Backhoe Bucket Tooth Wear

jinman · Jan 20, 2011

My LB75B came with some nice single and double tiger-tooth teeth. In the first pictures below, you can see the condition of the teeth when delivered. I've put about 50 hours of digging in caliche and those teeth have lost their points as shown in pictures 3 and 4. Picture 5 is the relief trench I was digging in the caliche so I could break off big chunks like the one shown in picture 6. It worked really well and made the rest of the digging go quickly. Those big chunks easily break up into small football sized pieces when crushed with the bucket lip or backhoe teeth.

What I'm wondering is if anyone is as surprised as I am to see the kind of wear I am getting on these teeth? I've ordered spares that are supposed to arrive by UPS today. For digging in dirt the current teeth are fine. For caliche, the sharper and longer points sure do make digging easier. I've found a source for the twin point teeth for a little over $11 each when bought in sets of 5, and the single tooth models are a bit cheaper. However, spending $50 on teeth in 50 hours seems excessive. The caliche is very abrasive.

ddigger · Jan 20, 2011

Thats not bad wear at all, you may want to fab up or buy yourself a ripper.
As far as the cost thats a bargin. The teeth for my excavator are 78 bucks a piece. And in some conditions I have gone thur a set a day.

jinman · Jan 20, 2011

Thanks ddigger. I'm not sure what you mean by a ripper. Would that fit on the bucket/clamp-on or be something where I'd have to remove the bucket? I found a rock bucket, but it has similar teeth and I'd rather have the flat cutting edge for most jobs. A hammer on the backhoe would also be very nice, but I just can't justify the cost of adding one at this point. If I had a big scarifier tooth that I could bolt onto the bucket I'd bet I could bust up some caliche pretty well with that.

I also was surprised at the price of the teeth. I've seen them for between $17 and $20, so a little over $11 was a bargain. I only bought one set until I can evaluate their quality. I'm guessing I already know the country of origin.

ddigger · Jan 20, 2011

There is a pocket welded either on the back or many times on the inside of the bucket with a hole in the bottem so you can slip a single shank ripper into the pocket and secure with a pin, when a ripper is needed. Here is an example of a external rear mount.

jinman · Jan 21, 2011

That looks super handy. I did a search online and found several installations that were similar. I have a quick attach on my bucket, so finding one that will work with that may be a little harder, but I can see one of those in my future for working in caliche and popping big rocks up. Thanks for the info.:thumbsup:

jinman · Jan 21, 2011

I received my shipments of replacement bucket teeth from both suppliers on the same UPS delivery truck. Both orders were placed on the 17th and delivered on the 20th via UPS Ground. The shipment from Ag Industrial (agindustrial.com) for 6 teeth was $34.19 and the teeth were $17.35 each with no mounting hardware. The shipment from Romac Industrial Parts (romacindustrialparts.com) was for 8 pieces and $21.50 with the teeth being $11.90 each including the mounting pins. On the surface, it looks like Romac is the better deal.

I've taken pictures of the parts supplied below. Ag-Industrial is at the top and the shiny one at the bottom is Romac. Romac has an oblong mounting hole and may allow the tooth some movement on the bucket stub. They both look to have identical mounting stub sizes. The Ag-Industrial part has "China" stamped inside the mounting flange, but no such stamping is found on the Romac part.

I'll install a combination of these on my bucket and see how they do with use, but if all is equal, it now appears the Romac part is the better deal. Stay tuned. . . .

SixHoeBob · Jan 21, 2011

For hard digging I bought an 18" trenching bucket with three teeth. I replaced the worn teeth with new Tiger teeth like you have. Less teeth means more digging force per tooth. A narrower trench means less resistance to overcome. The relief trench is a good Idea, and then digging out the large chunks. When you get a large area close to grade, put the 24" bucket on to finish with. The idea of the quick coupler and various buckets is to use the correct tool for the job. The savings on teeth, wear/tear on tractor, fuel, and time should easily pay for the bucket. Plus the 18" bucket is a nice width for water,sewer, and electric lines.

dcyrilc · Jan 21, 2011

As said earlier, that's not bad wear. We have glacial till here which can really wear teeth. I've watched a 300 Kamatsu with a 24" bucket stand on it's heels while scraping 1/2" -1" of material and smoke coming from the teeth. BTW, they had tiger teeth on that 24" bucket. We had to auger some street light bases in the same area and were going through teeth on the auger every 3-4 hours.

As for using a ripper, how about getting a ripper for a box blade and fabbing up a mount to fit it on your quick disconnect? Should be pretty straight forward to make and not that expensive.

Jbrink64 · Jan 22, 2011

Love to help you with this one. Where I am, it's all rock buckets and hammers, and we break the hammers.

jinman · Jan 22, 2011

Jbrink64 said:
Love to help you with this one. Where I am, it's all rock buckets and hammers, and we break the hammers.

I think I get your inference. I should quit whining like a mamby pamby and be happy I have it so easy, huh?:laughing: I suspect there's a bit of truth in that.