Custom BOCE & Bolt-On Teeth

Some time ago in another thread on HEF I read where someone had added a bolt-on-cutting-edge (BOCE) & weld-on teeth to refurbish a skid bucket. That seemed a good idea that I wanted to try to refurbish my old compact utility tractor bucket as well as add to my much newer skid bucket. So, I decided to first try it on my old 60" tractor bucket. But I wanted to use bolt-on teeth, so I could add/remove the teeth as needed to yield both a smooth edged bucket & a toothed bucket. I had considered using a bolt-on tooth bar, but I quickly dismissed that idea because the tooth bar added more weight than I wanted, was expensive, & did not offer any variety of teeth. I explored bolt-on teeth adapters & teeth from Esco, Hensley, & Cat. Those were the only ones I could find any decent dimensions for. I originally looked at a double-lipped adapter style for strength, but soon found I could not find any that fit the bucket lip configuration that I had. So, I backed off to a single-lip adapter style, & finally found a Hensley-style of adapter & teeth from Fabco (a subsidiary of Werk-Brau) that offered the dimensions I needed, as well as the smaller size & reasonable pricing I was after. A x-section of the bucket that shows my refurbish design is as follows: The overall result that I was trying to achieve is shown below: The other key to making this work was to find the right BOCE (shown in yellow in the above diagrams). I gave up trying to find a standard one & accepted the fact that I needed a custom one made to my dimensions. I quickly discovered that there was no one in my region that could make a hardened steel cutting edge with countersunk-square-punched holes for plow bolts. Working thru Andersen Equipment in Albany, NY, I was able to design & order exactly what I wanted from Black Cat in Canada, who wholesales to ITR America, who finally deals with Andersen. My final price was about $243, which wasn't too bad. The hard part to swallow was the additional $96 for shipping, which added nothing to the design!!! Total time from my order to pickup was about 7 weeks. In order to minimize weight, I wanted the thinnest & narrowest BOCE. 1/2" is the thinnest that can have square plow bolt holes, & the closest the 5/8" hole can be to the back edge is 1". Hence. the 1/2"-thick by 6.5"-wide BOCE, & the reason I didn't opt for a reversible BOCE. As it is, I'm adding about 117 pounds to the dead-weight of my bucket & reducing my net lift capacity by the same amount. But. prior to ordering the BOCE, I ordered the Fabco bolt-on adapters, teeth, & vertical roll pins thru Andersen Equipment. They only took about a week to get. It was important to get these in-hand to verify the dimensions before I could confidently design & order the BOCE. Andersen had all the domed-5/8"-diameter Grade-8 plow bolts in stock...& their price was the best I could find. Let me acknowledge right now that none of this would have been as easy...or maybe even possible...without the experience, patience, & help of the Parts Manager at Andersen, Jim Scudder. He was a pleasure to deal with...& I'm the 1st one to admit that I can be a fussy PIA, & proud of it!! A summary of my costs & weights for the parts is as follows: So, finally pictures of the assembly & the real thing follow: The underside of the BOCE. Note the square plow bolt holes.