Which Tooth Bar should I get for digging into topsoil piles and clearing??

[MossyDell]

I wish the companies did a better job of listing weights on these tooth bars. Maybe you have to pick one to see the weight, but a chart would be nice.

I'm getting a B2601 with a 60" bucket and will be choosing among Heavy Hitch, Piranah, and EA. My guess is the first two are comparable in weight and EA's is heavier. I don't want real heavy. My use is going to be mostly moving mulch, so anything would probably work. And some dirt digging and moving.

 

[mikester]

I wanted to reach out to the experts in this forum for some advice on which Tooth Bar to purchase for my CK2610. I have a couple of mountains of stockpiled Topsoil, that have been sitting for around 2 years now, so they're probably quite compacted. I'm thinking I'll need a toothier to loosen everything up. I'm considering a standard design tooth Bar from either Titan or everything attachments or how about the Piranha tooth bar by BXpanded? Any input on this would be appreciated! Look forward to your comments. Thanks everyone!

I'd recommend renting a construction TLB or skidsteer if you need to move a lot of dirt. A tooth bar won't make your SCUT dig any better, will only take away from your machine's operating capacity. Digging and clearing is hard work for an AG class machine that isn't made to handle the loads and abuse. If it's small occasional jobs then take smaller cuts with your SCUT.

 

[Spin88]

I love my Piranha teeth. Look into it. You won't be disappointed if you don't mind drilling a few holes in your bucket.

 

[kenmbz]

I have done 500 foot long swales in diabase (soft iron rock in the soil) using my Piranha bar. Ripped out tons of shrubs and popped rocks out too.
And my SCUT is pretty small.

 

[deezler]

A tooth bar won't make your SCUT dig any better, will only take away from your machine's operating capacity.

So very wrong. My smooth bucket edge would hardly dig at all into hard pack dirt. So I picked up a 7-tooth Iowa farms toothbar, bolted that sucker on, and POW, digging like a beast. As long as you don't go nuts, the toothbar actually reduces stress on your machine. It lets you do the jobs you need to do.

Bucket Tooth Bars: Skid Steers, Tractors: Lifetime Tooth Bar!

 

[mcfarmall]

Seems like a tooth bar would fracture the soil so that it can enter the bucket with less resistance. Many pit loaders in mining applications have V-shaped tooth bars which concentrate force on the center teeth then sequentially to the others as the bucket moves forward.

 

[BackRoad]

So what are the thoughts from actual experience when focusing slightly less on brand...more on design.

Which is more effective for digging into dirt piles and scarfing high spots?

- - - Adding a traditional tooth bar, with teeth spaced ~6 to 7 inches apart, like front-end loaders or excavators use...(as Mr. Deezler described above)...

- - - Or a flat jagged tooth bar like the Piranha/EA design?

One other area of interest is when back dragging for smoothing.

- - - Do tooth bars in general leave any more tracks/unevenness when back dragging vs. a straight edge bucket without a tooth bar?

Does adding a tooth bar make it any more difficult when smoothing?

(Well aware of best practice in keeping the bucket bottom "somewhat" flat with the ground, not hyper-curled in an attempt to use the leading edge when back dragging.)

 

[deezler]

Basic physics would tell us that the ability to fracture and penetrate packed soils/piles would be at least somewhat proportional to frontal area (concentration of force/pressure). The front tip of the teeth on the traditional style toothbar are quite small/narrow, so in my mind this is a smaller total frontal area vs the piranha. Maybe someone more ambitious could take some measurements.

When smoothing/backdragging, you definitely do have to be more delicate to get a nice finish, with the toothbar on. Tip the bucket forward, and you are raking backwards with the toothbar tips (this can be helpful in certain situations, though). Lots of time when I am smoothing out a disturbed area, I do get 7 lines in the ground from my toothbar - this doesn't particularly bother me. If you get the bucket level juuust right, you can almost eliminate this, but it's tough on uneven ground.

A final point about the traditional style toothbar that I love - you can hang chain or straps from it to pick things up super easily. It's like having chain hooks/loops already on the bucket. I also use the teeth to pick up random things, like 3-pt implements, etc.

There's probably a reason why heavy duty excavation machines all have traditional style tooth bars, and not piranha style cutting edges. It's durable, effective and proven.

 

[JohnnyMX]

I got the EA Wicked toothbar for the same reasons as the OP. I was able to quickly tear through my mostly clay and rock piles like a hot knife through butter. It also works on pushing/removing scrub and small stuff. I assume the Pirahna will work for this just fine since they are very close in design. Post pics of what you did. Not enough people follow-up on here with how it went.

 

[fried1765]

I'd recommend renting a construction TLB or skidsteer if you need to move a lot of dirt. A tooth bar won't make your SCUT dig any better, will only take away from your machine's operating capacity. Digging and clearing is hard work for an AG class machine that isn't made to handle the loads and abuse. If it's small occasional jobs then take smaller cuts with your SCUT.

Good advice !!
Your M59 would do the job.