Why don’t you own a toothbar?

[mmranch]

Many years ago, not long after I got my tractor, the bucket was bowed on the bottom from backdragging, etc. Had my welder replace the bottom of the bucket and cutting edge with armor plated steel. The abuse hasn't let up but it is still straight as can be.

I have a tooth bar (that goes over the cutting edge with v slots) that I primarily use in winter to dig into snow mounds which are like glaciers 12-15' high. Tooth bar works great to help take a bite.

Our ground is like 80% rock (of different sizes) and I also used the tooth bar when digging a pond. Loosened up a section with the backhoe then scooped with the bucket. Tooth bar helped with digging force as well as directing rocks into the bucket when scooping.

(Safety First!! Not recommended without plenty of safety precautions!) Tooth bar also can be helpful when chainsawing while standing in the raised bucket. The tooth bar is helpful at the bucket edge to keep your boots inside the bucket, etc.

Not used all the time but a valuable tool to have.

 

[herefromthere]

Simple, because I just ordered it and am waiting for it to ship.

Decided the Piranha is the right one for my usage, which is to rip out lots of blackberry, salmonberry, ferns, and small saplings without having to scrape a ton of topsoil off the surface. With some steep and uneven terrain, the brush hog would be cumbersome and not the best fit.

Did I make the right choice? Hope so.

 

[tonys55]

I have a 1025R and a Heavy Hitch TB. There is a youtube video by a guy who tested three bars against the factory edge, which I came across after I bought my bar. It's worth a watch.

Although I am a novice next to most of the members on this site, I can attest to the difficulty of using the HH. My feeling is it creates a lot of stress on the loader when you are digging due to the angle of the teeth and the leverage against the bucket. And it cannot be effectively used for back dragging. It does do one thing well and that is clearing light brush and overgrown weeds - at least for the few times I have used it for that purpose. So it stays off the bucket except for clearing - a big disappointment for me.
While I think the video makes perfect sense, I am not sure it is a good idea to drill all the holes in the factory edge to mount the Piranha unless you plan to leave it on. Seems like the holes would weaken the factory edge and therefore the bucket in general when the bar is removed. FWIW

 

[Ken45101]

This may sound awfully picky, but all the tooth bars I've noticed for sale mount with little tabs on the ends, which looks very flimsy to me. My (straight) bucket edge is nice and sturdy and has 5 bolt holes, and it just looks to me like those would be the only decent way of mounting a tooth bar.

If I knew of one with matching holes, or one where you specify hole locations (like my urethane bucket edge), or even one where I was sure I could drill the holes myself (meaning the backbone of the tooth bar covered the hole areas properly), I'd probably spring for it.

I agree. I had a toothbar for my JD skid steer. Twice I broke the end connection. I gave up and bought a real tooth bucket. Both buckets are heavily used and it's one heck of a lot easier to change buckets than it was to wrestle that heavy toothbar on and off.

 

[Edro]

I have a 1025R with a Piranha Toothbar. I've had it on since I right after bought the tractor and am amazed at what it will do over the cutting bar alone. I have treated it very rough and it does not show any wear. My small tractor is much more capable with the toothbar than without it. Highly recommend one.

 

[Molalla1]

I have a 1025R with a Piranha Toothbar. I've had it on since I right after bought the tractor and am amazed at what it will do over the cutting bar alone. I have treated it very rough and it does not show any wear. My small tractor is much more capable with the toothbar than without it. Highly recommend one.

One has just got to remember that a tractor is not an excavator or bulldozer . . .

 

[tonys55]

I have a 1025R with a Piranha Toothbar. I've had it on since I right after bought the tractor and am amazed at what it will do over the cutting bar alone. I have treated it very rough and it does not show any wear. My small tractor is much more capable with the toothbar than without it. Highly recomm

One has just got to remember that a tractor is not an excavator or bulldozer . . .

Point well taken. That is why I now use the backhoe to break up the ground before excavating a smaller area with the loader. If I need a significantly larger area, I guess it would be a box blade or an excavator rental depending on what I'm trying to do. I am planning on installing a paver, turn-around pad just off the asphalt driveway. I think the backhoe and bucket will work just fine. Sure, a mattock, square point shovel, and wheelbarrow could work but I am too old. I use hand tools for the finish work. I guess one could say hand tools are not a TLB.

 

[mike69440]

One has just got to remember that a tractor is not an excavator or bulldozer . . .

The true dedicated TLB's are pretty tough. I'd be on my 3rd std Ag. tractor the same size, as I would have killed a lesser machine. This is what I did for a tooth bar on a 6' hd Round bucket from my L39 with cutting edge, then weld on adapters for small excavator teeth for hard soil digging
Best teeth I have found are.

ESCO® Construction Excavator Lips and Tooth Systems | Weir​

ESCO construction excavator bucket lips and tooth systems for ESCO buckets or retrofit to all popular OEM or competitor buckets.

www.global.weir
For back dragging I have a Cutting edge welded to the bottom backside of my bucket. I find this does a much better job at backdragging tough material thahan beating up the bottom plate of the bucket.

