I'm going to start searching for a larger bucket. The one I have is only a foot - great for the trenching I'm doing, but I'll soon be done with that and would like something a little more substantial. My question is what are the essential dimensions I'll need to find one that fits. I think I have the basics down in the images, but hey...what do I know. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks R
My favorite is a 24". Decent production and plenty of room when I have to work in the ditch.
I have a 30ish inch bucket for my 555E. Reason I say ish is because the bucket is slightly bent in places so you can’t get a straight measure. Only things that matter are pin size and dipper aka boss size. Everything else isn’t as important. If I remember I think you have a 555E as well, so my guess is your pins are 1 3/4 and your dipper is 8 1/4. At least that’s what mine are. With the bucket I ended up buying, I got an extra set of pins because they needed to be a bit wider than what was on my 18” Bucket.
I did a quick measure on the dipper earlier today and it was 8" -- but again, that was a just a quick throw the tape measure at it. I'll do more accurate measuring tomorrow. And yes, it is a 555E. Thanks Cos.
Here is an aftermarket. Looks like most ford/NH backhoes are similar. They provide the measurements too. I would double check. And yes, they aint cheap. Oh, and they do have other sizes. Ford New Holland Backhoe 24" Bucket 24” trenching bucket for Ford 550–555E, 655–655E backhoes. Uses 1.75" pins. Made in USA. Replaces PV457. www.brokentractor.com
I didn't think of it in the post above, but I have purchased from Aim attachments in Ohio. If you are interested in them, give them a call. I spoke with them prior to buying. Nice people. Home - Aim Attachments: Factory-direct Attachment Sales
Around here there is a guy or 2 on CL that has hundreds of buckets used. I bought a basically new 12” trenching bucket with pin on side teeth for 300 bucks. I‘m not sure I’ll ever use it again. I just reconditioned my 24”.
My 30 incher was $400. We did a little modification to make it work and all is well. Who knows what it came off of. I think an excavator? My dad did the same thing here recently. I forget how much it was but it definitely wasn’t a NH bucket.
My son-in-law is on the case. He always seems to find stuff for cheap in the weirdest places. He just bought a Massey Ferguson tractor with discs and 580D for 3 grand and drove them both home. The tractor is in really nice shape. The 580D - not so much, but def fixable - mostly cylinder leaks, open cab 2-wheel drive. We took some measurements of my bucket yesterday and he's out looking today. Hopefully it'll stop raining and dry up enough for me to finish my ditching project. By then it'll be too cold to do anything else, so we'll have all winter to look. I'll keep y'all posted. Thank you.
uuuggghhh, stop mentioning the W season.
There's a bunch of buckets coming on purple wave auction soon in Colorado, they typically go really cheap
If you found a decent bucket for a reasonable price you could have a fab shop make ears to fit your machine. $1600 for a new bucket doesn't seem like a bad deal either. Ritchie Bros. often has a lot of used buckets that go really cheap too.
Usually the only difference between a 12" and 24" is time. There seems to be a lot more time spent landscaping required after using the 24". That is for sure.
I've had 12", 24" & a toothless 36. It is reasonable to switch buckets on my Case 580 Super N. I find the 36 is on it most. I believe it is fastest digging 46" deep I most often dig for electrical conduit with a 24" bucket. Narrower bucket is way too slow. My wider is toothless. Shallow ditch I might use the 12". Backfilling & landscape work I want only the toothless 36" I can usually refill a ditch scraping the spoils from the grass. Ditch digging is fast, ditch filling not so fast. Smoothing takes most time. I can dig 200 feet a day, & refill it. I will spend all at least next day smoothing it out. Toothless bucket surely speeds that chore.
Willie B... Thank you for that response! Very helpful. Mt hoe (excuse the expression), came with a 12 incher, which is what I needed at the time for trenching. I found that the trench was too narrow for what we required so now I am widening the trench in spots using the front loader to slope one side of the trench to accept ground water free-flowing into the dig -- I know it's hard to explain Your explanation of how you use your buckets makes a lot of sense. Again, thanks. r
24" bucket moves far more than twice the volume a 12" bucket can. An 18" deep trench, it might be a valid argument to use a 12" wide bucket. In my world nearly every trench must be filled. My technique is from woodworking: "rub the bevel". I can lay a 3' bucket on the grass near the spoil pile. I try to keep the flat bottom of the bucket rubbing on the grass. Keeping one corner of the bucket visible on the grass, I simultaneously raise the boom, curl the crowd, roll the bucket out. I pull the spoils to the ditch. When it works (most of the time) it leaves the sod beside the trench intact. Narrower buckets, toothed buckets, it doesn't work well. I believe digging the trench is quick compared to fixing the lawn after a dig. A bucket that speeds that process is helpful.
