Hi I've got a 4in1 bucket on my 580b. I am told I should open the bucket roll it forward and push with the movable jaw. Somehow that seems not quit right. How do you with 4in1 buckets do it?? Thanks Jamby
Use the back 1/2 of the bucket as a dozer or leveling blade not the swing side. You want to use it to cleanly pick spoil after a grade leave the bucket down, curl it back to square and close the swing side so closes on the material, will pick up cleaner than trying to push through the pile.
i use mine very much like this ,closed for the bulk of it , then do the fine grading with it open and rolled over http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb2GRiRPT7A if you do lots of big areas make up a grading frame that you can grab with the bucket and cover more area quicker cheers graham
DMiller, d4c24a I am just getting started with an old 580b I bought from one of my neighbors who did a lot of work with it in this community. Most of my jobs consist of removing stumps leveling fill dirt and covering with 5/8 gravel. Looks like the video shows him using the bucket open and rolled so far forward that both edges of the bucket are contacting the ground. Is that done with the bucket control in "float"?? Also what is the the best use of the float feature. ? Most of the time I can either get the dump truck driver to spread it the length of the area or dump it where I can scoop it up and carry it to the far end of the area where I can back drag with the bucket closed and rolled forward lifting the front wheels off the surface. That has produce flat level areas unless the rear wheels drop into a hole. I try to fill those holes before starting. Sorry if these questions seem that of a beginner, but thats what I am. Jamby
I prefer not to use a bucket as shown, there is a great deal of force applied to a MP bucket opened and stretched out so far, one large catch and the lower lip could get damaged to where it becomes useless. I can be incorrect but I am also used to larger older equipment, old track loaders to be precise and dozers. These necessitated the bucket 'blade' edge to be almost square to the graded surface to get a really clean result. My current machine has a 4/1, it is considerably heavier than this unit and in no way designed to function as that one is being used. A lot of it is operator choice as well and what works great for one may be crap to another. As to the video, what I see in it is the loader is at a fixed height, there is no float happening.
float only works going backwards because the bucket trails along "behind" the machine when in float travelling forwards all you do is lift the front wheels off the ground spreading with 4in1 is done mostly the same as standard bucket just push and tip then finish in some form of style with the bucket open you'll find out that different angles of open work better for forwards, backwards, soft fill, hard pac(driveways) there's a thousand different variables in each surface and operator theres little tricks you pick up along the way making it easier to use the bucket
When using a 4-1 as in the clip the operator needs to be awake , like i said its best used like that for fine grading ,you can use the front edge to keep your hight and then lower/raise the back edge using the crowd/dump to cut material , never had a problem with bending anything in some 30 odd years ,but then i do not go charging into the unknown , there are so many use,s for a 4-1 and thats the reason 99.9% of machines in the UK have them ,the more you try different things with it the more you will gain experience and learn its full potential float will only help in reverse
Thanks DMiller, The Learner, d4c24a Looks like the key is to get some more experience and find out the best ways to use in it the materials I work with. Wish I had an area where I could play. But I am in a developed area and all my work is done on other peoples property. I will play with the float position and try to figure it out. jamby
Hi jamby, I have used 4 in 1 buckets a lot. I like keeping bucket closed for the heavy stuff, then opening it up to finish. The float is just going to follow the ground you graded pretty much and as the learner said, raise the front of the machine off the ground when going forward. I only use float sometimes to backdrag after it is graded. I would backdrag with bucket closed and dumped a little from flat position so you don't change your grade much. When grading with bucket open, I usually keep open part of bucket off the ground. Maybe I will put it close to ground if you want to break up some chunky material. I like grading an inch or two high first time through, then put it right on grade filling in any voids the next time through.
I never really cared for the open 4n1 grading method. If I had to drag material out instead of pushing it sometimes I will use it like a scraper. I think Jamby you nailed it right on the head as far gaining more experience. I do a lot of utility work in the street and a 4n'1 makes life easier. Many of tricks to use while loading trucks, cleaning up, handling road plates, etc..... Good luck, d4c24a is right about not charging into the unknown, but I have seen many messed up 4n'1's. Seen rocks get caught and tear the side of the dozer half the bucket and many bent cutting edges. Be cautious to what and how you pick things up.