I have not searched yet, but though I would tap the brain trust here on HEF. I have a couple straight buckets and need a bucket to dig a bit with and I am thinking of adding bolt on teeth to one of them vs buying new. Good idea or not? Any good quality US made teeth out there? Thanks for you time.
I would buy a bolt on tooth bar, you get double the edge strength and you can replace the tips.. about 500.00
Personally I prefer weld on shanks, even on skid buckets. What type of material will you be digging in?
South Central Arkansas, Sandy loam, gravel. I have an old gravel road bed ( bridged / then culverted ) creek crossing washed out. I want to clean it up and place a concrete low water crossing as everything else thrown in there has washed out. My dirt buckets just slide along the top on the old road bed.
I agree with CM, if you have several smooth buckets then I'd fit one with weld on tooth adapters, I think you'd be far happier with that. Bolt on tooth bars work fine, but they're really better for a guy who only has one bucket with a smooth edge, the bolt on bar give them a two in one option.
I put a set of bolt on Bobcat brand shanks and teeth on a Case bucket and they worked great. I actually screwed up when I ordered and missed one set so I picked up another brand name set, but the tooth was wearing out a lot faster than the Bobcat brand.
Thanks guys great timely info. I will go with weld on shanks for type 23 series teeth.. Spaced about 9" CL and try to have the final assembled tooth as near flush with the bottom of the bucket as I can find in combination, adapter/tooth.
Just my opinion, on a skid loader bucket I'd go with the flush mount weld-on tooth adapters. And a type 23, or 230, might be a little bigger than what you need. Not sure though as I don't know the size of the bucket or the machine.
I am trying to figure out why welding on a shank would be better. I can see it being cheaper. In eight years of digging and ripping out concrete my bucket with the tooth bar still makes perfect contact and hits the ground level where the teeth engage the dirt. Buckets that get weld on shanks bend and break and are not as strong as a bucket with an additional 3/4" piece of flat bar that is about 6" deep riding on top of the smooth bucket cutting edge. The bottom of my bucket has begun to dish up from use but the front of the bucket is still straight. I have 5 buckets and the tooth bar is by FAR the best way to go... I never take the bar off. It has v shaped shanks that lock around the cutting edge also. But it can flex and move which keeps the bucket edge from taking the load in just one welded area. I carry a smooth bucket with me if its needed. Kind of funny really, the cat sales guy tried to get me to change over to the replacement serrated tooth cutting edges. But he gave up because he knew I knew how well a tooth bar works. I buy lots of teeth and replace them all at once. One of my pre work checks before i leave the shop is to hold the cutting edge just off the concrete to see if it sits level. If is does not I double check everything because something is loose or a tire is low etc..
I don't disagree at all, I don't know that there's a definitive advantage of one over the other, I think it comes down to a personal preference thing as much as anything. I didn't suggest the weld on tooth adapters because I felt they were superior, I simply suggested it because PopArcher noted he had several smooth buckets, so why not set one up as a tooth bucket. How one goes about it really doesn't matter, just go with ones personal preference. :drinkup
This is probably more than you want to get into but this is what I run on our T250. Took a Cat smooth bucket with cutting edge and welding shanks on to fit. The cutting edge is reversible so it eliminates the scalping between the shanks on normal tooth buckets. Works great for what we do.
Couple points: 1) A properly made tooth bucket is usually built 'stronger', of heavier materials than a standard dirt bucket, so they don't bend or warp and stand up better to heavy use/abuse. On a lighter dirt bucket it should work fine, especially for a owner/operator, just take care not to ram it into rocks. 2) A tooth bucket has value and is easy to sell (for a pretty good amount) when yer done with it if it's in good shape. 3) Most used toothed buckets I found around here were pretty beat up and expensive for what they were. However, I did run across a couple at dealers and rental yards. I bought one that turned out to be a great buy. But if you need one right away, you probably don't have time to do a bunch of running around.
Thanks for the input and sharing your set up. You have what I am thinking I will end up with on one of my buckets with a replaceable cutting edge. Again thanks all for your thoughts and experiences.
