I have a standard digging bucket for my 426 cat and I have trouble cleaning out ditches. or making any clean cut for that matter. seems no matter how I roll the bucket or pull the dipper and boom up at the same time it just sort of tears the dirt at the inside edge of my scoop everything flops back down into it as I roll the bucket through. I was wondering if a ditching bucket would help. when I watch the township guys go along it always looks so smooth like they are just scooping out a melon. is there something special about the geometry of a ditching bucket?
None that I'm aware of. Only real difference is no shanks for teeth. That being said, you will probably not get as good a result even if you have a piece of cutting edge welded across the teeth. I have found that in sticky ground, the buckets with the wear bars on the bottom of the bucket that run side to side do not work as well. Front to back is the best. This is what I prefer.
I am just a weekend warrior so to speak so a tilt bucket is out of my price range. I just have about 1/2 mile of road I maintain along with the neighbor lady. I grade it with my old td6 dozer in the spring to get the ruts out but would like to clean out the ditches with my backhoe and dump truck. last year I sort of pushed down them with the dozer and got a roll of dirt on the outside edge of the blade the whole way along that I was not satisfied with.
dish bucket is the cheapest, unless you are willing to weld a piece of metal across the teeth.