Tooth Bar Installation

[3RRL]

One of the best additions to my tractor was a tooth bar for the bucket. I bought one from Markham since it was very reasonable and they made it to fit my bucket. It came with a heavy duty bar and replaceable teeth. The bar substantially adds strength to the bucket lip. There are lots of place to buy one such as eBay or through your dealer or you can make one too. Point is it turned out great and made a BIG difference in bucket digging.

Besides digging, which toothbars are justly famous for improving, there are other tasks that are enhanced by this bucket attachment. I use mine to help clear brush. Unlike with a plain bucket, you can rake out brush by raising the FEL, driving into the brush (watch your radiator, don't go too far) then drop the bucket/toothbar with teeth pointed directly down until the teeth are an inch or so in the ground, then back up. Rips vines, brier and small bushes right out. After dragging the material clear, I raise the bucket, back up a bit then lower and scoop the mess up for delivery to the burn pile. It works as a poor man's grapple in this fashion and I find it a useful technique.
I'll share a couple of photos of how installed mine.
Rob-

[3RRL]

After checking the initial fit to my bucket (about 1/4" spare room) the first thing I did was clamp the toothbar securely in two directions using K-Clamps and furniture clamps. I made sure there were no gaps that would end up tearing up the bucket during use.



Next, I used a Ø1/2" transfer punch to center punch the bucket. Then I pre-drilled with a Ø1/4" drill to get it right on center of the toothbar bracket holes. Then I enlarged the holes to slip-fit the Ø1/2" bolts.
I bought this drill (for camp) at Harbor Freight for 29 bucks..unbelievable!
It has a 1/2" capacity chuck.



Rob-

[3RRL]

The bolt holes lined up perfectly using this method. Here is a picture showing the plate they provide all bolted together. My bucket had 2 holes on each side but none of them fit the Markham toothbar....too bad.



I drove the tractor up to the where my larger generator is...a 5550 watt Generac with 8500 watt surge. I was going to weld the steel plates to the side of the bucket to reduce oblong holes in the bucket. I found out later that welding them made them slide through the ground a lot easier too. The weld created a bevel affect.



Rob-

[3RRL]

Finally, I got to try it out on that area I've been trying to cut down and level. Previously, I had to drag the boxblade with rippers down to loosen up the dirt. I ended up bending 2 big rippers on this same area. Also couldn't get the boxblade in some areas.
Notice how deep it cut into the dirt and also notice that Ø4" root it sheared off with no problem.
I was impressed!



So "digging" with the toothbar will be far better than without one. One of the most significant improvements I noticed besides "digging" is the ability to get some of those larger rocks into the bucket MUCH easier than without one ... before I installed my bucket grapples. Same with sticks and logs. Of course the really big ones I still have to drag.
Now I'm happy.



Rob-

[quicksandfarmer]

Nice writeup, Rob.

I have a Koyker 160 loader on my Jinma 354, and when I went to put the toothbar on I was surprised at how easy it was. I used the titanium step drill bit from Harbor Freight (8.99 on sale) and it went through the bucket like nothing using just a regular 3/8" power drill. The most time-consuming part of the whole process was going to the hardware store to buy the bolts!

I agree it makes the loader a lot more useful, especially for grubbing and digging. I don't really have enough clearance ahead of the radiator to back-drag brush the way you do. But I find that just driving through the brush like a bulldozer with the toothbar a couple inches off the ground works pretty well.

[3RRL]

But I find that just driving through the brush like a bulldozer with the toothbar a couple inches off the ground works pretty well.

Yeah, I sure agree with that.
Even before I installed the bucket grapples, the toothbar alone was quite an improvement by itself. If you've read any of my log home thread Log Home Build Thread you'll see I used the toothbar to clear a lot of shrubs and large brush by just "popping" them out (Starts on reply #57). Then used the grapples to secure and haul them off.
But before the grapples, I did a lot of that anyway on hillsides and to clear the rest of the property.
Like this one without grapples.

[FLICK]

Nice toothbar Rob

I need to build one at some stage...

How thick is the cutting egde on the toothbar? about 1/2"?

Do you think 7 teeth is a good number for your bucket width?

How wide is your bucket?

Thanks

Matthew.

[biggkidd]

Rob,

Having used buckets with teeth and without many times I know what a big improvement this is. Its something I should have done long ago. Do you have the web add. for where you got your tooth bar?

Thanks KIDD

[3RRL]

Matthew and Kidd,
My bucket is 72" wide so 7 teeth space out perfectly in it, 12" center to center. They are not too close together nor too far apart...perfect spacing I would say. If your bucket is smaller, try to keep the spacing around that and use less teeth.
The cutting is 1/2" x 4" and the teeth are welded to it. Their teeth fit over your cutting edge and reinforce it, along with their's, to make it stronger.

Here is the link to their website where they list how their toothbar is made and installation etc. You can click on some of their buckets that show 5 teeth, etc., depending on the bucket width.

Markham Toothbars/Markham Welding

[bob16925]

Good evening all this is my first post..... I bought a tooth bar for my Nortrac 254 off ebay it came with 8 teeth and pre-drilled holes for 3/4 bolts it fit very tight and took my time drilling the holes also.. it has 8 teeth they are permanent havent had a chance to try it out much but I have a drive way to re-rock from the winter ravages so ill get to try it soon. if anyone wants the ebay info let me know.

Regards
Bob