I hope others are reading this...
I think I found a 24" bucket: Here's what's listed: came off Ford 555 Backhoe but will fit other models 24" wide bucket 1 3/4" pin hole 12 1/2" Center to center on pins 8" between $500 My dimensions are very close. My questions are : What do you think this thing weighs so I know what vehicle to take to pick it up if it comes to that And second is my setup with my current 12" bucket linkage shown in this image: Would I even need to worry about the white link in this image? I think i know what it was used for - to help curl the bucket? Thanks for any input. R
Pickup would be fine to bring that home. Take some boards to set it on so it doen't rip up your bed. Straps too, you don't want it coming to vist you on a hard stop. I wouldn't consider putting it in a car/suv. Weight would be ok in a decent SUV, but wrangling it in there would be miserable.
The bucket is going to use the same configuration for digging. The only issue you might have is the pins won’t fit exactly, so maybe a little buffing or spacers will be needed. From the picture you sent it looks to be in ok condition. But I would need to see the sides and bottom to for sure tell. Offer him 400 and see what he says. Probably going to need new teeth before too long. They look a bit stubby.
I'm guess a 24" bucket would be 400-500lbs depending on how HD it is.
You have two piece bucket links. Yes, they help the bucket to rotate farther. Without, bucket curl would be very limited.
Bucket looks damn near new. Depending on how far off the dimensions are, I would jump all over that. Welder Dave was right 300 pounds looks like.
Picked up the bucket yesterday. 120 mile round trip. The gentleman is farming 600 acres ! He's getting on now and is selling a lot of his equipment and he has a ton of it mostly JD. Very impressive operation. Anyway here it is: Dimensions are 12" center to center on the pin holes and 8" between the ears(?). Same as mine. Only question I have is the pin diameter of 1-3/4" -- mine, just measuring with a tape, are 1-1/2". So we'll see.
Looks good. Might be able to go with different bushings to work with your smaller pins. Depending on how the zerk fittings are, you might even be able to shove a second bushing in the first...
I hope I'm wrong, but I'll bet if you can find a guy with a lathe to turn you some bushings, he's probably going to want $50 apiece to make. I wonder if some 1.5" exhaust pipe would be good enough to tighten things up? Might need a bit of smoothing on the inside with a die grinder.
I'll figure something out. As I mentioned I measured with a tape measure and admittedly, I am completely new at this. Here are a couple of images of what I have now and it may already have bushings in it. I'll take a closer look tomorrow and use a caliper to get a better idea of the actual dimensions. Thanks for the heads up on the costs.
Probably want a harder bushing. A soft bushing would have a very short life. If a bushing is too thin the bucket isn't that big. A machine shop could bore the existing bushings to fit a thicker hardened bushing for a press fit. Then it would be a permanent lasting modification. Another option is the existing bushings could be bore welded and machined to size. It's worth fixing it right in my opinion.
It's a $500 bucket. Slip some spacers made out of $5 worth of pipe and move on. When they get loose, change them out. I'd be surprised if they ever do, unless 'ol Rumble starts running it 400 hours per year.
Beautiful, like new bucket! First dig and the rust will mostly gone. Hard to tell, but in the pic, it looks like the bucket has bushings. May just need to press those out and press in the correct id bushing. Great find!
Thanks Swetz. Makes me feel a better about it. Got it for $450.
There will be bushings in the arms, shown in your picture. It may not have bushings in the pin boss on bucket but it looks like it. You actually should be able to get the old bushings it and go to a smaller ID. Then you just need an 1 1/2” pin. I would check Broken Tractor, I got some bushings and pins for a reasonable cost when doing my stabilizers last year. Will just be a simple ID, OD dimensions and pin length. If you can just use some pipe, go for it. Won’t last many hours though and I expect your not going to be switching buckets very often, so I would do it right.
Those bushings are hard as glass, My steel dealer sold me very hard steel that can be turned on a lathe, it is not as hard as the manufactured bushings you now have. A machinist or even a hobbiest can make you new bushings correctly sized for your needs. I suggest getting two sets as they will wear faster than originals. Before doing that contact Con Epuip, they can sometimes do it by dimension. To remove old bushings heat the inner bore with acetylene torch or weld a few beads inside with a stick welder. Allow to cool, they will drive out with the right diameter pin & hammer. New bushings have to be larger than the bore to work. They shrink when extremely cold. Liquid nitrogen is best, dry ice is less cold, but may work.
I may not have to worry about any machining...I would assume they are all the same.
