YM2310 Bucket mods

[etpm]

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.

 

[ponytug]

Nice job!

My bucket floor and lip were deforming, and bending them back was getting old. To fix it, I bought a weld on replacement bucket edge from Tractor Supply. I had not appreciated the complexities of welding boron steel, so I would recommend the bolt on versions. YMMV...

All the best,

Peter