toothbar intolerant

[northcreek2624]

Just wondering if I'm the only dummy who bought a tooth bar,used it,didn't like it,sent it back?.....just wondering,Mike.

 

[IslandTractor]

Well, I love mine but I was thinking somewhat along the same lines that you are. There have been a number of toothbar lovefest posts on TBN, I wonder if we should start to describe some of the downsides just to balance things out.

1) toothbars weigh about 75lbs therefore drop your total lift capacity.
2) toothbars gouge your shins
3) toothbars make backdragging more difficult if you are looking to smooth out an area (you can still backdrag with the back of the bucket however)
4) toothbars might (??) enable you to twist your bucket/FEL by catching an immovable object on one side while lifting thereby potentially damaging the whole FEL
5) toothbars will punture buildings, cars etc rather than just dent them
6) toothbars increase the length of the tractor when on a trailer and therefore shift the weight balance backwards a bit (?significance).
7) Though they overcome some problems with a smooth edged bucket, they are not substitutes for backhoes.
8) Though they increase capability in loading/carrying brush etc they are not substitutes for grapples.
9) Did I already mention that toothbars can whack your shins (more than once).

So, TBNers, in the interest of balanced reporting, what are the other downsides of the toothbar??

 

[RedRocker]

Yep.

 

[JerryG]

<font color="blue"> Just wondering if I'm the only dummy who bought a tooth bar,used it,didn't like it,sent it back?.....just wondering,Mike.
</font>
Never ever heard of that happening before. We did have some cotton candy returned once because the lady said it was to sweet. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Highbeam]

Excellent answer Jerry.

For all of those times that you wish you didn't have the bar, remove it. It is not permanent. The only reason I could see removing it is if you wanted to scrape out manure, snow, or other soft hings from a hard surface. Also extensive backblading like when you need to spread 30 yards of piled gravel over a driveway.

The list of positives is longer than the negative list by at least 300$.

 

[KiotiJohn]

Well, I wouldn't say you're a dummy. If you didn't like it, you didn't like it, but I couldn't imagine not having mine. Before I got the TB, I had a heck of a time getting big piles of tangled up mess to do anything more than push off the front of the bucket. Now, the teeth grab hold and help it into the bucket. Taking out small saplings is now a breeze, and I don't have to go get the backhoe on to get them out. The positive list goes on and on.
I've never hit my shins on it, never put it through a building, etc. so the negatives are, so far, about nil for me.
But as I said, if you don't like using something, there's no need to have it.
John

 

[DrewL]

..............and to avoid some of those pitfalls, two minutes is all it takes to remove it /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[JerryG]

northcreek2624,
I apologize for the above post. I didn't realize how it looked until this morning. It looks like I am equating you returning your toothbar with that dumb lady, I didn’t mean to do that. What I did mean to do was give an example of returning something unusual. I always try to be careful about how I word things, but once in while I slip up. Sorry again.

 

[Dodgeram]

I'll agree with the shin scraping. As I only have 20 Hrs on the clock, I haven't even been able to "scrape the surface" on what this thing can do.
Tom

 

[Dargo]

I had a toothbar on one tractor I owned and didn't care for it. I don't know if it is the sized tractor I have or what, but I didn't see any real advantage to a toothbar. I could dig just as much without it, and the toothbar made it impossible to use the FEL for grooming my long gravel driveway, clear snow off of either my gravel driveway, a big no no to clear snow off of my concrete driveway, and it was a PIA when grading areas for building purposes.

Obviously others disagree, but I can clearly see your point. My dozers all had teeth on their buckets. I'd always looked at the tractor I had with a toothbar as a "wannabe" dozer. Afterall, it's called a Front End Loader, not a high lift dozer. I get done what I need with my FEL being toothless. I honestly don't see myself ever buying a toothbar again. Besides, you spent your money for your tractor. Have it setup for your needs. If you have a particular need for the teeth, buy 'em. If you don't, I wouldn't buy 'em.