Love My New Toothbar

[jbrumberg]

dknarnd aka Jim:

I feel your pain. The toothbar I bought from NH cost ~$508 . The 3/4" thickness of bucket-cutting edge thickness quoted seems about right. I will take a measurement for you with my bucket/cutting edge setup tomorrow just to give you a comparison point. I will say that even though my setup is less than ideal- it does work well so far. I do have two backup carriage bolts in case of breakage ($23.00
). In reality all I did was to drill two new attachment holes in the sides of the bucket, get two longer carriage bolts (free), and purchase 12 5/8" washers
(~ $3.00). I believe that I overpaid for this tooothbar, the "fit" is less than I had anticipated, but the performance of this attachment (as is) "balances out" the "equation". I will continue to follow up with NH with my "perceptions". Jay

 

[kwolfe]

Jbrumberg,
That is a great looking rock. Couldn't have carried it without the toothbar. Just a thought, but from looking at your second picture, it looks like the tooth shank is hitting the original bucket edge which is what is keeping the fit from being snug. Do you have an angle grinder? From the picture, it looks like if you grind down that nub by about 1/4 (give or take), it would give you the needed room from the shanks to slide all the way back. Just a thougt.

 

[jbrumberg]

kwolfe:

You are a genius IMHO ! I do not think I have to grind off that much material, and you give me an excuse to buy an angle grinder . I hope you do not live anywhere near Williamsport- I am originally from there and will occasionally visit; "She Who Must Be Obeyed " may hunt you down the next time we visit . Thank you for the advise- Jay

 

[kwolfe]

Jay,
After getting as much help as I have from other TBN members, I am glad that I could help someone else.

I am just east of Harrisburg PA (about 2hrs south of Williamsport). You probably pass through on your way up. If you ever need a pit stop for the trip up, give me a shout. You are more than welcome.

 

[1bush2hog]

No Offense - but for that kind of money and less than ideal fit - I would be taking that toothbar back to where I bought it and let them fit it correctly or find another one that will

 

[SELKIRK]

i don't have any pics of mine but it was just installed a few weeks ago and it came from markham, they had some problems with their bar stock distributer so mine took about a 2 weeks to recieve once i finally placed the order but no worries. i had them add an extra tooth to it so i have a total of 7 on a 60" bar. it does a marvelous job of anything i throw at it from digging up small stumps and blackberry roots to pulling the vines from the trees to loosening virgin soil to popping out rocks, etc, etc, etc.. i have even used it as a "short" extension to haul 2x's and 8 ft logs. it has increased the performance of the FEL bucket 10 fold and I can't think of any reason to remove it. total with shipping was under $300. personally for small farm/hobby farm use, i think every tractor FEL should ship with one.

go get one.

cheers,
bigballer

Ok- I was going to order a markham toothbar this morning and now bigballer throws in another factor. He added another tooth to his 60" bar for a total of seven, does any one have any pro or cons to the number of teeth on a bar? The bar I was going to order is also a 60".

Thanks

Selkirk

 

[Farwell]

I thought about getting a tooth bar but the front of my bucket was sorta u shaped and needed re-built. A friend cut the bad areas off of the bucket and welded in a new bucket front as well as a blade. He had several heavy duty teeth laying around so I had him weld six teeth on as well. I won't be able to use the blade in the same way I once did, but most of my blade work is done in a way that the teeth work better for me.
He also added some skid material under the bucket and face hardened any areas that would experience any wear from digging.
I haven't used it enough yet to know all of its potential.

 

[daTeacha]

You guys are making me feel like a cheapskate. I built my toothbar for the QD 60" bucket on my DX29 from channel steel. I can see from your pictures that I may be modifying it somewhat, but the thing works fine as is. I don't have a pic with me (I'm at school, at lunch) but it's basically a section of 3" channel that mounts under the bucket and has 7 teeth welded to it. The teeth protrude about 4 inches in front of the cutting edge and each tooth has a grade 5 bolt through the corresponding hole the factory put in the cutting edge.

I've used the bar in conjunction with my grapple to move some pretty serious blocks of sandstone during the past couple of weeks and it seems to work fine. I also used it when digging holes to replant some large bushes moved during some professionally done excavating. The ground being dug was shaley, rocky glacial moraine subsoil.

 

[hazmat]

Ok- I was going to order a markham toothbar this morning and now bigballer throws in another factor. He added another tooth to his 60" bar for a total of seven, does any one have any pro or cons to the number of teeth on a bar? The bar I was going to order is also a 60".

Thanks

Selkirk

I've got 5 (from Markham) on my TC18's 54" bucket. I've got a new B3030 on order with a 60" bucket - I'll be ordering my new toothbar with 7 teeth. the closer the gaps, the better you can grub things out of the ground with - small brush, briars, rocks etc. Price w/ 7 teeth is a hair under $300 delivered. They get $26 for each extra tooth.

 

[irwin]

Jay have you adjusted the fit yet? I have the same/similar toothbar fit problem, and will be doing some grinding very soon. Paid $299.00 total for a 60" bar with 7 teeth, very well made. It's just my old loader bucket is a little thick at the cutting edge weld. Think I'll do more grinding on the toothbar than on the bucket.

 

[jbrumberg]

irwin:

I have not gotten around to grinding the toothbar yet. I have been digging into a lot of heavy clay and rocks with no apparent problems with this setup other than clay hanging up in the bucket because the toothbar base will not sit flush in the bucket. This would probably be a problem with the clay/mud anyways. Like you my HD bucket with the bolt on cutting edge is pretty thick for the toothbar. The more I look at this setup I am almost afraid to grind metal off the toothbar for fear of weakening the toothbar (for the amount of metal I think I need to grind off to make it fit as suggested ). I still have solid contact with the teeth, bolt on cutting edge, and the bucket and it appears that with use the toothbar and bucket are setting themselves. I do have an extra pair of 5/8"-11 carriage bolts for backup. The dealer insists that I have the correct part and they have always been honest with me for the 20+ years I have dealt with them. I will be seriously "testing" the toothbar in the next few weeks. I hope my "experiment" will have positive outcomes. I will keep you posted. Jay

 

[rockquarry]

You think you have rocks? Ha. This was about 3 years ago. I have finished moving the pile and have to finish up the wall and other rock projects so I can move in the topsoil and get some grass growing. I just got my toothbar from markham and love it.

 

[rockquarry]

This is where that pile used to sit

 

[jbrumberg]

rockquarry:

By the way nice looking kid (great to give a sense of scale ). I am not usually impressed by much, but your TC29 did a great job on your rock pile . Now I think I "need" to buy a 3PH carryall to help me move even more rocks. I think you "rock" . My wife would probably not agree ! Jay

 

[crbr]

That is a nice looking kid. Thanks for sharing.

I like the rocks too.

Here's my latest toothbar experience.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/1147348-post20.html