Hard Surfacing skid steer buckets

[treadlite]

Does anyone hard surface the wear areas of their skid steer buckets??? Pro's, Con's, experiences all appreciated. Got a new Cat tooth bucket for the 226 and want to get the best life out of it.... I'm thinking I'll hard surface the wear areas to extend the it's life.... I can do this myself so the only costs are the welding rod and the electricity.... I figure it'll cost me about $ 100.00 to do this.... and Happy new year to all, despite all the doom and gloom I think by june or july things will be again on the upswing..:clapping:

[punt66]

Not necessary. The buckets last along time and arnt that expensive to replace. I replaced 1 bucket in the 11 years of owning 3 skids running 3 crews with daily use.

[ksss]

Not necessary. The buckets last along time and arnt that expensive to replace. I replaced 1 bucket in the 11 years of owning 3 skids running 3 crews with daily use.


I agree. Your not going to generate enough wear especially with a 226 to justify the time and cost. Its different with excavator or wheel loader buckets which cost much more to replace and are exposed to much harsher digging conditions. I would just be sure you have a cutting edge on the bucket and your good to go.

[stuvecorp]

If you like to weld and have the time why not, don't think it would hurt?

[bobcat_ron]

The only thing that is really needed is to extend the bucket sides down to the factory cutting edge, it makes digging in rock and broken concrete easier and faster, it basically lets the chunks glide up and over rather than hitting that blunt edge. I had my edges done in AR400 cutting edge scraps.
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/philly_hill_billy/Pictures1039.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/philly_hill_billy/Pictures1047.jpg

But if you still want to hard face, the sides of the bucket near the lower bottom corners get some abuse.

[Gravel Rat]

You don't want to hard surface the underside of the bucket because if you do back blading or any kind of finish work you want a smooth edge.

There is high wear capacity steels out there that can wear longer than hard surfacing.

The only time you use hard surfacing is if you are digging rock with a excavator. Excavator buckets only benefit from hard surfacing.

Have you bought a roll of hard surfacing wire for you mig or a box of hard surfacing rods for your stick welder. Its not cheap.

You can use AR plate like Ron used. You need a welder that knows how to weld the high strength steel so it doesn't crack. Harder the steel the more brittle it is.

[treadlite]

Thanks for the replies. When I was looking for the new machine I noticed that a lot of the buckets that went with the used machinery were beat to ratsh*t. Scalopped between the teeth on tooth buckets, corners worn off of smooth edged buckets and some buckets that had holes worn in the rear bottom from backdragging..... my thoughts were to prevent this by hard surfacing these areas to prolong the buckets' life....

True the hard surfacing rod is pricey ($140) but that's cheap compared to Gravel Rat's idea of installing extra wear resistant steel..... and the notion that the buckets don't wear out to me is not true..... at 1200 to 1500 per bucket it seems that a hundred bucks and a few hours to double the life is a small price to pay.... just my thoughts...

[Gravel Rat]

You can use T1 strips or AR plate strips on the wear areas. Here in B.C. we have places like Amix salvage that has lots of crop ends of wear plate etc.

[punt66]

Thanks for the replies. When I was looking for the new machine I noticed that a lot of the buckets that went with the used machinery were beat to ratsh*t. Scalopped between the teeth on tooth buckets, corners worn off of smooth edged buckets and some buckets that had holes worn in the rear bottom from backdragging..... my thoughts were to prevent this by hard surfacing these areas to prolong the buckets' life....

True the hard surfacing rod is pricey ($140) but that's cheap compared to Gravel Rat's idea of installing extra wear resistant steel..... and the notion that the buckets don't wear out to me is not true..... at 1200 to 1500 per bucket it seems that a hundred bucks and a few hours to double the life is a small price to pay.... just my thoughts...

I bought a used bucket to replace my cracked one used for $300. I did most of my skid work involving picking up material from pavement. I wouldnt want welds under the edge to not allow good clean edge contact.

[AWJ Services]

You can use old grader and dozer blades to reinforce them as well.

[bobcat_ron]

You can use old grader and dozer blades to reinforce them as well.

That works really well, check with local companies that own graders, some give them away as fence posts!

[AWJ Services]

They where doing so many new subdivisions here they would just remove them and throw them on the side of the road.
I got several this way.

[treadlite]

Thanks guys, but I don't want to make the buckets any bigger or heavier....welding on a bunch of used cutting edges seems like as much work or more and would definately change the operation of the bucket..... hard surfacing is usually only 1/4" thick and strategically placed on the high wear areas like the front sides and the rear "heel" of the bucket that gets dragged. I'll probably do the front edge as well between the teeth as I've seen many toothed buckets badly scalloped between the teeth. I work quite a bit in rocky soil and this will reduce wear I'm thinking..:canadaflag:

[Gravel Rat]

If you have anybody that you know that builds dump boxes you can get the high wear high strength steel its not thick so your not adding weigh to the box. You get some hardox in 1/8 or 3/16s thickness and weld it in the wear area it will out last the bucket.

[AWJ Services]

Thanks guys, but I don't want to make the buckets any bigger or heavier....welding on a bunch of used cutting edges seems like as much work or more and would definately change the operation of the bucket.....

Let us know after you put 20 or 30 lbs of rod on your bucket how it works out for you.

The bucket wears across the whole bottom when grading.
By adding a grader bar on the bottom in the back you create a new wear surface just like the cutting edge which basically saves the whole bottom of your bucket.Just cut it down to about 6 inches wide and weld it on flat.

[bobcat_ron]

Does the bucket sit completely flat on the ground? My smooth edged bucket only has the cutting edge on the ground, so the bottom never hits like the Bobcat buckets do.

[AWJ Services]

When back dragging it will.

[treadlite]

I've got one bucket just about done, and am still on the same 10 pound box of rods, so much for the 20 or 30 pound theory...... the cat buckets have wear strips running from the cutting edge to the back of the bucket so only during back dragging would the rear heel of the bucket be subject to direct forceful contact with the earth. Once the cutting edge and front sides of the bucket have loosened up the soil the wear past those points should be considerably less. Adding a six foot piece of cutting edge would add considerable weight and that means less dirt to move.....the 1/4" thick welding beads do the same job without the weight penalty...

[AWJ Services]

So does my bucket but it was over half wore out at 500 hours.
When you get the wear strips on the buclket welded call me back.

I have been welding since I was 16 years old and I have fixed a few buckets.

A Grader blade on back and the cutting edge on front allow only those 2 edges to touch going forward or backward.
Oh and about 10 minutes of welding and your done.
:dancing: