle across the top edge of mine then added my grab hooks and receiver. Without the extra metal thickness you are going to bend the bucket if you put any stress on it.

 

[IslandTractor]

In addition to putting a reinforcement plate under the chain hook/clevis, consider the placement carefully. I had three hooks put on my bucket, left right and center. That seemed a good idea at the time to maximize flexibility in chaining odd objects. However, when I started to think about getting a bucket grapple, the position of my center chain hook precluded using a couple of the grapple styles. It is not the biggest consideration but something to keep in mind. Some of the least expensive grapple attachments bolt on to the top bucket lip. You cannot do that if there is a chain hook in the way. Putting two hooks on either side would not interfere. There are also other bucket grapple styles that can be modified to work even with center chain hooks (ATI and Add A Grapple come to mind).

 

[3RRL]

The top lip of your buckets are much wider than on mine. But even so, it might make sense to mount hooks on the back of the bucket rather than on the top lip. In my case, where the bucket mounts are, there is another plate about 3/8" thick and I welded my hooks on there. You can see it real good on George's picture a couple posts up. It also puts the hooks near the loader arms. I always use both hooks. Another advantage I found is by having the bucket fully dumped and hooking the chains up, I get an extra lift out of curling the bucket up.

Here's a picture showing the location on my bucket. It was when I was adding on my grapples. They also don't get in the way of the grapple mounts back there. It's still a good idea to reinforce the top lip though.

 

[J.meyers]

Thanks for the replies. Pictures? I will see what i can do. I managed to put 13 hours on it this weekend , mostly grading my driveway and moving brush not to mention taking the kids for rides. So far I have been nothing but impressed. I may just weld a hook to each side and call it good. One thing for the folks that question the need for 4 wheel drive. The tractor takes on an entirley different personality in 4wd. I would not even consider a 2wd model now.

 

[shvl73]

Your CK25 is very similar to my 2810 in weight and power, it'll do an awful lot of work. I did a bit of topping my driveway with some hardpack and boxbladed it all in 2wd, it's very capable. I have used 4wd enough to be very glad I have it though. For the most part, I use it as needed. Using to get out of trouble sometimes is better than letting it get you further into trouble....
I really like those CK series machines, nice tractors.

 

[DIRTCUTTER]

I think I know what a clevis is, anyway. What I did was weld D Rings on either side of my fel, for pulling and lifting. The top of the fel seemed to me a little thin