Backhoe Bucket Tooth Wear

[jinman]

I got my bucket to the "dentist" today. Getting the old teeth off turned out to be a real chore. Two of the tooth stubs on the bucket were too thick at the tip and would not allow the teeth to go on far enough. The previous owner just pounded in bolts to hold them on and they were bowed so badly they didn't want to come out. I took a small sledge and drift punch to force them out, but it was work because I didn't have a lot of room between teeth to work. You can see one of the bent bolts in the first photo below. The photo is before I took my angle grinder to the stubs to allow the teeth to go on another 1/8". That's all it took to make the 7/16" bolts slide right through the holes. The 2nd picture is of ground down stubs. I mounted three dual tiger-tooth teeth and two single-tooth teeth (final picture). When I started digging in the caliche, it was like a different bucket. It just plows in and crumbles the caliche with ease. I would say these new teeth doubled my productivity and gave my bucket a nice new smile.

 

[ddigger]

Very nice!

 

[teg]

Have you thought about Hard Facing Welding Rods... add to the teeth and let that material wear away? I've seen it done but don't know much about it...

 

[jinman]

Have you thought about Hard Facing Welding Rods... add to the teeth and let that material wear away? I've seen it done but don't know much about it...

New teeth are less than $12 each, so I wouldn't spend the time, huge number of welding rods, and welder doing something like that. The teeth are a bargain to buy and were delivered quickly. Hard facing is good for maintaining edges, but restoring so much lost material seems a bad use of time and materials. Now that I've fixed the installation problems, this is going to be no more trouble than doing a grease job to my tractor.:thumbsup:

 

[bindian]

I got my bucket to the "dentist" today. Getting the old teeth off turned out to be a real chore. Two of the tooth stubs on the bucket were too thick at the tip and would not allow the teeth to go on far enough. The previous owner just pounded in bolts to hold them on and they were bowed so badly they didn't want to come out. I took a small sledge and drift punch to force them out, but it was work because I didn't have a lot of room between teeth to work. You can see one of the bent bolts in the first photo below. The photo is before I took my angle grinder to the stubs to allow the teeth to go on another 1/8". That's all it took to make the 7/16" bolts slide right through the holes. The 2nd picture is of ground down stubs. I mounted three dual tiger-tooth teeth and two single-tooth teeth (final picture). When I started digging in the caliche, it was like a different bucket. It just plows in and crumbles the caliche with ease. I would say these new teeth doubled my productivity and gave my bucket a nice new smile.

Jim,
Why did you go with 3 tiger teeth instead of 5? What is the width of your bucket? Do you think those dual tiger teeth would work on stumps and roots? Since the hardest thing I hit besides hard pan clay is roots, I was wondering how two on the outer positions of my 4 tooth bucket would work. Wait, strike that....I need to figure out if they would hit the thumb. How wide are they? My thumb only works with my 24 inch bucket, so I could get them for my 12 inch bucket for extreme digging. Below are my unused and used teeth. The unused square ones are on my 12 inch bucket. The worn ones are on my 24 inch. You can tell which one I use the most.
hugs, Brandi

 

[jinman]

Jim,
Why did you go with 3 tiger teeth instead of 5? What is the width of your bucket? Do you think those dual tiger teeth would work on stumps and roots? Since the hardest thing I hit besides hard pan clay is roots, I was wondering how two on the outer positions of my 4 tooth bucket would work.

Brandi, I thought about going with 5 dual-teeth, but since the configuration when I bought the TLB was two on the outside and 3 singles, I decided to first try just the dual in the middle and leave two singles. I bought lots of teeth, so I can configure the bucket anyway I want the next time the teeth need replacing based on how I think this works out.

I'm not sure what you mean about the thumb. It seems to me the thumb would work just fine with these teeth. I don't think you have to worry about breaking off a tooth because the teeth are pretty darn strong. I haven't found any roots that these teeth have any problem with either. Of course, if the roots are big enough, they are going to stall the backhoe anyhow, but for normal small roots, this thing is a beast. My backhoe is 92 hp and there isn't much that wins the battle with it.

My bucket is 24" wide, but has 5 teeth. I can see from your pictures that your 24" bucket with only 4 teeth sure has a lot of room between teeth. Because the dual tiger teeth are slightly spread, they would benefit your bucket's digging by covering a wider space, but with intense pressure at the points. I think they will work well.

