Toothed bucket vs bolt on tooth bar?

[S854]

Well, there’s the up-front cost… roughly $550-$600 difference delivered… I’d rather leave that point out of the conversation for now…

There are times when I need to dig small, rather shallow holes… other operations require a smooth edge bucket… so I need teeth… and I don’t need teeth…

Then there’s the age factor… I’m not getting much younger as of late so I’m wanting to make things easier now and for the future… not that bolting and un-bolting a Piranha is necessarily difficult… two levers on the QA is easier and I always have the tools I need (hands!) with me… that, and I don’t have to lift a tooth bar to reattach (no idea how much a 66” Piranha bar weighs)

Maybe you’ve guessed by now, but I’m looking for reasons not to buy a toothed bucket…

Just don’t try too hard to talk me outta this, eh?

 

[Mtsoxfan]

I have the bolt on toothed edge from EA. I have never used a toothed bucket. I love my toothed edge, It cuts into soil very well. I can back drag to a smooth surface. It does have some weight to it, I wouldn't want to take off, put on often. But, I see no need to take it off. The only reason would be to have a smooth back drag, but when it's on, I can get a smooth back drag. I would buy another one in an instant if I changed tractors...

 

[2manyrocks]

I have a Piranha tooth edge. It makes it easier to dig. The bottom is flat for back dragging. Don't know why you'd need to remove it for making a smooth surface.

 

[davrow]

I have a Piranha bar. I would never plan on removing it "at need". It is on there permanently. It was hard to install and will be much harder to remove.
Can it be removed? Yes, certainly. But if it comes off, it will stay off a long time.
YMMV.

 

[bridge4]

Timely thread, I was asking myself the same question, but was worried about back dragging.

I was surprised to see how much a bar add on cost. Then I looked at a new bucket price

Is EA back to normal? I feel like for a while they were on the edge of scamming folks.

 

[RjCorazza]

View attachment 3114433
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Maybe you’ve guessed by now, but I’m looking for reasons not to buy a toothed bucket…
...

I'm not sure why you would even consider a separate toothed bucket. I use a Piranha tooth bar and it works great. I can have it on or off in less than a minute (other than the time to charge the air compressor).

 

[Jrasband]

There is no point in having a bolt on in my opinion. I have a bucket with teeth and a bucket without and I can do just as good of a job finishing with the toothed bucket and get a lot more done without pushing the tractor as hard then the one with out.

 

[Smokeydog]

Hard to beat a piranha bar on a small tractor. Many small tractors don’t have enough power to utilize a toothed bucket. Have a welded in piranha bar for the M59 GP bucket. Great for digging, clear brush faster than grapple. Can’t carry brush like a grapple. Can level and leave a smooth surface.

 

[S854]

I use the smooth edge to get mud off concrete surfaces… 1/4 mile dirt road leading to our house… during the wet months we track quite a bit of mud onto the concrete

I used one of these for several years… then bought the tractor… a couple springs back I had just finished dressing the drive with the BB and was getting ready to scrape the mud when the finally appeared over my head…

 

[tacticalturnip]

My Piranha spends Spring through Fall on the bucket, goes into storage during the Winter, and it'll be back on soon enough. I find it easy enough to swap out, but the one I've got on the Kioti is larger than the one I had on my old Deere, and it shows in weight.

So, what I'm saying is that it's ease of removal really depends on both you and the size of the bar.

 

[garry1p]

I have no need to remove my Piranha bar (yet) should I need to remove it 2 bolts, not a show stopper.

I would defiantly buy one again, if I should buy a new tractor.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

I have a Piranha tooth edge. It makes it easier to dig. The bottom is flat for back dragging. Don't know why you'd need to remove it for making a smooth surface.

Yeah, I agree. That is an argument that some have against it.

 

[Williy]

I have the Piranha bar two bolts to remove it but never needed to
remove it as I use it quite abit. For me I can handle the Piranha
to put it on only takes a few minutes to remove or install

willy

 

[FullMetalBucket]

Another piranha tooth bar user. Works great, easy install. Just watch out if you leave the bucket up, very sharp.

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[jigs_n_fixtures]

Since both of my tractors have SSQA loaders, I'm thinking of buying 5 or 7 weld on tooth assemblies, and welding them on the smaller bucket for digging in the rocky soil at my place and keeping the wider bucket for screened material without large rocks.

And I would recommend something similar for anyone with a SSQA loader setup. Seems like a much sturdier setup in my mind. I recognize that for most folks it will be more money to get a second toothed bucket. But, in my case converting one of my buckets to a toothed bucket makes the most sense.

I'm also looking at adding a rear cutting edge to the bucket, so I can back drag with the curl cylinders fully retracted, to lower the chance of bending them when back dragging.

 

[mikester]

I'd buy the Piranha and I'll sell you my tooth bar. It's still hanging on my wall. I removed it after trying it for a week.

 

[2manyrocks]

I use the smooth edge to get mud off concrete surfaces… 1/4 mile dirt road leading to our house… during the wet months we track quite a bit of mud onto the concrete
View attachment 3116693
I used one of these for several years… then bought the tractor… a couple springs back I had just finished dressing the drive with the BB and was getting ready to scrape the mud when the finally appeared over my head…

My concern would be that using any metal edge on concrete will eventually damage the top surface of the concrete? The guys who plow snow apparently use some kind of plastic on their snow plow edges.

 

[S854]

My concern would be that using any metal edge on concrete will eventually damage the top surface of the concrete? The guys who plow snow apparently use some kind of plastic on their snow plow edges.

I hadn’t thought of that… thanks…

 

[Tomtint]

I had a bucket with bolt on teeth that u used on my skidsteer. Primarily for grading my road. The teeth bolted right to the bucket edge and you could not use a cuttings at the same time. So over time, the teeth.. and the bucket edge wore down .. so now it's got a cutting edge only on it. If I were to do it over again.. I'd get a tooth bar attachment that goes over a cutting edge .

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

My concern would be that using any metal edge on concrete will eventually damage the top surface of the concrete? The guys who plow snow apparently use some kind of plastic on their snow plow edges.

UHMW Polyethylene cutting edges. Available on Amazon and Ebay.

You could look locally for commercial plastic supplier and see if they have offcuts. Also, they use it for toilet stall partitions, and they folks who do them occasionally have offcuts.

I'd buy the Piranha, and I'll sell you my tooth bar. It's still hanging on my wall. I removed it after trying it for a week.

Just depends on your use and the soils. I'm trying to get cobbles and rocks out of the top foot or so of dirt. To allow tilling for a garden. The Pirahna probably works well grubbing roots and vegetation in non-rocky soils. But not so well for digging in and wiggling rocks until they break free of the dirt they are in. Most of the dedicated loaders in the area have toothed buckets. The more successful local contractors who buy or lease new, all have toothed buckets.

I have a dedicated 48-inch rock bucket, with a 2-inch gap between the slats. It is heavy duty enough to survive in our soils. But, is too close to the lift capacity of the FEL on my tractors. And, I have to rent a skid steer to use it. And, the smaller skid steers have trouble with it in our local soils. So, a dedicated toothed bucket makes sense for my soils.

My place and most of the valley are prehistoric gravel bars which were at the bottom of mountain slopes. Or alluvial fans, from the mountains. So, the soil is rounded river rocks, and jagged talus rocks, in a finer soil matrix. Very hard to dig with a bucket, and a nightmare to dig trenches in. The OSHA trench safety inspector requires trench boxes or 1.25:1 side slopes full depth of the trench. If you need a five foot bury depth to get a water or sewer line below the freeze depth, You are looking at a trench 12-feet wide, because the rocks keep caving in.