Need to build a clamp on blade for my loader for digging short trenches and holes to

[guitarman]

Sounds like about same "dirt" as I have here.

 

[Fallon]

Sounds like about same "dirt" as I have here.

We dont have any rocks, but our clay gets pretty hard. My 2,500lbs of L3200 barely cut it for the 16"? Wide bucket spade on my pallet forks. My 5-6k of L4060 is barely enough at times. And this is one of those things where HP is irrelevant, weight is what matters. Traction is king for driving it into the ground. You set it about a 45 degree angle & drive forward to force it in. You can trim the hole more vertical once you have a hole started.

Rocks would totally ruin your day as you dont have squat for visibility on what's going on. It's extremely ghetto compared to a backhoe but at 2% of the price of one it's worth it for a few light projects. I'm sure it beats up the loader a bit. Just be gentile as you drive it in.

 

[guitarman]

My jinma is about the same as your with the loader and box on the back right at 5k. The areas I need to dig are just hard and as I mentioned if I need to so some serious digging I get my son to bring over his JD 410E back hoe.

 

[guitarman]

One of the next items I will be getting is a pto post hole digger. I have quite a bit of fence that needs to be redone.

 

[Notforhire]

I have the grapple version of this; #37 Spade Bucket | MS Attachments

It works pretty well for short trenches, planting and removing shrubs. I've removed a few apple trees with mine.
You can use the weight of the tractor and the long bottom of the bucket like a lever to improve break out force.
I used to have a flat bottom stump bucket. This spade shaped model penetrates the ground with less effort.

 

[5030]

Front end loaders are not bull dozers or anything close...except on large powerful commercial machines...loaders are designed strictly for loading activities...anything else is at the operator's discretion...operating outside of the OEM's guidelines will likely void any warranty etc...

....and bend your curl cylinder rods too.

 

[k0ua]

But somehow, those of us that have actually built and operated these clamp on shovels in some pretty nasty ground conditions have managed to Not bend our buckets and our curl cylinder rods. I wonder how that could be?:confused3:

 

[guitarman]

But somehow, those of us that have actually built and operated these clamp on shovels in some pretty nasty ground conditions have managed to Not bend our buckets and our curl cylinder rods. I wonder how that could be?:confused3:

Good question

 

[guitarman]

Since a manufactured one is almost as much as the post hole digger I'm looking at, I will probably build one. I have some good ideas from wjat has been shared on here. Now just a matter of where to put this in queue with my other projects.

 

[k0ua]

Since a manufactured one is almost as much as the post hole digger I'm looking at, I will probably build one. I have some good ideas from wjat has been shared on here. Now just a matter of where to put this in queue with my other projects.

Good point. You can probably build one for $20, especially if you already have some scrap lying around. Sure there is a thing called sweat equity that you will have to invest, but sometimes that can almost be fun. I had $6 in mine but most of it came from an existing scrap pile that was laying on the ground when I bought the place.