Anyone have experience with a rock bucket for a L3901??

[ade678]

Hi All,

Is anyone here using a rock bucket attachment with their L01 series?

I'm considering picking up a Virnig V30-SRV-CT Skeleton Bucket for my L3901, and can't decide whether to go with 60" or 72".

I live on 24 steep acres in central PA. About half the time I expect to use the bucket to move firewood around the property and clean up forest paths (a vote for the bigger 72"), but the other half the time I expect to use it to clear large rocks out of the fields and gardens, and perhaps to dig into (very!) hard packed soil to clear out new paths as well (a vote for the smaller 60").

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

72" will very quickly became too much for the loader and tractor to handle!

 

[minthral]

Unless you're planning to load it up fully with large rocks, I'd go with 72 (300lb) or at least 66 (280lb). For reference, the factory 66 bucket is ~350 LB, so these skeleton buckets are 'light weight.' I wouldn't go smaller than 66 as you want it to see the sides from the tractor.

72 would be better for everything, but the risk you'd have is if you dig in too much and pull out too much dirt, the tractor wont lift. Being some of it will always fall through bottom and it's light weight, having a little more capacity wont hurt anything. These types of buckets aren't used to heap material, but rather rake with and for that you want as wide as you can get.

 

[Tropical Jack]

I have an L3301. I live in the mountains, and “pick” a lot of rocks. I have a toothbar mounted on my bucket, and find that this helps a lot in “digging” out the rocks. The obvious advantage of the rock bucket is that you get less dirt. I do not have an “expert” opinion on what size dirt bucket you should have - but for me, a bucket larger than 66” would be too big. Although filling my standard bucket with logs does not overload my FEL, filling it with rocks does. You would also lose a certain amount of maneuverability with a larger bucket. Just my 2 cents.

Jack

 

[Vlach7]

I am glad you asked, for my L47 I got the 72" from Titan, 800lbs, way too heavy, lots of metal, made for a skid steer, wish I would have done my homework, trying to sell it now to get a lighter/smaller 60", able to pry the soil and kind of make it work, even with very loose soil it's too much. Learn from my mistake. When I bought it, it cost $1600, then they went to $2300, now I believe they are close to $1800, supply and demand. I also got the 4800lb debris forks for downed trees, $400, work great after some reinforcement arc welding.

 

[ade678]

Thanks for the feedback! The Virnig V30-SRV-CT line is deliberately "light weight" (The "CT" stands for
"compact tractor"): the 60" is approx. 250 lbs, the 72" is approx. 280 lbs, so not much difference. My guess Does this change affect your opinions?

I'm leaning ever so slightly toward the smaller 60", since the l3901 really doesn't have that much weight to dig the tines into the ground. On the other hand, I plan to move ~8 cords of firewood each year, and the extra width would be awfully nice!

Additional thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[Vlach7]

Wow, that's light, my regular 72" bucket is 400lbs, hope some L3901 owners with experience pipe up. These buckets really do not move much wood, to small, I lift fallen trees to fit in my dump trailer with my debris forks, to cut and split at home, that is what works for me. Good luck.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Thanks for the feedback! The Virnig V30-SRV-CT line is deliberately "light weight" (The "CT" stands for
"compact tractor"): the 60" is approx. 250 lbs, the 72" is approx. 280 lbs, so not much difference. My guess Does this change affect your opinions?

I'm leaning ever so slightly toward the smaller 60", since the l3901 really doesn't have that much weight to dig the tines into the ground. On the other hand, I plan to move ~8 cords of firewood each year, and the extra width would be awfully nice!

Additional thoughts?

Thanks!

Here is a data point for you. I purchased a MTL 60" root grapple for my L3901. It clocks in at 500# and is a good two hundred pounds more than ideal. I max out at about 800 in payload.

Its also about the same depth as your skeleton bucket so the over hung weight is similar. It does not take many rocks in any of those Virnig buckets to make up the 200 pounds difference in weight. The smaller Virnig bucket will accomodate all the rocks the loader can handle.

Dan

 

[MRudy86]

Looking at the Virnig 72". Just wondering if OP has an update/review.

 

[Soopitup]

A rock bucket is next on my list. I can't speak to size, however I found these that have removable sides.
Looks like they have a mix of pallet forks versatility and a toothed buckets ripping ability.
There are videos in the compact bucket section.
You do have to pay extra for the sides if you want them.

CRI HD Utility Tractor Rock and Skeleton Buckets – Cold Roll Industrial

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