Light-material bucket for KL120?

[chelydra]

I know this comes up from time to time; hoping there might be some new ideas.

I haul a lot of wood chips with my CK20/KL120. It's slow moving them 1/4 yard at a time over long distances. Dealer says that they don't make a light-material bucket, that buckets for the larger Kiotis can't be fit to the KL120 mounts, and that it wouldn't be safe anyway.

I don't get the safety argument - loader has no problem with a full bucket of gravel, which is close to half a ton. Is there really an issue?

So - what are the options? If I could find a cheap used bucket around here (Eastern MA), I'd get a welder to extend it. Or maybe get a three-sided extension made and mount it temporarily with C-clamps? Other ideas?

Thanks-

Chelydra

(Nervously about to ask dealer about fixing the four cracks on my cross-tube, since they've done a hack job on a couple of other repairs.)

 

[IslandTractor]

I like your idea of a three sided extension. Maybe you could even do that with plywood if you are just moving wood chips.

Another possibility is to use a trailer: fill it with the regular bucket then haul it to whereever.

Have you considered getting a QA adapter for the KL120? That would allow you to buy or rent any number of large buckets. ATI sells an adapter and I am sure others do as well.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Have you considered getting a QA adapter for the KL120? That would allow you to buy or rent any number of large buckets. ATI sells an adapter and I am sure others do as well.

Ed that may not be possible. With the little tractors the width of spread of the loader arms may not be correct to connect up to the traditional QA set up that is used on larger tractors. Worth checking before investing $$$

Again, I don't know, I'm just tossing out the cautionary note to take some measurements before you spend money.

 

[TBDonnelly]

Here's a large light materials bucket a talented fabricator (stray) made for his power-trac.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48067

Don

 

[IslandTractor]

Ed that may not be possible. With the little tractors the width of spread of the loader arms may not be correct to connect up to the traditional QA set up that is used on larger tractors. Worth checking before investing $$$

Again, I don't know, I'm just tossing out the cautionary note to take some measurements before you spend money.

They are available. I have a QA adapter that allows me to use standard QA attachments including grapple, forks and tree boom. There are a number of companies that make the adapters to fit the KL120/130 pin sets. ATI does I am pretty sure. Photo of my QA adapter which I got from Millonzi but I don't know who the original manufacturer was. Rick Wallace may know.

 

[dfkrug]

I know this comes up from time to time; hoping there might be some new ideas.

I haul a lot of wood chips with my CK20/KL120. It's slow moving them 1/4 yard at a time over long distances. Dealer says that they don't make a light-material bucket, that buckets for the larger Kiotis can't be fit to the KL120 mounts, and that it wouldn't be safe anyway.

QUOTE]

I am just completing a 1-cy bucket for my CK30. It is light-duty, fabbed
from angle iron and 1/16" galv sheet. I will post when complete. I have
taken what I call a fork-centric approach to my KL130. I replaced the
factory bucket with fixed custom forks and I fabbed several implements
to fit on the forks. My Super Loader Bkt does that with 2 fork tubes.
I find the skidsteer QAs to be heavy and extend the attachments out
too far, limiting lift capacity.

 

[IslandTractor]

I find the skidsteer QAs to be heavy and extend the attachments out
too far, limiting lift capacity.

I agree the QA adapter adds weight but so do the forks. My forks are quite heavy, much heavier than the adapter and also put the weight of the forks further from the pivot point. I'm guessing but I'd say my adapter weighs less than 100 lbs while my forks setup weighs in at well over 250lbs.

 

[DirtHauler]

When I had my CK20, it came with the 48" bucket, it took a loooooong time to move 10 yrds. of compost! I looked for a lighter larger bucket but found none. I ended up buying the 54" bucket. When I sold the liitle guy, I kept the 54" thinking I would use it on my CK30 or something, now it just sits in the corner of the garage........any ideas?

 

[chelydra]

... There are a number of companies that make the adapters to fit the KL120/130 pin sets. ATI does I am pretty sure.

I spoke to someone at ATI who may have set a record for helpfulness and balanced information. Their system would be ideal, but both sides of a QA plus a new bucket is a bit over budget at this point. If I survive the next round of dealer repairs to dealer-induced damage, I might decide to make further major investments in the machine for the long haul.

I am just completing a 1-cy bucket for my CK30. It is light-duty, fabbed from angle iron and 1/16" galv sheet. I will post when complete.

Looking forward to the pix - might solve my problem as well.

I think that fabricating something simple out of 3/16" steel plate and bolting on might be trickier than I first thought - all the curves and angles on the KL120 bucket may be hard to mate. But still playing around with sheets of cardboard...

 

[dfkrug]

I spoke to someone at ATI who may have set a record for helpfulness and balanced information. Their system would be ideal, but both sides of a QA plus a new bucket is a bit over budget at this point. If I survive the next round of dealer repairs to dealer-induced damage, I might decide to make further major investments in the machine for the long haul.



Looking forward to the pix - might solve my problem as well.

I think that fabricating something simple out of 3/16" steel plate and bolting on might be trickier than I first thought - all the curves and angles on the KL120 bucket may be hard to mate. But still playing around with sheets of cardboard...

Although some CUT buckets may have 3/16" carcass plate, many have only
1/8". For a large bucket, that gets heavy real fast. Even the 1/16 galv
sheet I am using for my 1cy bucket will weigh over 150 lb alone. Oh yeah,
no bolting, only welding for me.