Not sure why your pins are 1 1/2. They should be 1 3/4.
Hey Cosmaar1, I think they are 1-3/4. Originally, I just threw a tape across one end of one of the pins. Earlier this morning I used calipers to measure the ID of one of the unoccupied holes in the existing 12" bucket. That hole measured at 1.75". Unless the existing pins are using bushings - and I'm not that smart until I take them out - they should be 1.75". At least that's what I'm hoping - and I agree with you. Thanks for hangin' in there with me while I figure out what the heck I'm doing.
Oh Boy! We gits a new bucket going on here. Couldn’t figure out how you managed with that little 12” bucket? lol
Actually, I had a Case 580K, I had two buckets, a 12" I rebuilt as a heavy duty, & a heavy duty 24". I built a hydraulic thumb. The 12" was very handy for digging around big rocks, tree stumps, frozen ground, firewood & building walls with big stone. Case has a Quick coupler of sorts, takes 1/2 hour to round up needed tools & switch buckets. 24" went on to dig deep electrical ditches, I used it for backfilling too. Present owner of that tractor hasn't installed the 24" bucket. It has been a few years he uses it most often for wood. I built this wall with 12" bucket after the big flood in 2011 partly to divert flood water. It was six feet deep in the road where the camera is.
Holy crap....that's a lot of rock
Oh, I’m not hating on the 12” bucket. I just can’t imagine not having a bigger one. I keep my 24” bucket on full time but if I’m going stumping, I want my 12’ bucket on. It feels indestructible.
When I wasn't digging my trench, I cleared an area around our house pulling a bunch of stumps with the 12. I don't really know the difference, but the 12 seemed like I had more "finesse," --- if that term can even be used in the same sentence as "backhoe."
I can see using the word finesse but for me, my 12” just has more leverage and ripping power it seems. That and being able to fit in and around the rocks and roots makes it easier. I had to dig through and around some ledge, to get my service into the house in about a 50’ section. Still didn’t get it 4’ down but without that 12” bucket, I never would have got it down, as far as I did. Got about 3’ down, then raised grade in that section, about a foot. Threading that 3” conduit was a bitch, the 3 2” conduits just bent around it. Was able to do it without a sweep and being it was a 470’ run to the transformer, I was not allowed another sweep.
....I can only imagine what 500' of 3" conduit runs these days...!!
I think you described it pretty well however, I've never heard it called rub the bevel! Neighbor needed a garage floor drain replaced. Went there and 'skimmed' the sod off, set it to the side, dug the trench. They put in their drain of choice, used above and also "sweeping" motion to backfill and tamp down. They replaced the "sod" and I recall the wife being very shocked as she thought it would all be destroyed during the dig. I think I got a free peanut butter sandwich that day!
When I started the house, I bought 500’ of 3” at 8.90 a stick for 10’ lengths , delivered. They had no 20’s. Had it delivered and ran out of that stuff and this was 3 1/2 years ago, then we bought some on CL, some on FB Marketplace because they wanted 60 to 80 dollars a stick. Ran schedule 80 the last bit as it crossed under driveway, builder found me a deal at 19.00 a stick. Inflation and supply issues almost stopped the house but we got it done.
Oh no issue. I lost a pin on my bucket today…. At least I found the tooth. Now the fun part is finding pins that I don’t remember where I got, can’t read the tooth, and lord only knows what the bucket came off of.
Pins...that'll be the next big mystery for me. Like, where do you get them? Even if I don't need them, it's prolly a good idea to have some laying around. I prolly have about twenty for my tractor.
THIS is a lot of rock......
Rub the bevel is a term used in woodworking. Similar proceedure is used in removing spoils from grass. I find it very difficult to clean dirt off the top of sod any other way.
The pins I was speaking of are the 2-3” ones that keep the teeth on the bucket shanks. The pins you are referring to can be bought anywhere. I have a set for each one of my buckets because they are different widths for the bucket ears which means the pins don’t fit the same. Go to a local machine shop, tell them what size and length you need, application you are using it for, and they should be able to hook you up. Might as well have them weld on a washer on one end and drill the hole in the other for you to put in the bolt to keep them in the dipper arm.
I bought from this guy before. Good quality finish. You have to finish the pin to your specs. If you contact him, he will give you the length you want. 45mm (1.77") x 280mm (11") Metric Bucket Pin, CAT 304C/305/306 Excavator | eBay 45mm (1.77") x 280mm (11") 4140 Grade, Turned, Ground & Polished. Small orders are no problem. We can cut any size required. Joseph Fazzio, Inc. Surplus Division. www.ebay.com