NCL4701
Well-known member
Equipment
L4701, T2290, WC68, grapple, BB1572, Farmi W50R, Howes 500, 16kW IMD gen, WG24
This may have been beat to death 1000 times but I haven’t seen anything recent on it so I’m throwing it out for feedback, preferably from folks that have actual experience.
I currently have a 72” square back smooth front bucket on my L4701. For some things I really like the smooth front and it works quite well. Particularly moving aggregates such as gravel, mulch, sand, and relatively loose dirt. It works well back dragging in float for a final finish on relatively loose material. It works well for scraping a thin layer off the top of even hard ground and leaving a smooth finish. I’m not at all sure I want to permanently lose the smooth bucket option.
However, it is less than stellar at cutting into hard ground in a real digging scenario such as cutting down a creek bank for a crossing, cutting through numerous tree roots in hard dirt, creating substantial ditches in undisturbed soil. Our place (for reasons unbeknownst to me) has a quite odd for the area complete lack of natural rocks so digging in rocky areas isn’t an issue. Digging in clay is the issue. Dig while dry is dang near similar to digging sandstone. Digging wet is a bit easier from the bucket standpoint but traction is reduced running on wet clay so it’s still far from ideal. Seems like every bucket on every tractor, CTL, loader that’s intended for real digging, regardless of size of machine, has teeth so I’m thinking teeth are preferable.
Bottom line I’d like to have a tooth bar that is reasonably installable/removable depending on the job at hand. I’m thinking it would be on most of the time but option to remove would be highly desirable. If it’s teeth, swell. If it’s some sort of truly sharp serrated arrangement that should be fine also (the smooth front is already pretty sharp) so long as it doesn’t require routine sharpening.
I suppose price is always a consideration, but it’s not high on the list of considerations. I don’t weld and would likely prefer bolt on anyway so it can be removed and reinstalled without a grinder and re-welding.
So… Any specific model/manufacturer recommendations?
I currently have a 72” square back smooth front bucket on my L4701. For some things I really like the smooth front and it works quite well. Particularly moving aggregates such as gravel, mulch, sand, and relatively loose dirt. It works well back dragging in float for a final finish on relatively loose material. It works well for scraping a thin layer off the top of even hard ground and leaving a smooth finish. I’m not at all sure I want to permanently lose the smooth bucket option.
However, it is less than stellar at cutting into hard ground in a real digging scenario such as cutting down a creek bank for a crossing, cutting through numerous tree roots in hard dirt, creating substantial ditches in undisturbed soil. Our place (for reasons unbeknownst to me) has a quite odd for the area complete lack of natural rocks so digging in rocky areas isn’t an issue. Digging in clay is the issue. Dig while dry is dang near similar to digging sandstone. Digging wet is a bit easier from the bucket standpoint but traction is reduced running on wet clay so it’s still far from ideal. Seems like every bucket on every tractor, CTL, loader that’s intended for real digging, regardless of size of machine, has teeth so I’m thinking teeth are preferable.
Bottom line I’d like to have a tooth bar that is reasonably installable/removable depending on the job at hand. I’m thinking it would be on most of the time but option to remove would be highly desirable. If it’s teeth, swell. If it’s some sort of truly sharp serrated arrangement that should be fine also (the smooth front is already pretty sharp) so long as it doesn’t require routine sharpening.
I suppose price is always a consideration, but it’s not high on the list of considerations. I don’t weld and would likely prefer bolt on anyway so it can be removed and reinstalled without a grinder and re-welding.
So… Any specific model/manufacturer recommendations?
. Only way I can explain it is my tires spin less then they did before the toothbar…beyond that the B is not the MX…I guess I wonder when you wish you had the toothbar, did you run out of traction of loader lift / function? On the B I ran out of tire traction…it’s a light machine and I think the tooth bar reduced the insertion force of the bucket…I would think it would do the same on an L, but I also think you have a lot more weight than my B…so depends on how much you want to dig or tear through roots…for saplings and such the tooth bar made a big difference there too where the teeth really get under shallow roots and you can push them out…on the B though you have to be realistic what it will do IMO, but the toothbar is helpful in a B size machine IMO.
