I love having my tool kit but I despise trying to chain it down securely. Those little round butted mini buckets want to roll and move around. My hoe pack is over different height because of the adapter so it messes up the lineup. What I'm thinking of doing is going under the porch, and welding in some coil rod nuts. Then I would make some channel steel clamps. I have a nice lip all the way around the porch. I could tuck whichever bucket up into the corners or the hoe pack, put my steel clamp inside of the bucket, and hold it down with a wing nut I'll make out of coil rod and bar stock. I'll make it so the channel tucks all the way to the back of the bucket. that way there is simply no way the bucket can get away. It will be trapped against the channel iron curb up front and the coil rod and clamp in the back. I have a 42 a 24 and 18. I'll space out my welded in nuts so they'll accommodate any combination. What do you think of that solution?
Just put the buckets against the blade with a strap and the hoe pack alone with a strap. I think you are over thinking this.
Probably I have a fixed porch and the blade is on the tilting section so I'd have to kick the buckets up onto the fixed porch every time I unload it. I was trying to make it so I could unload whichever bucket I wanted and leave the other ones hooked down.
How many buckets are you carrying? I always carry three with me with my mini, an 18", 30", and a 48" grading. I keep the 30 inch bucket on the machine and I scoop up the 18 inch bucket with the teeth and ears facing out, then I scoop up the 48 inch bucket with a 30 inch bucket so they all sit together then I curl it up and set down on the trailer and throw a chain over them.
I've got that plus a hoe pack.
Can you not put the blade on the fixed section?
It would be waaaaay tongue loaded on my 1 ton.