Express Steel smooth bucket good idea?

   / Express Steel smooth bucket good idea? #1  

cprausa

New member
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Sep 4, 2008
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4
My ATI bucket is rusting through. It appears the Express Steel round 66” bucket weighing 320# is the best replacement price at $930. The L2248 Kubota bucket is a little cheaper at $875 but only weighs 212# which seems pretty light weight. I deal with a lot of rocks in the NE so want something mid-duty but don’t want to take too much of the lifting power from my Kubota LA723 loader. I’ll likely try and convert the old ATI into a light materails bucket after patching it. I also looked at the EA Wicked 66” wicked bucket at $1510 (+ shp?) that weighs 292#. Any thoughts?
 
   / Express Steel smooth bucket good idea? #2  
I have express steel forks. There good quality, US built and easy to deal with.

Have you checked tomahawlk brand?
 
   / Express Steel smooth bucket good idea?
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Thanks for the response. I did check out the Tomahawk after reading your post. It turns out ES sells both. The Tomahawk is about $125 cheaper but the ES bucket has 1/3 thicker steel so I opted for the heavier bucket in the end.
 
   / Express Steel smooth bucket good idea? #4  
There are 2 distinct classes of loader buckets. There is the light duty material handling bucket which is primarily for moving dirt piles and light duty grading and levelling and will have a single sheet bottom and the heavy duty excavation bucket which will have a double sheet bottom and most likely extra flat gussets on the bottom. Both can come with welded on or replaceable cutting edges but what determines the HD bucket versus the lighter duty bucket will be the bottom sheet or sheets in the case of the HD bucket.

Most people don't realize there are 2 distinct versions and Kubota (and I assume other manufacturers) offer the light duty materials bucket as standard equipment and the HD bucket as an option. I know for a fact that is how Kubota does it and you have to specify which bucket you want when buying a new unit.
If I were you, I'd buy the Kubota bucket as I have one and I've never had an issue with it, very stout and already painted the correct color. I also have the light duty bucket, in fact I own 4 buckets for 2 units. One has my round bale spear installed in it and stays installed.

The other aspect that you don't allude to is, is your unit a 2 handle quick detach or is the bucket a pin on? If it's QD, then you'll need a compatible bucket with the correct spacing for the cam lock handles.
 
   / Express Steel smooth bucket good idea?
  • Thread Starter
#5  
The concern I have on the heavy duty buckets is the weight. I think the lifting capacity of my loader is around 1500# at the pivot. If I go heavy duty I’ll be using up at least 400# and likely significantly more since it’s in front of the pivot. Many of the heavy duty buckets I looked at were closer to 600# making it even worse. I am beginning to believe, that when buying tractors and chainsaws, the only thing you can be confident in is that whatever you buy won’t be big enough.
 
   / Express Steel smooth bucket good idea? #6  
For me, bucket weight is inconsequential in as much as my loaders are both capable of over 2500 pounds of lift. Keep in mind that a material bucket will be failure prone if used beyond it's design limits as well. I've 're[aired many material buckets with 'smiles' in the bottom sheet from extending the design parameters, which is what happens usually and then the bucket is no longer and good for levelling on a back drag.
 
   / Express Steel smooth bucket good idea? #7  
Have you thought about just repairing your current bucket?

When I bought my TC40 it had a badly rotted out bucket. Keeping an eye on marketplace for plate steel I got a nice section in the size I needed for $100. I cut out the whole bottom and 8in of the back.
 
   / Express Steel smooth bucket good idea?
  • Thread Starter
#8  
I did give that some thought. The bucket I have has a rounded interior that I’d have to deal with. In the end, I thought I’d extend the old bucket sides and bottom for hauling chips. Hopefully, I’ll find a post that describes how to do that.
 
 

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