That's very cool, Sgt Slag. I think I'll give them a try.
One mistake I made when buying my tractor was to equip it with Deere's "heavy duty" bucket, as a primary use of the machine is moving firewood, both in log form (15 foot logs, mostly oak) and in rounds. When moving logs, I use a pair of chain choker slings hung from hooks welded to the top edge of the bucket, and I'd seen way too many Deere buckets with their upper edge all bent to hell from people using them for this very purpose. So... heavy-duty bucket, and the thick bolt-on hardened steel edge... because, why not protect that expensive bucket?
The trouble is that the 320R loader arms and JDQA hardware are already very heavy. Then I put this ~400 lb. bucket on the thing, and I can't even make it up hills with an
empty bucket, without the rear end getting light. So now I
ballast the hell out of the machine, and everything is copacetic... except my lawn, which gets heavily compacted. I also suspect that those skis might not work nearly so well under the relatively high weight of this bucket and loader, in fact I'm pretty sure they won't even fit over the 2"+ thick cutting edge.
I really need to get around to another bucket solution, either making space for storing a second larger-capacity lightweight bucket for moving mulch and sticks, or maybe get a lighter standard capacity bucket and more-lightly re-enforce it for firewood duty. I need a strong top edge for lifting hooks, but I don't need all of the additional side bracing and cutting edge detail that comes with Deere's "Heavy Duty" buckets.