4 in 1 Bucket, General Questions

[bdhsfz6]

I'm considering a 4 in 1 bucket for the QA on my MX5800 / LA1065 FEL. Are these buckets as strong as an OEM one piece bucket? Are they an effective replacement for the OEM bucket or just for specific lighter duty applications? I've looked at a few so far and all appear to be prone to bending or breaking under heavy duty use. I move a lot of heavy material such as rocks, gravel, stumps and large logs. I also do a lot of back dragging and leveling work. Will a 4 in 1 stand up to these rugged tasks or should I keep my OEM bucket and use the 4 in 1 for lighter duty work like moving mulch or small gravel piles.

 

[EddieWalker]

I don't have one. I was looking into them and thought it would be great to be able to pick up stuff with it, but still be able to get a load of dirt too. My neighbor bought a new tractor with one and it's really impressive, but he regularly bends his with logs that come free on one side and swing out on him. This has happened several times that I know of, and each time, he spends the day heating and bending it back into shape.

I went with a grapple instead, and change from it to the bucket when I need to move dirt. Turns out that 90 percent of the time, I'm using the grapple.

 

[Rustyiron]

I'm with Eddie on this one with one exception. I had a heavy built 4in1 4-IN-1 Multi-Purpose Construction Buckets - Construction Attachments Inc that in my opinion was built many times heavier than a "factory bucket" and was unable to damage it, but it did not do what I wanted it to do, which was grabbing logs, brush, and other odd shaped loads. These buckets were very popular in the day's before the many variations of grapple buckets available today. For "dirt work" they are handy but can be too heavy for smaller carriers/tractors.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I'm with Eddie on this one with one exception. I had a heavy built 4in1 4-IN-1 Multi-Purpose Construction Buckets - Construction Attachments Inc that in my opinion was built many times heavier than a "factory bucket" and was unable to damage it, but it did not do what I wanted it to do, which was grabbing logs, brush, and other odd shaped loads. These buckets were very popular in the day's before the many variations of grapple buckets available today. For "dirt work" they are handy but can be too heavy for smaller carriers/tractors.

The CA 4 was one I looked at. It did appear to be stronger than most and tough to damage. At close to 1000#, it's almost half the lifting capacity of my LA1065. I do have a grapple which works well for larger objects but obviously not for small loose material. Thanks for the advice and link though.

 

[JWR]

I'm with Eddie on this one with one exception. I had a heavy built 4in1 4-IN-1 Multi-Purpose Construction Buckets - Construction Attachments Inc that in my opinion was built many times heavier than a "factory bucket" and was unable to damage it, but it did not do what I wanted it to do, which was grabbing logs, brush, and other odd shaped loads. These buckets were very popular in the day's before the many variations of grapple buckets available today. For "dirt work" they are handy but can be too heavy for smaller carriers/tractors.

Amen Rustyiron. I have a 76" Construction Attachments (CAL) brand 4-in-1 bucket model 1MPHC76E Extreme Duty Multipurpose Extended bottom, high capacity. It weighs a bit over 1000lbs and is stronger than most factory buckets. Use it on an 81 horse MF tractor. CAL sells a wide variety of buckets and you can probably find the best size, weight, etc. for your applications. See CAL website (and several others) for elaborate variety of choices. The beauty of having the skid steer compatibility is there are so many manufacturers and choices. As I recall CAL sells 2 or 3 grades of light to heavy duty. Mine is a skid-steer compatible quick attach using the MF factory adapter.

BY THE WAY, the vertical location of the attach point on the back of the skid-steer compatible buckets is not always quite right for tractor front end loaders. VERY hard to find out in advance of buying one. With the attach points on the back of the bucket sitting down too low, your tractor FEL frame tips can be lower than the back bottom of the bucket (!) This limits how far below level you can dig a little bit compared to the std buckets. It is somewhat subtle and you may own it for years before you notice. The MF skid-steer adapters for FELs are designed with the plates sitting what I say is 3 to 4" too high. They should be lower relative to the loader frames for better matching with skid-steer buckets. Your Kubota may differ and might be better on that fine point. Kubota has had the good sense to put skid-steer compatible plates on most of their larger tractor FELs years before other brands.

About Rustyiron's 4-in-1 not grabbing logs, brush, etc. very well -- me too. Frustrating. But I did not want the nuisance of taking a grapple bucket on and off, paying the cash for it , etc. Much better if you can leave the 4-in-1 on. So I bought an extra 76" x 4" bar that CAL sells as a replacement cutting edge for the "dozer mode" of the 4-in1. I had 8 teeth made of 1/2" steel plate welded onto that bar. The teeth are made so that they just barely clear the clamshell of the bucket when it closes and rest just under the clamshell. That way I pick up logs, posts, debris etc. on the first try instead of the tree or limb slipping out, I don't need a separate grapple, and the bucket stays on all the time. Also, being on a replacement cutting edge, the whole thing can be unbolted and return the bucket to standard anytime I want to. You may very well invent a better style/size/configuration for your liking. See attached picture. View attachment 508579

 

[KubotaToy]

I am the same as Eddie, have grapple and a bucket, use grapple 95% of the time.

 

[ArlyA]

Has anyone seen the JD 4-in-one buckets they sell for the 40 series? I just looked for its model number and could not locate it. I don't mind beefing it up some, but if its junk to start with and can't even pick up a 6" log, whats the point.