Finally, I do see a little wear on your teeth, but I think others would agree with me that even your 24" bucket's tooth wear is minimum. If you go to the tiger teeth, hang on to your others because I believe I'd prefer that type of tooth for digging in soft dirt. I even bought some to put on my bucket for a test run to see how they work. There is nothing wrong with the flat tooth for every day digging.

 

[J_J]

Jim,

Just an observation, but have you considered using a hyd jack hammer with a 6 in blade/wedge to break off rather large chunks of the caliche. The hammer would fit on your bucket.

 

[jinman]

Jim,

Just an observation, but have you considered using a hyd jack hammer with a 6 in blade/wedge to break off rather large chunks of the caliche. The hammer would fit on your bucket.

J_J, I think a hammer would just be overkill. Hammers are expensive compared to this bucket and our caliche is tough and abrasive, but breaks up pretty easily. I can set the teeth of the bucket down on a big caliche boulder and with a little pressure, it just pulverizes it. My feeling on the bucket is if I can make one reach with the bucket and fill it as I crowd the dipper, then I can't get any better than that. With the new teeth, I can fill my bucket with every dig cycle, so I'm very pleased. When the teeth get dull, I get about 1/2 bucket of materials each pass in caliche, so the new teeth are a dramatic improvement.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Have you thought about Hard Facing Welding Rods... add to the teeth and let that material wear away? I've seen it done but don't know much about it...

New teeth are less than $12 each, so I wouldn't spend the time, huge number of welding rods, and welder doing something like that. The teeth are a bargain to buy and were delivered quickly. Hard facing is good for maintaining edges, but restoring so much lost material seems a bad use of time and materials. Now that I've fixed the installation problems, this is going to be no more trouble than doing a grease job to my tractor.:thumbsup:

As meant - You face the teeth early to give a very hard wear surface .. and then as needed. Shouldnt take more than a minute per tooth each time. Hard facing is not for buildup.
larry

 

[jinman]

As meant - You face the teeth early to give a very hard wear surface .. and then as needed. Shouldnt take more than a minute per tooth each time. Hard facing is not for buildup.
larry

Got it! Hardfacing would prevent the wear rather than replace lost material.

 

[bindian]

Brandi, I thought about going with 5 dual-teeth, but since the configuration when I bought the TLB was two on the outside and 3 singles, I decided to first try just the dual in the middle and leave two singles. I bought lots of teeth, so I can configure the bucket anyway I want the next time the teeth need replacing based on how I think this works out.

I'm not sure what you mean about the thumb. It seems to me the thumb would work just fine with these teeth. I don't think you have to worry about breaking off a tooth because the teeth are pretty darn strong. I haven't found any roots that these teeth have any problem with either. Of course, if the roots are big enough, they are going to stall the backhoe anyhow, but for normal small roots, this thing is a beast. My backhoe is 92 hp and there isn't much that wins the battle with it.

My bucket is 24" wide, but has 5 teeth. I can see from your pictures that your 24" bucket with only 4 teeth sure has a lot of room between teeth. Because the dual tiger teeth are slightly spread, they would benefit your bucket's digging by covering a wider space, but with intense pressure at the points. I think they will work well.

Finally, I do see a little wear on your teeth, but I think others would agree with me that even your 24" bucket's tooth wear is minimum. If you go to the tiger teeth, hang on to your others because I believe I'd prefer that type of tooth for digging in soft dirt. I even bought some to put on my bucket for a test run to see how they work. There is nothing wrong with the flat tooth for every day digging.

Jim,
When my bucket curls into the stowed position, the two inner teeth clear the thumb by about an 1/2 inch. Make that 3/8 inch with the slop in everything.

I called Romac parts and emailed them my Brandco part numbers today and also sent photos. They are checking to see if the part numbers will cross reference. I may have to take a tooth off and measure the shank.

My Mahinda dealer wants $20.30 for each "stock" tooth and $8.39 for each roll pin.:ashamed: Since reading your post, and seeing you have 5 teeth compared to my 4 teeth on our 24 inch buckets, I am going to check out moving two teeth and installing a 5th tooth.

In hard packed clay, the gaps between the teeth cause a little frustation in digging full buckets at a reasonable pace. This is what is slowing me down, not so much my rounded shoulder teeth.

I want to change it to either to 5 teeth with some or all dual tigers, or install 4 dual tiger teeth and grind down the tiger tooth side that doesn't clear the thumb enough.