 

[Runner]

Well, daggone it, 'yall went and done it with this thread. I was all happy procrastinating about a toothbar for the last 17 years and then ya went and got me thinkin'.....

So finally pulled the trigger on the Neat Farms 60 1/2" toothbar. They shipped immediately and I got it in 4 days. Dimensions are exactly as stated on their web site (60 1/2" out to out). Fits my JD 61" bucket perfectly (60 7/8" inside). To make it snug, I cut a couple of 3/16" thick steel pads and tacked them to the ends. Looks like a good value to me at $278 (extra teeth are $11 each). Tried it out on my mulch and top soil piles and seems to help as expected.

TractorByNet - helping me spend money for 17 years.....

 

[nybirdman]

Have one and have never taken it off since owning the tractor.Only draw-back is back dragging,have a snow-plow for winter use.

 

[rScotty]

The true dedicated TLB's are pretty tough. I'd be on my 3rd std Ag. tractor the same size, as I would have killed a lesser machine. This is what I did for a tooth bar on a 6' hd Round bucket from my L39 with cutting edge, then weld on adapters for small excavator teeth for hard soil digging
Best teeth I have found are.

ESCO® Construction Excavator Lips and Tooth Systems | Weir​

ESCO construction excavator bucket lips and tooth systems for ESCO buckets or retrofit to all popular OEM or competitor buckets.

www.global.weir
For back dragging I have a Cutting edge welded to the bottom backside of my bucket. I find this does a much better job at backdragging tough material thahan beating up the bottom plate of the bucket.

Mike that's amazing work with that L39. The L39 just might have been the perfect size small TLB - wish that Kubota still made them.

With all the mods that you have done to yours, I'm reminded of another L39 with lots of mods that we saw here on TBN. Do you remember a guy named "4shorts" who used to post here?
4shorts was from Newfoundland and quite the craftsman. He devised some real clever tractor attachments.... though I haven't seen anything by him recently. Hope he is oK.

rScotty

 

[Xfaxman]

I'm reminded of another L39 with lots of mods that we saw here on TBN. Do you remember a guy named "4shorts" who used to post here?
4shorts was from Newfoundland and quite the craftsman. He devised some real clever tractor attachments.... though I haven't seen anything by him recently. Hope he is oK.

He is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfLqRBaI3DGI6ocVUaN8r7Q

 

[wawajake]

He is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfLqRBaI3DGI6ocVUaN8r7Q

View attachment 859885

And his videos re tractor mods are great with some fun in them too

 

[mike69440]

Mike that's amazing work with that L39. The L39 just might have been the perfect size small TLB - wish that Kubota still made them.

With all the mods that you have done to yours, I'm reminded of another L39 with lots of mods that we saw here on TBN. Do you remember a guy named "4shorts" who used to post here?
4shorts was from Newfoundland and quite the craftsman. He devised some real clever tractor attachments.... though I haven't seen anything by him recently. Hope he is oK.

rScotty

I wish the L45/L47L39 family had 43/16-20 minimum 8 Ply rears, with rims that coulds take add on weights. On the front wheels, use the 29/10-16 tires from the M62. Loader should have came factory with 65mm curl cylinders and 60 mm Lift cylinders, to add another 12-15% of loader capacity vs. the 60mm and 55mm currently. The machine woulds then be as strong as a smallish to mid tracksteer, and as still as versatile as a small TLB. Also could probably fit an 11' hoe on the back also without noticeably increasing size of machine.
The M62 could have a small similar increase in loader capacity along with 31" or 33" front tires, and a bit more increased dig force on the 14' hoe.
Minor stuff, but they would be really special then.
Cabs would be nice too.

 

[altoonapillarrock]

Why do you not have a toothbar on your bucket?

Because my BX24 has a backhoe. I loosen and move the material with the backhoe first and then move it with the bucket.

 

[frogpond]

Paul and Kathy Short are great, and so are the accessories they make and sell for tractors. I have on my BX25D their stabilizer -mounted steps for getting on your backhoe, their diff lock pedal extension, and their step for getting up to your tractor more easily. All beautifully made, and they are great to do business with.

 

[Jrasband]

No good reason to not have a bucket with teeth it makes everything easier. Forget the bolt on bar just weld them on with a piece of additional plate so you don't smiley your bucket.

 

[Rockbadchild]

No good reason to not have a bucket with teeth it makes everything easier. Forget the bolt on bar just weld them on with a piece of additional plate so you don't smiley your bucket.

There is 228 reason to not have one right there and no job I can't do without...

 

[wolc123]

Three reasons I don’t own one:
1) They are not free.
2) It would get in the way of really useful stuff like bolt on forks, or a piece of 12” x 24” long steel C-channel, that I bolt under the center of my heavy duty bucket for transplanting trees or digging narrow ditches.
3) It would be tough to make a good grade backdragging with one of those.

Ps, my forks and c-channel “scoop” were free from stuff I found in my scrap pile.

 

[wawajake]

You realize that most toothbars bolt on with two 3/4 bolts and take 5 minutes to take off ? I do like your forks, I did the same thing with some spare c channel ......nice to make our own addons .. thumbs up