What’s everyone’s favorite add on tooth bar for a tractor loader bucket? Bolt on, clamp on, whatever, and why? I’m looking for one to dig rocky soil with, so I’m thinking a Pirahna or similar is not a good choice. That looks like it’s more for brush and small trees. There are a lot of companies out there with a wide swing in prices so I’m hoping for some real experiences. I’m leaning toward the clamp on style with the added support going up the bottom of the bucket as opposed to the bolt on. I don’t think I can seriously stress either style with my tractor so I prefer the easier mounting and subsequent on/off. I’m not opposed to drilling a couple holes in my bucket though if necessary. I do want it to be easy and quick to put on or take off. I haven’t checked any of the local fab shops yet but I will when I settle on a final design.
Be careful on drilling holes in your bucket!! While Kubota tractors are almost bullet proof, their buckets are not. They are made of pretty thin steel and I have twisted, bent, and broke mine, mostly where I drilled holes in the bucket. My favorite add on was a set of forks for it. In another lifetime, or when I go to replace this bent bucket, I would like to go with a 4 way bucket with clamp on forks.
Of course if you do bend, twist or break your bucket, Union Farm Equipment has aftermarket replacements for $380. At that price, does it really matter if you bend, twist or break your original bucket????
Just my opinion here. My dad had a tooth bar on his BX and when I used the tractor I didn’t find it useful. The ground here is compact with lots of rocks even with the bar the bucket wouldn’t dig in. I would loosen up the soil with the hoe, pick out the big bones then scoop it. Granted it’s a lighter machine. Also when clearing a paved surface of snow they could dig in. But it can be removed in winter. When he traded up to the b3300 he did not get a bar for it and I don’t miss it.
Used one on my JD 2305 tractor for quite a while. Problem was you really couldnt back drag something smooth with it on. If you have a box blade on the back, may not be as big of a issue. It did help with digging, but not enough for me to keep it on after a couple years of using it. Edit, it was a bolt on as well and i never had any bucket issues.
The piranha tooth bar looks cool but once it is wore out it is trash. I would get a second bucket with teeth on it. That way you will still have your smooth bucket for back dragging and snow removal.
^^^ This is ideal IF you have the QA "system" on your loader. I find a tooth bucket (or tooth bar) is a great aid in our rocky soils and to quote me "if your bucket doesn't have teeth, you might as well wear a dress".... sum's up my feeling. Now this is also in terms of a large skid steer but I have a tooth bucket for my tractor and have had a bolt on tooth bar on past tractors. They are great for "grubbing" out in the woods besides digging. 2 holes to drill, easy!
Did you get a box blade with your tractor? Try dropping the scarifiers and ripping the ground before you dig. It won't be as good as a toothbar since you don't have down pressure on the 3PH but it still make work decent.
Yes I did, and I intend to put it to good use, but it still won’t do what a tooth bar will in some cases. I prefer to use the box blade where I can though.
Maina I'm not sure it's completely necessary (may be overkill on a smaller machine) but look for a t/b that has cast, replaceable tooth covers. Some of the lighter varieties use a fabricated tooth cover that crimps on and then falls off eventually. IIRC you said you had some heavy equipment back round and you know you want a good "pin on" cover. You just need the inside dimension of your bucket to go shopping. Any tractor or skid loader t/b will work, some may ask you if you have a bolt on cutting edge, you don't.
Oh yeah I’ve replaced a few pin on bucket teeth in my day on Cat loaders mostly. You make a very good point. Most of the ones I’ve seen use the lighter crimp on style and I’m not familiar with them. I wondered how long they stayed on. As for the bucket, that’s one little bone of contention I have with the tractor. I was told it had a bolt on cutting edge and I will take the dealer to task on that. I like the bucket and I’ll never wear it out most likely, but I wanted a bolt on edge and was told it would be. So I’ll ask for some help on the right bolt on tooth bar and then I’ll be happy. I’m sure they’ll help me out satisfactorily.
Cant really help Maina, my soil is mostly sand with clay in the bottoms (low spots) what i have noticed is that my lower bucket edge is really limited. So my neighbor was pulling some packed gravel where main road (paved) connects to my road (gravel) my bucket would not do it! He came in with a 35 HP machine and did it easily! I went over to ask him how and why. He told me that he goes to the town and gets the used grader blades. Cuts them to length and drills holes 3 and bolts them on. Thats what i Plan to do with my standard bucket. He keeps the edge of blade 3 inches out and says it works like a charm. So will the teeth help remove rocks? or what is the point? I think if i needed something like that and your bucket is quick attach. would it not be easier to weld on some quick attach parts to the your box blade and there you go. Put box blade on front of loader and solve the problem. Or am i missing something?
That’s it in a nutshell. The standard bucket edge is really designed for scooping loose material. It’ll dig ok in soft ground but you need teeth to bite into hard rocky soil, and to help dig out rocks and small stumps. The grader blade edge would help a lot when cutting a hard gravel surface but still isn’t great for digging rocks. As for putting a box blade on front I think you’d lose all the functions it was designed for. I don’t think it would be very effective that way, but I’ve never tried it. I’d much rather pull a ripper tooth than try to push one with the loader. Pulling it would help traction where pushing would do the opposite imho. Seems like it would make it easier to tweak the loader arms too. The box blade will definitely get a lot of what I want done but there are spots where it just won’t work for me and I’ll need to dig with the loader. I’m considering a rock/stump bucket instead of a tooth bar, but it’s use would be more limited so a tooth bar is probably more sensible from a cost standpoint. Narrow is better for digging though. The ideal solution would be a narrower rock bucket just wide enough to cover my front tire track, but that’s probably the most expensive way to go. It would dig better than my 66” bucket even if it was a 60”. I’m not sure if a 54” would do it, I’d have to measure but I don’t think so. Maybe I could find one used even. So far the tooth bar fuelrod posted above appears to be the best solution for my needs. He’s dealing with similar soil conditions so if it works well for him then it should for me within the limits of my smaller tractor of course. If I run into something too big I’ll rent a mini excavator. I love operating those anyway so I’m hoping for at least one excuse to rent one again.
Keep in mind Maina that a loader only rated for XXXX pounds, the whole manchine only weighs XXXX pounds, an extra 80? pounds for a BOCE on a 150# bucket....... It's a fine balance between load capacity & extra steel that on average, their design dept. (perhaps the accountants) feels is unnecessary. Our tractors are orange not "Cat yellow"
No question it’s not a Cat lol. But a bolt on edge would still be a bonus vs a weld on. We can make it work though without too much stress. I have lots of time...
I have made my own bucket teeth before, and it did work really well digging gravel. I don't have any on my Kubota now because I scrape down my sheep barn so I need a straight cutting edge. If it was me, I would just buy 5 steel wedges and then weld them onto the bucket, then hard surface them. By the time those teeth are worn out, the tractor will be worn out, and if not, it would take 5 minutes with a 4-1/2 inch grinder to cut them off with a cut-off disc. That would save a lot of weight, be easy to add, and cost very little money for all the benefits of having bucket teeth. A person could make them bolt on too with a little drill press work, but honestly, I would just weld them on and be done with it.