The clean-up bucket on my Case 135 came with teeth. I checked into a new cutting edge from CWS and it comes in 3 pieces. The outside 2 pieces have side cutters or cheeks. My question is do I need the side pieces or just a flat cutting edge as shown in the second picture. I was quoted a total cost of $970 for the 3 pieces and bolts. Bolts are $9 a piece. I am trying to save money but don't want to cheap out and damage the bucket. I am considering getting someone to cut the teeth shanks off the cutting edge I have and going with that. Opinions please. Thanks
Go with the one piece flat edge and try to get ahold of some old worn out edge and cut into 2 pieces and weld them to the sides so they meet the cutting edge, it will last a long time as long as you dont do rockloading.
Please DONT cut those teeth off. 2 weeks after you do, you will be looking for some teeth to do some hard digging :Banghead Cut the bolts that hold the existing edge with teeth and SAVE it. Get a new bottom edge and bolt it on. Any piece of old cutting edge or scrap steel will do as a wear edge to protect the sides of your bucket. The other option is to find a used grading / ditching bucket so you have both. It really depends on how much of each operation and money you have.
Honestly, from the looks of that, if there's any really hard digging to be done, tootalltimmy won't have to cut anything off. That edge will just bend right back and fall off. Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but that does look like an awful lot of leverage waiting to be applied to the actual bucket cutting edge that it's bolted to. I'd be extremely wary of pulling too hard on a nice rock or chunk of concrete, especially if it's off to one side of the other. I think that setup would get bent out of shape in a heartbeat.
Clean-up bucket: Not only that, but it makes the bucket tip radius so long... looks like you'd lose a lot of bucket curl efficiency (power)...??? OCR...
And theres the added danger of hitting the cab I agree with digger in that it is not ideal for excavating concrete slabs or ripping out large volumes of rock, BUT it will provide a much better way of digging in some tough ground compared to a gummy bucket. Similar response to OCR's comment, whilst true in that you are changing the tip radius, this is not a front line exc on production duty and personally I would rather keep the option of bolting on the teeth should they be required rather than scrapping them, then finding out 2 weeks down the line that they would have been useful. Ideally 2 different buckets would be available, toothless ditching bucket for clean up and a toothed bucket for the harder stuff but as we all know that costs money and having only just got the machine I expect it will take a while to discover exactly what is required in the attachment stakes.
The Fort St John area has a lot of Muskeg that needs to freeze for winter roads. I am thinking that this bucket was used in those areas. One winter I was up there they had to use small cats D3 with wide pads to clear the snow in the bush because the muskeg had not frozen solid due to an early snow cover. The D7 and D8s would fall through. I am going to take the teeth off and cut it back. How much should I leave of the cutting edge sticking out from the bucket? Thanks for the replies
Wow, that seems high. 8 teeth and retainers for my 953C was $392.09 with tax. I would suggest what Atlasrob said and take the tooth bar off and keep for later use. Check around and see what you can get some flat metal stock for. 1/2", 3/4" thick or whatever thickness you want, cut it to length and either burn or drill holes through it to match up to the bucket holes. (I would suggest drilling if you have access to a drill press.) Should be able to get at least 2 cutting edges homemade for what 1 factory cutting edge costs. Of course I do not know your local material and labor costs, so I may be way off. Spend some $$$ and get the factory bucket edge bits and get to digging.
I guess I should have mentioned in this thread that I have a regular digging bucket 29" wide. I need the regular cutting edge on my cleanup bucket. I really don't forsee needing teeth on it again.
That is really odd looking bolting teeth onto a clean up bucket....??? what was that person thinking.