Loader Bucket Build

Arc weld · Apr 24, 2015

My former neighbor told me a long time ago to remember that I had a farm loader and if you try to use like an industrial loader, something is going break. Making the whole bucket out of abrasion resistant plate seems a little excessive for a 50 HP tractor.

sdef · Apr 24, 2015

Arc weld said:
My former neighbor told me a long time ago to remember that I had a farm loader and if you try to use like an industrial loader, something is going break. Making the whole bucket out of abrasion resistant plate seems a little excessive for a 50 HP tractor.

Yeap. This bucket is too heavy for my uses and would reduce my load capacity too much. I have a rock grapple bucket for my rock digging.

However, I can certainly appreciate the skill involved in building this bucket. Nice job

rswyan · Apr 24, 2015

Nice job :thumbsup:

How does the new bucket compare, dimensionally, to the old bucket ? (IOW: how much bigger is it ?)

jb1390 · Apr 24, 2015

Arc weld said:
My former neighbor told me a long time ago to remember that I had a farm loader and if you try to use like an industrial loader, something is going break. Making the whole bucket out of abrasion resistant plate seems a little excessive for a 50 HP tractor.

I agree that it is "overdesigned". The only disadvantage, however, of building out of Hardox 450 is cost. The weight is the same as it would be if I used mild steel. For that matter, a mild steel bucket would probably require additional reinforcement on the front edges etc, making it heavier than what I built.

I understand living within the machines capabilities - I've seen fishplated loader arms and would like to avoid that. However, my tractor will bend the 1/2" x 4" cutting edge on the OEM bucket to 3" off of straight without much effort when prying on a decent size rock - that bucket would end up destroyed if I kept using it.

ishiboo · Apr 24, 2015

Arc weld said:
My former neighbor told me a long time ago to remember that I had a farm loader and if you try to use like an industrial loader, something is going break. Making the whole bucket out of abrasion resistant plate seems a little excessive for a 50 HP tractor.

Same here. The conditions you would need a REALLY strong bucket for seem to be the exact conditions you would want a bucket that was SMALLER, not larger, than the factory bucket too. I have a 72" for the skid loader and tractor, which is the stock bucket size... for digging hard stuff I swap out for a 66" bucket. I wouldn't want to go wider at the same time as heavier duty.

Also not sure why you'd need/want to spend for hardox, my factory Kubota bucket with 4200 hours on it had a few welds but the wear stuff was still in-tact, you'd have to put a LOT of really hard work to wear out a stock well-built bucket with wear strips.

ishiboo · Apr 24, 2015

Not to demean the OP at all, the build looks great quality-wise... just not the same decisions I'd make

jb1390 · Apr 24, 2015

rswyan said:
Nice job :thumbsup:

How does the new bucket compare, dimensionally, to the old bucket ? (IOW: how much bigger is it ?)

I will need to measure to confirm, from memory I believe the old bucket is 76" wide, so pretty close there. The depth I think is only 18" or so, which made it very tough to try to pick up wood chips or mulch, as the pile would tend to get pushed instead of filling the bucket. Height I think is in the 16-18" range.

Another feature I changed on this new bucket is an exaggerated angle on the rear plate, resulting in a nice rollback at ground level. When using the bucket for weeding the garden, or collecting rocks by hand, etc, the rollback will greatly increase the capacity at ground level. I also use the tractor a lot for wood processing, and this bucket will be much more appropriate than the stock one for that use as well.

jb1390 · Apr 24, 2015

ishiboo said:
Same here. The conditions you would need a REALLY strong bucket for seem to be the exact conditions you would want a bucket that was SMALLER, not larger, than the factory bucket too. I have a 72" for the skid loader and tractor, which is the stock bucket size... for digging hard stuff I swap out for a 66" bucket. I wouldn't want to go wider at the same time as heavier duty.

Also not sure why you'd need/want to spend for hardox, my factory Kubota bucket with 4200 hours on it had a few welds but the wear stuff was still in-tact, you'd have to put a LOT of really hard work to wear out a stock well-built bucket with wear strips.

I tore the edges on my old John Deere bucket pretty drastically removing a section of asphalt. And I've already bent, on several occasions, (though it's mostly popped back) the stock bucket on my mahindra. I try not to abuse, but I won't say I'm easy on my equipment.

And for an extra $400-$500 tops for the nice material, it's worth it IMO.

sdef · Apr 24, 2015

Here is what I dig rocks and stumps with. 48" wide and 550 pounds. Great multipurpose tool that is extremely strong. I have dug out and carried many rocks this size and larger stumps.