4-in-1 CAT 78" Multipurpose 4 in 1 Bucket on John Deere 110 TLB

[V1BuzzBomb]

I picked up a CAT 78" multipurpose 4 in 1 bucket last month for the John Deere 110 TLB. I have the front auxiliary hydraulics to support it. The bucket was very clean with little use. I think the $1500 price tag was a great deal. I bought it primarily for grappling long log tree trunk for firewood but have not used for that yet. I have moved railroad ties, large steel pipe columns and woodstove length firewood. Bottom dump feature in nice. Bucket action is fairly quick and grip very tight. There are teeth in the lower section of the jaw. I have also used for snow-plowing, snow bank push back and snow bank removal. When I get the chance to use it for firewood processing, I hope/plan to use as saw buck on long length tree trunk logs. Will post images as soon as I can

 

[Tags]

Should work real well for you. Cat makes some good buckets, I had that exact same bucket on my 287B MTL. I Put about 2000hrs on it and it held up quite well, the only "problem" I had with it was I bowed the jaw of the bucket trying to clamp a rock that was too big to fit, dumb on my part. I would suggest removing the back cover plate that covers the lines and never seize all the bolts, because when a line blows you'll need to remove it to replace the line. The only thing that may disappoint you is that it may lessen the curl power of your bucket when trying to dig out of a pile, since the lip of the bucket is probably longer than the standard 110 buckets, other than, it should serve you well.

 

[V1BuzzBomb]

Images of bucket mounted, roof raking snow into bucket and snow bank relocation with bucket.

 

[disney]

Greetings, and nice bucket. May I ask what the 3rd connector is for that is beside the front pair of hydraulic couplers?

 

[ultrarunner]

Thanks for posting the pictures...

I have a 110 and always like to see how others are using them.

More than a few times I thought a 4 in 1 would have come in handy!

Do you have other attachments and/or a rear remote?

The one thing I could really use is a post hole digger and if backhoe mounted I could get a lot of use out of it... no rear remote for me.

 

[V1BuzzBomb]

Greetings, and nice bucket. May I ask what the 3rd connector is for that is beside the front pair of hydraulic couplers?

Of course you can!
It is an electrical connector. The original owner ran a Vee plow. The Vee plow was run in A or B constant flow plumbed off the remotes with an additional open center valve with separate electric control at the joystick. That's the electrical connection for the Vee plow, which I do not have.

 

[Tags]

Looks good on there! Another thing I did to my bucket was I installed a 5" piece of steel on the top of the bucket between the mounts for the 4n1 cylinders to get a little more capacity out of it. It would also help to keep material from falling back onto the machine.

 

[V1BuzzBomb]

Thanks for posting the pictures...

I have a 110 and always like to see how others are using them.

More than a few times I thought a 4 in 1 would have come in handy!

Do you have other attachments and/or a rear remote?

Yes and yes. I list all my current attachments in my signature. Here they are:

Foot controlled backhoe thumb
72" JD Pro loader bucket.
88" Bobcat Snow Bucket.
48" Bradco/Pine Plains quick attach forks
78" CAT multipurpose 4 in 1 bucket

Shortly, I plan to acquire and implement a dual action 3 point hitch splitter. My first intent is to modify mounting to hang off top edge of my 88" snow bucket, plumb to front A/B remotes. I'll run in constant flow to default splitter open center valve and control at splitter. Intent is to split directly into bucket. I can set split height with loader control. When bucket full, I can drive machine to dump point or rack and unload at convenient height or simply dump. Intent is to leave splitter on even through dump operation. If I wanted to be real tricky, I would eliminate the splitter valve and run off machine A/B valve directly to splitter piston. In that case, I could simply turn machine on, energize the front remotes, enjoy a hot coffee in my heated cab on a sub-zero degree day and simply cycle the A/B switch on the joysticK to split wood. Problem is to find someone gullible enough to load and unload cordwood into the splitter, in the cold, while I'm sitting in the seat in the heated cab excersizing my right hand thumb. It wouldn't be safe either, so that part is a pipe dream.

I have the rear remotes as well. They are controlled by the Joystick. On my machine exists the illustration of the rear remotes on the decal near the joystick. They are described in the operator's manual as well.

Rear auxiliary hydraulics A/B, joystick control selectable or constant flow, C/D/E/F joystick control with float and regen.

 

[V1BuzzBomb]

Looks good on there! Another thing I did to my bucket was I installed a 5" piece of steel on the top of the bucket between the mounts for the 4n1 cylinders to get a little more capacity out of it. It would also help to keep material from falling back onto the machine.

I've seen that done before, makes sense. I've seen it done with expanded metal or other perforated plate so as to add capacity but maintain a sight hole.

I've found that the angle of the quick attach plates when plowing, backdragging open and closing clamshell fairly critical. I've been practicing. To backdrag, clamshell open in boxblade effect with clean up takes the following for me...

Open clamshell, curl bucket way out such that only clamshell cutting edge will touch down, backdrag, curl in to point of bucket sight aid for level is in fact level, drop plow blade, push up to spoil amd close clamshell. In some circumstances, this whole process may work best in loader "float".

I quickly found that backdragging with clamshell open and try to close clamshell to pick up spoil accomplishes nothing except try to lift front of machine and leave a big mess. The bucket angles are all wrong.

Yes, the 110 is my first true machine and I'm not an experienced operator, but I'm figuring it out.

 

[Tags]

Most guys use expanded metal on the back of the bucket to keep an eye on the cutting edge when it is being run on a skid steer. Since the 110 has a level indicator you could probably add a taller spill plate and not have any worries about seeing the edge. I like your idea with the wood splitter as well, being able to dump the bucket while leaving the splitter attached would be a real time saver.

As far as not being a seasoned operator I would think the 110 will serve as an excellent machine for you to master your skills. It is a user friendly machine and the hydraulics are smooth as can be. One of the complaints I had with the one I owned was that it was very loud with the cab on, other than that it was a very nice unit.