etpm
Veteran Member
The Bulldog 285 bucket on my tractor needed a couple mods. The steel on the bottom is quite thin and when the clamp on forks are used the steel bends a lot and dents. So I cut a couple 3/16 inch thick plates and welded them to the bottom of the bucket. I placed them so that the contact point of the forks would be in the middle of the plates. Last night I realized this placement was wrong. The pad on the end of the screw clamp does not contact the inside of the bucket opposite the plates I welded on, but instead contacts right at the edge. So I will need to cut 2 more plates and weld them on. Still, the reinforcement will help until I weld the new plates on.
The bucket also did not curl enough while at the same time went considerably past 90 degrees when dumping. So I made a couple extensions to the loader arms to get more curl. The result is about 12 degrees more curl but the dump is now about 88 degrees. I can live with that. The bucket had so little curl when on the ground it would not hold very much dirt or whatever. Now it will. I was gonna weld the extensions on but chickened out and bolted them on.
Please see the attached pictures below.
The bucket also did not curl enough while at the same time went considerably past 90 degrees when dumping. So I made a couple extensions to the loader arms to get more curl. The result is about 12 degrees more curl but the dump is now about 88 degrees. I can live with that. The bucket had so little curl when on the ground it would not hold very much dirt or whatever. Now it will. I was gonna weld the extensions on but chickened out and bolted them on.
Please see the attached pictures below.
