Toothbar Installation

[John_Mc]

I finally got my toothbar, now I just have to install it. I've got no problems with the hole drilling method. I do have a question on the location:

The bolt holes on my tooth bar are slotted. With the toothbar fully seated on the bucket, should I aim for the middle of the slots when drilling, or to one end or the other. I can think of a few advantages and disadvantages of each. Most boil down to: a fit that really "locks" the toothbar in place, vs a fudge factor for a miss-drilled hole or a fit that changes a bit as various parts wear.

Any thoughts?

John Mc

 

[ronjhall]

John
I had to do a little fitting (grinding) on bucket to install my tooth bar. It would not slide all the way on because welds that attach bucket cutting edge were too high. To fit the tooth bar I kept grinding until it fit all the way on to the cutting edge. When I had it fit I clamped tooth bar to bucket. Started up tractor and dumped bucket until teeth of tooth bar pointed toward the ground. Lowered bucket until I had raised front wheels off ground about 1”. This forced tooth bar into the position it should be mounted. I then marked the location of boltholes in bucket to give about 1/16” clearance from rear end of slot.
This procedure should make sure tooth bar is properly seated and bolted on bucket.
I used mine yesterday to dig some shrubs out of clay soil. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif It was not easy. But the tractor and tooth bar did all the work. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[hazmat]

John,

I have no experience with toothbars, but I am a mechanical engineer, aim for the center of the slot when the toothbar is in the proper location. Ronjhall seems to have a good method for "seating" the toothbar. If the bolts are properly sized, when you torque them down, the friction between the bolt head & toothbar / bucket will keep the toothbar from moving. You don't want to be near the end of the slot, because it will be difficult to insert the bolt if you don't line up exactly the same way you did when you marked the hole. Also, things tend to "change" over time: You try to dig out that small stump, but it is actually has a monster root ball & you bend your bucket or toothbar a little. If you are centered on the slot, it will still come on / off easily.

Hazmat

 

[John_Mc]

Thanks for the tips Hazmat and Ronjhall. I'll be doing the drilling this weekend.

John Mc

 

[jhburke]

I picked up my tooth bar today. Just under 300.00 tax and freight included. Will see about installing it soon.

 

[Keoke]

John, trying using a hole saw instead of a 5/8 drill, goes faster and gives a neat hole. Keep the center core from bucket hole in case you want to fill the hole back up at a later date. Don't ask why!

cheers,

 

[GSS]

That's a pretty good price, jhburke. Is it the regular or heavy duty one? Where did you get it? Thanks.

 

[gerard]

I just put mine on yesterday - $300 to my door from carvers. Nice fit, very heavy duty and a really nice unit. I drilled for the center of the slot with the bar pushed on as far as it will go. I didn't worry too much about hitting the end of the slot because all the bolts really do is keep the thing from coming off. When digging the pressure is all taken by the bucket edge. Good tip about the holesaw. Drilling a 3/4 inch hole in 1/8 inch steel with a hand drill takes a little time!

 

[jhburke]

I got mine from local Kubota dealer. It was made at
FTC Attachments
100 E Lee Road
Lee, IL 60530
Phone # 1-800-747-2132

I put mine on this morning in about 45 minutes. I drilled a 3/8 " pilot hole. Then a 1/2 " and then a 3/4 " hole. It looks very stout to me. Deffinatly plenty stout for my unit.

 

[bphillips]

Why not order the correct size holes from the dealer that sold the toothbar. It shouldn't add much to the shipping cost as I don't think they are very heavy. They can be hard to get hold of however.

Brad in NH

 

[jhburke]

I was talking about the hole in each side of my bucket.

 

[ByuBill]

<font color=blue>Why not order the correct size holes from the dealer that sold the toothbar. It shouldn't add much to the shipping cost as I don't think they are very heavy. They can be hard to get hold of however.</font color=blue>

Wouldn't that be great? Just figure out what size holes you need and order them from your dealer and install them. Maybe just order a 'hole' assortment /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. We are always needing a hole in something. I wonder if they would come in colors to make them easier to see./w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

 

[chim]

Are 3/4" bolts really necessary? On my 302FEL the bucket is kinda in the sheet metal category anyway. My toothbar is homemade and sandwiches the bucket's cutting edge. The two pieces of flat stock that form the edge go over the existing cutting edge like a very narrow "V". It is held on by one 3/8" bolt on each end. Forces are pretty much transmitted to the original cutting edge regardless of the operation. For $92 worth of parts, some scrounged flat stock and angle iron - plus some welding time - it was worth the trip.....................chim

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>Just figure out what size holes you need and order them from your dealer</font color=blue>

I have actually seen these items documented on TV, and they seem to be quite portable and easy to install. Although they only demonstrated the larger sizes, I'm sure they offer the entire range, both standard and metric.

