Loader Bucket Build

Shield Arc · Apr 23, 2015

Wow, beautiful work!:thumbsup::thumbsup:
I've never worked with Hardox material, heard of it tho.

PILOON · Apr 23, 2015

Nice work.
How much do you figure it weighs? might you be on the heavy side?

ThomasH · Apr 23, 2015

Very nice!

If you end up using it to dig up some rock or stumps, you may need to "wrap" the cutting edge around the sides by bevelling some cutting edge and doing a full root pass weld up the sides a foot or so. It adds a tremendous amount of strength to the front corners for digging.

CalG · Apr 23, 2015

jb1390 said:
3 chain hooks on the top lip, and a D-Ring with chain hook on the inside of the bucket in the middle. The top lip is also reinforced in a triangular shape, similar to the bottom rear but not as exaggerated. It tapers from 3/8" (two 3/16" sheets side by side), to about a 2.5" thick section where it meets the rear of the bucket. It should keep the top lip from bending under a chained load for sure. Anything really heavy will use the inner chain hook anyway.

Wire wheeled the welds to remove slight oxide layer, carbon and copper, and sprayed primer on the clean metal. The hardox comes with a primer, so unless I ground it off I left it alone.

Only thing left now is some black rustoleum paint, then I'll put it to the test.

Very clean work!

Too much bucket for my little machines.

I did add some chain hooks to the bucket on the Hurlimann, but now wish I would have only put on some slotted plates. It seems like I end up wanting to wrap chain around the inside of the bucket often enough that the "out side only" chain hooks are just that much annoyance.

4570Man · Apr 23, 2015

If you don't mind me asking, how much did the metal cost? What is the lift rating of your loader?

jb1390 · Apr 23, 2015

I believe I'm in the 600-700 pound range. my loader will do 2700 to full height, 5100 breakout.

Significantly heavier than stock, but I don't think it's out of line for what the machine will do.

jb1390 · Apr 23, 2015

ThomasH said:
Very nice!

If you end up using it to dig up some rock or stumps, you may need to "wrap" the cutting edge around the sides by bevelling some cutting edge and doing a full root pass weld up the sides a foot or so. It adds a tremendous amount of strength to the front corners for digging.

I was originally going to double up the front edges with 1/4 Hardox. I changed my mind however, and decided to rely on the higher cost material and 175,000 psi yield that comes with it. I don't think I will have a problem, but I figured if I do, it's not really much effort to add extra edge down the line.

It'll definitely be hitting some rocks. It is remarkable however how tough and strong Hardox 450 is. I couldn't drill it, and had trouble bending a 3/16" by 1" piece in a vice with a hammer.

jb1390 · Apr 23, 2015

4570Man said:
If you don't mind me asking, how much did the metal cost? What is the lift rating of your loader?

I'm in the $1300 range for material including the cutting edge and skid steer adapter plate. I also still have some decent size pieces of hardox left over, which will be nice for backhoe bucket repairs, etc.

I bought all the strips sheared out of 4x8 sheets, I plasma cut the end plates and cut the 79" dimension.

The cutting edge (3/4" x 6") and adapter plate were $340 alone.

I'm planning to sell the original bucket, I hope to get back 500-600 from that.

jb1390 · Apr 23, 2015

CalG said:
Very clean work!

Too much bucket for my little machines.

I did add some chain hooks to the bucket on the Hurlimann, but now wish I would have only put on some slotted plates. It seems like I end up wanting to wrap chain around the inside of the bucket often enough that the "out side only" chain hooks are just that much annoyance.

I'm curious to see in practice what i end up using. I have 3 chain hooks I installed on my stock bucket, which work nicely. That bucket is too small to merit an inside chain hook / d ring. I suspect I'll primarily use that inside hook on the new bucket unless i need multiple attachment points.

I'm also planning to build a much smaller, lighter hoisting fixture for the loader, so for really heavy loads I can adjust the hook point to bring the load close to the hinge pins, and won't have the weight of the bucket to lift as well as the load.