That's a nice setup CM! :drinkup
No problem that's what we're here for. That bucket took some time to fab up but it was worth it. It has around 1,200 hours on it digging in all sorts of soils and demo. Thanks Willie. The shanks are Cat backhoe shanks. We had to cut the bottoms to fit the profile of the bucket and cutting edge. I got tired of rebuilding buckets where the cutting edge scallops around the shank, now we don't have that problem.
I had a Cat bucket setup just like CM's except I removed my bolt on edge and used bolt on shanks with replaceable #23 teeth ( they bolt up to those double holes) and then bolted the edge back on, like CM said it works great, you could still carefully clean asphalt off with it as long as you didn't tip it down too far.
We got some ITR brand teeth that are identical to the Cat bolt on tooth for their skid loader buckets, for a 66" bucket we put 8 teeth on it, IIRC they were about half of what Cat cost, they have 900 hours on them and still looking good, they get alot of abuse, work fine for your application. I'll try and find the ebay listing
Don't forget to check ebay. I found good prices on ebay for bolt-on and weldable teeth. But maybe some of your local dealers treat you better on price than mine do for me....
Thanks All for the info. It is much appreciated.
Well, I finally had some day light to take a few pics of a tooth bar. A different bucket . I got this one used. The old timer that had it died, he had bolted a wood 4x4 under the front edge. His son thought this bucket was junk. It smooths better than the new cat bucket! And a double edge cat bucket Now you can set the tooth bar up to go over a replaceable cutting edge if you want. CM'S bucket is set up really nice. I have not needed to replace my cutting edge but I think my whole bucket will be toast when I need it done. I am wearing through the rear corners and I can see daylight. I also think my new machine will tear this current bucket apart.
When my bucket above was brand new we took some old D5 cutting edge and picture framed the bottom of the bucket to give it wear guards. Ran one down the middle of the bottom as well. It's done it's job, there are a few dents in the original metal of the bucket where it's not plated but the corners are holding up great.
I specifically wanted a bucket where the teeth *don't* hang down much below the bucket. Most tooth bars seem to. A second cutting edge can help there, but I've read about a lot of guys having bent teeth issues and so on. Maybe it's an overstated problem.
Thanks Georgia Iron, Great info. I will get back to the farm in a couple weeks and firm up dimensions and make a final decisions on the bucket mods..
Closing the loop, here is what I ended up with. Thanks Guys for the input
I can't tell if that's a cutting edge or a table top under the teeth. It looks like it's bolted on? What is your estimated cost for this mod?
Figure about $22-$30 per tooth depending the style and where you buy them (check Ebay too). The workmanship looks ok, I guess the idea is to remove the wearbar when any serious digging is needed, and reinstall for grading gravel and general bucket use?? Like the idea of using 10 teeth!
You see the cutting edge and 10 shanks/teeth and 5 lbs 7018 1/8" where about 280$.
I guess it depends on the kind of digging you plan to do. If you're digging out of piles, or embankments where you tilt your bucket a lot, your setup might work ok, but for leveling or skimming the surface down, the teeth riding 1/2" above the surface probably isn't going to do you any good. If anything you'd want them to be a little lower than the bucket for serious digging. The teeth CM1995 had on his bucket fit 'flush' to the ground even with the replaceable wear bar. Running w/o the wear bar, is just fine that's how most tooth buckets I see are set up.
Finally found the teeth, this isn't the same aftermarket brand as we got, but its the same pack of 8 for a 66" bucket. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1324720-132...025993?hash=item3cfa4779c9:g:4U0AAOSw~OdVf1N6 Part number for the same thing from Cat is 132-4720.... they are $32 a piece from Cat. Put something like 800 hours on the set we got and haven't broken any yet and they still have a lot of life left. They do sit exactly flush with the bottom of the bucket which is very nice.
Let's us know how your design works out. I am used to the longer tooth. I really like to smooth an area by working an area in a side to side in a wave like motion, just laying the teeth in the dirt. It will almost make it into something as fine as flower. It took me about 300 hours to figure out how to do it like that. It has sped up our final grading for concrete a good bit. So easy to hand rake dirt that is broken up like that.
Well good news the welded teeth have with stood there first test, diggin and bumpin and stump up and out of the way..
Good to hear. Nice looking skid!! What do the numbers on the arm signify?
Thanks. I purchased the machine used and the numbers were there from the contractors fleet management system.