Thanks for the input and web address.:thumbsup:
hugs, Brandi

 

[jinman]

I called Romac parts and emailed them my Brandco part numbers today and also sent photos. They are checking to see if the part numbers will cross reference. I may have to take a tooth off and measure the shank.

My Mahinda dealer wants $20.30 for each "stock" tooth and $8.39 for each roll pin.:ashamed: Since reading your post, and seeing you have 5 teeth compared to my 4 teeth on our 24 inch buckets, I am going to check out moving two teeth and installing a 5th tooth.

Brandi, it sounds like you have a plan going. I'm not sure, but I think if you can remove a tooth and take measurments on the stub, that would be good too. It's just a real pain when you have them attached with rollpins. At least your rollpins are vertical instead of horizontal and you don't have to drive them out side-to-side. I look at them and think how easy it would be to fabricate a roll pin insertion/removal tool that looks like a fork on the bottom with a screw like a C-clamp on top. Somebody must have one of those on the market somewhere.

Also, one of the TBN advertisers with a long history of being helpful is Everything Attachments. They sell Bradco hoes and buckets. I did not see any teeth on their website, but you might shoot them an email or call and see what they have to offer.

 

[bindian]

Brandi, it sounds like you have a plan going. I'm not sure, but I think if you can remove a tooth and take measurments on the stub, that would be good too. It's just a real pain when you have them attached with rollpins. At least your rollpins are vertical instead of horizontal and you don't have to drive them out side-to-side. I look at them and think how easy it would be to fabricate a roll pin insertion/removal tool that looks like a fork on the bottom with a screw like a C-clamp on top. Somebody must have one of those on the market somewhere.

Also, one of the TBN advertisers with a long history of being helpful is Everything Attachments. They sell Bradco hoes and buckets. I did not see any teeth on their website, but you might shoot them an email or call and see what they have to offer.

Jim,
I am convinced if I got OEM, it will cost a bunch. Bradco is known for being "pricey".
I have modified a C-clamp like you describe.:thumbsup: It is in my tool box at the hangar for frozen roller bearings on the sides of Boeing 737 cargo doors.

A C-clamp of sufficient size with sockets on each side of the roll pin will work. The "pusher" socket is the just a tad smaller than the roll pin and the "catcher" socket is bigger then the roll pin. The C-clamp pushes the pusher socket into the roll pin, which exits into the catcher socket.

It would be nice on yours if all the tooth shank holes lined up. That way, with long punches or socket extensions, it would be a snap to hammer out all your curvy bolts. :laughing:
hugs, Brandi

 

[Jbrink64]

Jinman, I use a pin master tool for getting the pins ( or bolts) out.

http://www.pinmaster.com/item.asp?iid=250

 

[SPYDERLK]

Other than on Jinmans, what is the problem just using a hammer and punch on the pins. If theres access I think that would be most convenient.
larry

 

[bindian]

Jinman, I use a pin master tool for getting the pins ( or bolts) out.

Home PIN MASTER Pinmaster Davom

I know that will work. We use something like that at work with a rivet gun (fancy air hammer) to knock out cargo door stop fittings.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Other than on Jinmans, what is the problem just using a hammer and punch on the pins. If theres access I think that would be most convenient.
larry

Hammers and punches are great when there is room.

However, when space doesn't allow swinging a hammer or you need a third hand to back up the part you are trying to get a frozen pin or bolt out of, the C clamp trick works great. It also works great for pressing bushings and bearings in or out.

Sometimes, hammering will be too much for a fragile part or casting that can crack from a hammer whacking it. Having backup concentrates the impact on the pin and not on the part. I am talking in general and not specifically on bucket teeth removal. Whack away on the teeth.:laughing::laughing:

hugs, Brandi

 

[jinman]

Jinman, I use a pin master tool for getting the pins ( or bolts) out.

Home PIN MASTER Pinmaster Davom

I looked at one of those when looking for teeth, and it prompted me to talk about not having installation instructions for teeth in the operator or service manuals. I know how that tool works for both insertion and removal, but I swear I do not think that split pin shown in use on the tool will work on my backhoe teeth. The darn pin would not extend out on each side of the stub and the tooth would just fall off. If I have room, I can deal with nuts and bolts alot better than a high-tech split pin.:confused2:

 

[Bob Rooks]

What is a good source for Tiger Teeth?

 

[jinman]

What is a good source for Tiger Teeth?

I like Romac. They are cheaper than other places and seem to have good service and quick delivery of parts with standard shipping.