Fabricating a loader bucket

Actually it sounds like you've got this thought out fairly well to me. Personally I think that mild steel would be fine (or possibly better in this case). The weak point is going to be where you attach it to the loader. You do need to do some reinforcing there but again mild steel would be my preference.

I just got through rebuilding the lift cylinders on a loader. I made the bucket that's on it a couple of years ago. It's just 4' wide but it's used to load fertilizer in trucks and in a mixer and considering that it's on a small Ford tractor it'll scoop about all the weight they can handle.

Anyway I did have to do some reinforcing of the dump cylinder mount about a year ago (it's just got one dump cylinder) but other than that it's holding up fine (if you ignore the rust). I made it out of 3/16" mild steel with a cutting edge and straps on the bottom like you're talking about.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

3/16" mild steel would be fine. Appropriate bracing and it will be fine. 4ft deep seems excessive, but that's up to you.

Dad built one a few years ago that is 8.5' x 30" x 2'. It works very well. Don't know what style skidsteer you have, but if it is the Bobcat attachment style, make the bracket out of 1/4" and weld to the back of your bucket.

His was 8.5', as it cleared bank teller lanes in a single pass. Why is yours? Just curious.

JW

Hey Doug,

Two questions for our readers......

Why so BIG? That's a heck of a bucket!! Too wide to get in lots of places. Looks like loads from 500 to 1500 pounds of snow if I read the configuration. Is this for a "Bobcat"?

And what amount of annual use do you expect and for what lifespan, and what kind of terrain? You going into business, or just doing the ol' homestead driveway? Seems to me that would determine more what you want to make it out of.

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If you lived in southern Ontario you could buy a bucket about that size (ok a bit smaller) from me for $200. It came off some sort of front end loader, I bought it at an auction.

stan

Ontario Oregon???? You bet!!!!!

I'm betting Ontario Canada, which is a long ways from McCall Idaho......

Ontario Oregon???? You bet!!!!!

I'm betting Ontario Canada, which is a long ways from McCall Idaho......

great questions. it will be used about 20 days a year, 16 hours a day. . We have the dirt bucket for it for tight stuff - it is 73 wide by 30 deep by 2 high. Terrain is driveways and parking lots. Yes, we will hit the occasional curb, but in a perfect world there will be very few rocks in it.

A Bobcat is one manufacturer of Skid Steers, obvoiusly the most famous one. I own this one:

Rated tipping is 2200 pounds. They are pretty pessmistic. 3000 to 3500 is doable if you are careful..........

Why so wide? Well, it seems to me that you can ALWAYS take narrower bites if need be, but my current 6 footer is really annoying. I have some doubts about anything bigger then 8.5 feet.

Thanks for opinions and advice!

800 pounds sounds like an HEAVY duty bucket. I think I'd be trying to figure out how to reduce some of th 3/16" plate down to 1/8" and make some of the mounting brackets do double duty as reinforcement.

I did some quick calcs, if you bite > Hello,

Interesting. My Cat 226 seems underrated in this area. It's been tipped over on its front several times by loads that just didn't seem *that* heavy to me. Hmmph. But I like the controls much better than the Case. :-)

I don't live in a snow area...I'm just curious...do you have to put chains on it for snow removal? Or tracks? Studded tires? (Can't imagine those lasting long, but they probably exist...)

--Donnie

hmmmmm........... caused me to do some some research. from this site,

smaller buckets weigh 500 pounds. we designed ours with a bunch of wear bars along the bottom. maybe we need less.

Even if it weighs 800, and holds 1500, it is still right at design spec with margins build in.....

chains on the back tires. Some guys put chains on the front tires too, but they are mostly posers........

cat controls are very nice. you don't HAVE to put chains on at all with the little bucket, but with the bigger bucket we are anticipating it.

tracks for the most part totally suck. Apparently the cat tracks actually work in teh snow sort of, which is the huge exception. more float equals less bite. some guys back east apparently run auto studded snow tires for the ice. if it were totally flat, and never had snow build up i would consider it. big trick to pushing snow is to always have your tires on pretty much bare ground. To do that, you use the bucket or blower, and mostly go forward, or backwards in your own cleared path.

just my .02

3/16" is way overkill IMO...I've fabricated snow buckets for far tractor/loaders out of old oil tanks, which are approx. 1/16"...

4' deep bucket?...are you going to be pushing/piling or loadin trucks? heavy, wet snow may cause some tipping problems...IMO, 3' would be goo

-- xkvator

More expensive than a bucket, but the high flow Bobcat 74" wide snowblower is awesome in parking lots. You can clean right up to the curb, the whole cleanup is way quicker than using a bucket or even a large payloader.

i've got one of those too. unfortunately, my skid is not a high flow. the combo of high flow blower nad regular skid really does not work well.

besides, you can't always blow the snow. I'm thinking the big bucket for in town close work, and the blower for the country lanes, once i get the right blower.

We went with the low velocity blower for wet snow. It's a Bobcat 873 with a turbo diesel. Works great with the right operator, if you try to cram it into the snow you can jam it.

ok, so i built it.

3/16 mild steel bottom and sides and backing plate. 8.5 feet wide at the front, 4 feet deep, 2 feet tall at the back.. 6 inch wide front hardened cutting edge. various stiffeners.

WOW. the thing flat frigging moves some SNOW!!!!!!!! With it I can push probably 4 yards of snow, pick up 1.5 if it is dry enough. For sure wet snow will put the steer on its nose if you are not careful. Talk about a time saver though.

All of my ideas worked. So far no flexing or twisting. cleans well. There is actually a LOT of structure in a bucket.

I have a friend who lives in Crested Butte. He used have a King Kong snow blower; to me anyway.

It was a road grader. Where the blade would normally be, there was a V-12 diesel engine that drove a 12' blower mounted in front. It would blow/throw snow 200'.