Bugs Bunny used them quite effectively in his dealings with Elmer Fudd, and the Roadrunner put them to good use in tunnel construction to expedite matters with regards to Wyle E. Coyote.

Don't know if they're available online, but I believe the main distributor is a company called ACME.

 

[RoyJackson]

Harv, you have a keen sense of humor! Trivia too!

 

[John_Mc]

Re: Toothbar install problem

Well, I got my toothbar, 3/4" hole saw and drill out today. The length of the toothbar was perfect... just a bit of a friction fit between th ebucket and the mounting tabs on the side.

I did have one problem, though: The flat stock that makes up the upper and lower "lips" that fit over the bucket cutting edge was welded together in a way that prevents the toothbar from seating all the way onto the bucket. Rather than welding them together where they meet at the edge, They are welded about midway back from where the two edges meet, obstructing the inside of the "V" that they form. It looks as though holes were drilled in the top half of the V, about 10 " apart along the length, then they just started building up the weld from the bottom bottom edge up to the top, filling the hole in the process. This created a bridge between the two parts that stops the bucket cutting edge from fully seating in the groove. (I hope I'm describing this clearly).

I don't want to drill my holes yet, since this fit does not seem right. The bucket edge can slop up and down in the toothbar a good bit. Has anyone else run into this problem? Any suggestions? I can't just grind out the bridges formed by the weld, since these seem to be the only thing holding the bottem edge on to the rest of the toothbar.

 

[Keoke]

Re: Toothbar install problem

John, can you have the two halves of flat bar welded all the way down at the bottom on the vee in at least a few spots?
If you can then this will hold the vee angle for you. You can then go ahead and grind off the mid-vee welds and redo these welds at the bottom of the vee where they belong.
Good luck!

cheers,

 

[frank_f15]

HARV; happy to inform u that i am now the only distributor of ACME products. for anyone interested just send me $9.95 for a ful set of color coded holes. FREE S&H. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif . sorry could not resist. i loved those old roadrunner cartoons, still do actually. MEEP, MEEP!

 

[John_Mc]

Re: Toothbar install problem

<font color=blue>can you have the two halves of flat bar welded all the way down at the bottom on the vee in at least a few spots?</font color=blue>

I was thinking of that, but I really shouldn't have to do that on a new piece of equipment, made by Woods (or at least sold by Woods) specifically to fit on a Woods loader. I'm planning on a visit to the dealer after I get back from a business trip.

Another thing I'm not too nuts about is how blunt the cutting edge of the toothbar is. The two halves of the "V" are 1/4" flat stock that do not quite meet each other at the point. the resulting "cutting edge" (if you can call it that) is over 1/2" thick at it's sharpest point.

John Mc

 

[John_Mc]

Re: Toothbar problem, part 2

Well, I sent back the first toothbar (the one that would not seat on my bucket edge), and ordered the Woods standard model. The standard model turned out to have removable teeth (the whole reason I ordered the HD model to begin with). The standard model looks just like some of the pictures others have posted here. It was ordered to fit a 64.5" bucket. It came in almost 1/8" too big, due to the mounting tab (the part with the slot for the mounting bolt) on the right side being mounted cockeyed and a bit too wide.

After several hours of grinding (slowed down by the 90+ degrees temp and high humidity) I got it to slide into the bucket, and got it seated all the way on.

Now I find that it still does not fit right on the bucket, and this is a Woods loader bucket I'm trying to mount it on! The flat bar which runs across the top of the thoothbar is supposed to lay flat against the inside of the bucket, a few inches back from the cutting edge of the bucket. This should help stiffen the bucket. On mine, the bar on the toothbar rides about 1/2" up off the bucket. In this position, I think it will interfere with dumping (especially things like clay). I'm also concerned that gravel and other small bits of debris will get jammed between the toothbar and the bucket. The attached picture should show what I'm trying to describe. The Woods manual says that this is for use on a bucket without a bolt-on cutting edge. That sure isn't what this looks like.

My question to you all: is this a real problem, or am I being too nitpicky? Should I send it back (again), and just order from someone else? Call Woods directly? My dealer was a bit suprised at the fit. I did not ask him to take it back (yet), but I think he would be willing to (this may be complicated by the fact that I had to do some grinding on it). Any thoughts on how I should proceed? I've been very happy with my other Woods implements.

John Mc