I have a 52" bucket with teeth on my excavator. I have been thinking about getting a 'removable edge attachment' for easier dirt leveling. What are the pros and cons? What 'type of fastening' would work best for reasonably easy installation/removal? Where would I find a good one or would it be better to have one made?
I made mine out of 1" X 6" cutting edge. 48" wide bucket. Its v shaped and slips over the teeth. With a chain at each end that runs up the back of the bucket. I welded a hook on each side of the bucket kind of by the mounting ears. I hook a load binder to each chain and hook it on the hook and tighten it down. works pretty good easy to put on and off.
I've been looking at 'pre-made' ones and figure it would be difficult to 'match' the bucket and teeth to the product. As your 'occupation' appears similar to mine, I would be using it to do better 'leveling' on things such as creek crossings. * If possible I would REALLY be interested is seeing pictures of it. SIDE NOTE: Are you a pilot as the picture implies? That looks like a Boeing Stearman.
I mostly use it for basements and footings anything that needs a nice finish. I do some excavating as a side job. Yep, normally a farmer. I will look and see if I have any pics of mine. Its pretty simple. Buried under 2' of snow at the moment. Got my pilots license in 2006. Yes that's my Stearman.
Never flown a biplane. Mostly rotors, and some fixed wings. Got my first civilian license in '69. A LOT of years before yours. No problem with the timing of the pictures. I got nothing to do now but figure out what -I will do- and wait till warm weather.
I got lucky when my hoe came with a 48" smooth lip bucket- I haven't seen many around. Sounds like an Army aviator???
Sounds like 1st Cav
Yup. The usual suspects of 1st CAV, 101st, 10th Mountain, 25th ID, etc. Half rotors, half fixed wing. Good times but won’t hijack your thread As for the smooth edge, will you be digging or just cleaning? Do you need a thicker hard-wearing or can you get by with a thinner cold-rolled plate? I think the amount of force you’re putting on the edge will determine your setup. As I was driving home I was thinking about how to fab one up for ease of installation like farmerlund did. Many options come to mind but whatever the setup, recommend ry-fitting the individual pieces on the bucket as tight as possible for good mating surfaces and tack welding. Pull off and weld up a little more, make sure it fits again, then weld solid. I doubt anything will be square on a used bucket which is why I recommend the dry fit route if possible. But that might be overkill for what you want or need to do. That Stearman looks good and I bet sounds even better. Nothing comes close to the rumble of a radial.
most of our machines have two buckets with them all the time, but what they used to do is weld a plate to the two outside set of teeth. when you didn't want the plate, drive the roll pins out of the welded teeth, slip then off and put the regular teeth back on.
Only civilian 'fixed wing' aircraft. I'd love to fly an open cockpit biplane. The main purpose is the clean/widen creek crossings. I've got seven crossings that need fixing almost every Spring. Not a lot of 'deep' digging but some 'surface' digging. Reason for 'removable' is when I have to dig deep.
Do u have a hyd thumb? Grad an I beam or piece of rail road track and can use it to clean up/level.
Nope. . .no thumb. I wish I did have one. If I had one I would do just as you suggest.
Was thinking of CuttingEdge’s solution which is really nice and simple. Another option that’s similar is to find a couple (or more depending on strength needed) weld-on tooth holders that you can place between your current teeth. Put the holders in place (but don’t weld to bucket) and weld your plate to the holders. Add a couple bits of angle iron to the back sides up against the bucket wall for bolts to keep it from slipping forward. The weld-on holders act as brackets and take the brunt of the force when cutting. The deeper the you bolt the plate to the side of the bucket, the stronger the setup.
I looked at CuttingEdge but didn't see something easily removable. Maybe I missed it. I didn't check prices.
Sorry- I misspelled his name. Cuttin Edge. He posted here about 5 posts ago.
We use a fairly heavy plate. There was one on a 320 cat for 5 years. Unless it was really hard digging, most guys just left it on. It was the full width of the teeth, outside to outside. From tip to shank. Welded to the top, so when you pull the bucket towards you, the center teeth, not welded support the plate. Only takes 5 minutes to change if you need the teeth. The ones on our rubber tire backhoes never come off. All you need is a plate and 2 extra teeth
If I had some extra teeth to replace the removed ones it would be better. I use the 'outside teeth' a lot to 'hook' trees or large branches.