B670 Backhoe Buckets Revisited

[Lil Foot]

Some of you may remember I placed an ad looking for a B670 backhoe bucket, or something similar I could adapt to fit.
http://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29905&highlight=b670
I will be needing one without teeth for smoothing & contouring on a future job, and I'm reluctant to cut the teeth off of the two I currently have. After searching high & low, I had given up on a bucket that fits, and searched for a similar sized bucket I could adapt. I found only one, at a tractor salvage yard, but the guy would not sell it because it was still attached to a small 3pt backhoe.(it has been lying on it's side in the mud for years, but he would not budge)
I had given up, & then I ran across a pic of a pair of "New Holland" buckets at a dealer in Oregon. I had them take some measurements & found the small one is an exact fit for my hoe. The larger one (18") (the one I would have preferred) is missing, no where to be found, but the guy said it was an identical mounting scheme.(DAMN!)
Anyway, I bought the blue one and it IS a Kubota B670 bucket. The "ears" have an extra boss added, (more surface area?) but otherwise it is identical to my current 14".
I am at a loss to explain the blue paint, or the oddly spaced, slightly crooked teeth. As soon as I get time, I will cut the teeth off with the mill, maybe maybe throw some orange paint on it.
Anybody need some teeth?
1st pic is the two buckets at the dealer, 2nd is my two, 3rd & 4th are the new bucket.

 

[Lil Foot]

Forgot to mention:
If anyone has a bucket like the large one (18") in the 1st pic above, contact me please!

 

[BadDog]

You must have really modified your soil if you can use a bucket that big on that hoe in valley soil.

But sorry, no help here. The guy I got my (pending project) from said he had a wide bucket for it somewhere, and would contact me when he found it (yeah, right). So far, no news.

 

[Lil Foot]

You must have really modified your soil if you can use a bucket that big on that hoe in valley soil.

I wish! No, it would actually be used at my place near Happy Jack, (even worse soil, & lots of rocks) but only to contour & scrape previously placed dirt & fill; virtually no digging. That's why I want the extra width & no teeth.

Pending project? Sounds interesting.

 

[MagKarl]

I wouldn't cut the teeth off. If you're not really digging, but scraping, I'd build a shoe that covers the teeth. I built one for mine when I was scraping out the final grade in my barn and it works great.

 

[Lil Foot]

Guess I should have been clearer; scraping, contouring, and scooping to redistribute. I have used a Case 480C (I think) backhoe with one of those shoes. It did a nice job grading, but scattered more dirt around than it picked up when trying to redistribute excess dirt. That's why I want the no teeth bucket. I also have a possible trench job on the horizon where a flat bottom trench would be preferable. It won't be tough to remove the teeth, (once it's set up) I'll just machine the welds away & whack 'em with a hammer. They will be completely reusable.

 

[Lil Foot]

Began cutting welds today. A little touch up with a cutoff wheel on the peanut grinder, and then we will find out how much penetration the welder got.

Sean, any part of that setup look familiar?

 

[Lil Foot]

we will find out how much penetration the welder got.

The answer is A LOT. These were the toughest welds I've ever dealt with. Judging by the mangled cutting edges on three cold chisels & the destroyed roughing end mill, at least some of this welding must have been with a hard facing rod.
Anyway, bucket has just been primed, hopefully I will "orange it up" tomorrow.

I have no use for the teeth, so if anyone has a project that might require a little extra bite, you can have them for shipping costs. All need some clean up with the peanut grinder, 2 are virtually perfect, two kinda chewed, the other 2 somewhere in between. I will also put an ad in the classified section. PM me if interested.

 

[MagKarl]

I'd gladly take those teeth. I'll send you a pm with my details.

 

[Lil Foot]

The teeth will soon be on their way to MagKarl.

 

[Yooper]

Like your setup on the mill! I do the same thing on mine. I like to say that there is no rules when it comes to setups on mills.

As far as the welds being hard, it could have been hard facing rod but more likely the alloy from the teeth melted into the welds. Did they cut harder the deeper you went?

 

[Lil Foot]

Did they cut harder the deeper you went?

On the ones I had the most trouble with, yes. But three of them weren't bad at all. You're probably right, probably a function of how hot/how deep that particular bead was.

I've done some truly bizarre mill setups over the years, but the coolest ones I have no pics of- they were confiscated when I retired. Nothing secret about the setups, but what I was working on was "not for public consumption".
Extra points if you can spot why work has halted, giving me time to shoot these pics.

 

[Yooper]

What is that attachment? That is the coolest thing I've seen in a while. And it doesn't look cheap.

 

[Lil Foot]

Bridgeport QuillMaster attachment, with 90 degree attachment. Incredibly versatile, and incredibly expensive. I think I bought that one (with the company's money) for nearly $5K. One of the coolest jobs I did with it was to reach inside a 3" dia "pipe" and mill two "T" shaped pockets vertically opposite from each other.
I have seen them used in the 2.5K range, but I just can't justify owning one.

 

[Yooper]

If I come across one I'm not sure I have the discipline to resist. What kind of collet does it have?

 

[Lil Foot]

I think the collet is specific to the quillmaster, I don't think any standard collets will fit. Someone in my shop lost a collet, (vacuumed it up I think) so I bought a replacement, & it was over $200.

What I would love to have & would get a lot more use from is the standard Right Angle Head, & H-Mill Arbor Attachment. Uses R8 collets. Really handy!

Note; there are also a couple of smaller right angle attachments out there that don't work with the H-mill arbor. (last pic)

 

[Yooper]

Good stuff! Thanks for posting.

 

[Lil Foot]

Got the teeth removed & shipped to MagKarl. Cleaned up & painted the toothless bucket.

 

[Lil Foot]

When I measured the bucket mounting holes & spacing, I noticed the 1" pin holes were very tight; some rust, blue paint, & a few dings. I decided to ream the holes after painting, with the old Critchley adjustable reamer.
While I was cutting the teeth off, I noticed, as far as I could tell, this bucket had never been in the ground. I think I know why now.
I reamed the holes closest to the open side, no problem. When I attempted to ream the other holes, I found that the side plates of the bucket extend too far, blocking the 1" pins from going into the holes. Absolutely no way, almost .100 interference. So, out comes the die grinder, cut some clearance, and then reamed the holes. A little paint touch up and I'll be ready to start scraping off all that beautiful new finish.

 

[Yooper]

Good call on the reamer idea!