Tips for Choosing the Best Wheel Loader Bucket - McCann Industries

Wheel loaders play a pivotal role on your jobsite. It’s their job to move large volumes of dirt, rocks, processed aggregate, snow, and almost anything else that needs to be removed, transported, or loaded. Deciding which wheel loader bucket is right for your machine and the types of projects you typically handle is critical for your productivity and success. Choosing the wrong bucket can derail your entire operation.

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In this article, we cover the most important factors for determining the optimal wheel loader bucket for your specific requirements, so you’re as productive as possible.

Consider your material
The job of your wheel loaders is to dig, load, transport, and unload heavy, bulky, and abrasive materials. Ultimately, it’s the type of materials you are working with that plays a large role in deciding which wheel loader bucket to use. When it comes to loose materials like sand, gravel, and topsoil, we recommend a general purpose bucket with a larger capacity and curved edges. For carrying large volumes of lower density material like snow or mulch, a light material bucket is typically the best choice. For loading high density rocks or concrete on quarry and mining jobs, we suggest a rock bucket. You can also use a rock bucket for large earthmoving work like site development and road construction.

Typically, the name of the wheel loader bucket tells you what material it is made to work with. For example, a rock bucket with rocks, an abrasion bucket with abrasive materials, a light material bucket with lighter materials, etc.

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Think about if you’re digging or loading
When deciding which wheel loader bucket is right for your operation, consider the types of jobs you generally handle. If your main task is digging out material, then you’ll want a bucket with stronger breakout forces and high penetration teeth. If you’re primarily loading trucks, however, then we recommend a high capacity bucket with a smooth profile, straight cutting edge, and a large opening angle.

Find the balance between machine power and bucket size
Contrary to common belief, a larger wheel loader bucket does not always mean higher production. Selecting an appropriate bucket size involves careful consideration of the size and power of your wheel loaders, as well as the dimensions of your trucks and hoppers. Oversizing the bucket beyond the recommended capacity limit accelerates wear, diminishes component lifespan, and leads to costly unplanned downtime.

• Refer to your wheel loader owner’s manual for information on bucket size and maximum tipping load
• Assess the truck or hopper size to determine the number of loads required daily to meet your goals
• Choose a wheel loader bucket that efficiently moves the necessary material without overloading the machine.

Advanced features for wheel loader buckets
After determining the basic type of bucket you’ll need for your specific type of job and material, next you want to consider additional design features that may save you time or minimize wear and tear. Below are some examples of additional wheel loader bucket features:

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• Curved side plates and integrated spill guards for improved material retention
• Wear protectors and additional guarding to minimize damage and extend bucket life
• Quick couplers facilitating easy bucket changes, particularly valuable for frequent bucket changes
• Bolt-on teeth and cutting edges allowing versatility for different project types
• Longer bucket floors to reduce cycle times

After struggling with a tooth bar - I decided last year that instead of going the toothbar route , what I was going to do was just have two buckets for the FEL on my Kubota B. I got the 60" bucket and I'll use that for hauling material and clearing snow - etc. Then I bought a 54" bucket - and I'm going to use that exclusively for digging. The plan is to weld teeth onto the bucket itself and make the 54" bucket and just swap the entire bucket when I want to go from straight edge to toothed edge. I have the quick attach on the FEL - and it's relatively painless to swap implements - far less painless to swap the entire bucket than it is to take a toothbar off and on.

I also finally found what I think will be the best weld on teeth to use to do this: Hensley 156 line. (they make one for a 5/8" cutting edge - which is what the Kubota bucket appears to have).

My final question I need to answer is : how many teeth? And what kind of spacing?

Are more teeth better than less? For a 54" bucket typically I believe the toothbars come thru with five or six teeth. They also don't put the teeth right at the outside edges.

Should the outermost teeth go right at the outside edges? Should I maybe go with 6 teeth? The teeth on a backhoe bucket are spaced much closer together than what is typically seen on a FEL bucket - I'm wondering what the advantages / disadvantages are to having more or less teeth on the bucket. I've got a 60 tooth bucked for my Bobcat 743, it's got 8 teeth, including on the outside corners.

After buying my 60" grapple, I added teeth to that so it could be used as a "rake" to gather small debris. As you can see, I went with 8 teeth on that also.

Now you need to make sure you get the correct shanks for your application, backhoe bucket teeth shanks mount on the outside, or back of the bucket. Loader teeth shanks mount on the inside of the bucket and the flat side of the tooth is on the ground (also opposite of a backhoe bucket).

I opted to use backhoe style shanks and put the teeth upsidedown, when picking up logs, I don't have to force the log over the teeth shanks. The downside, if I were grading, the teeth leave marks and you can't clean up a hard surface as the cutting edge never touches. For my use, its worked out well. I wouldn't do it this way for a bucket.

Added: The under side mounting allowed me to do all welding on the bolt on cutting edge, flipping them over some of the welds would have been on the bucket wasting the advantage of the bolt on edge.

Ed

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I've got a 60 tooth bucked for my Bobcat 743, it's got 8 teeth, including on the outside corners.

After buying my 60" grapple, I added teeth to that so it could be used as a "rake" to gather small debris. As you can see, I went with 8 teeth on that also.

Now you need to make sure you get the correct shanks for your application, backhoe bucket teeth shanks mount on the outside, or back of the bucket. Loader teeth shanks mount on the inside of the bucket and the flat side of the tooth is on the ground (also opposite of a backhoe bucket).

I opted to use backhoe style shanks and put the teeth upsidedown, when picking up logs, I don't have to force the log over the teeth shanks. The downside, if I were grading, the teeth leave marks and you can't clean up a hard surface as the cutting edge never touches. For my use, its worked out well. I wouldn't do it this way for a bucket.

Added: The under side mounting allowed me to do all welding on the bolt on cutting edge, flipping them over some of the welds would have been on the bucket wasting the advantage of the bolt on edge.

Ed

I did some searching around to try and find something I thought would work properly - I even picked up a Kubota backhoe bucket tooth (bolt on) - and weld-on adapter for a toothbar to see if I thought that might work. Finally found the Hensley stuff - and ordered just one of the weld-on tooth adapters last night just so I can see if it looks like it's going to work. What I should be getting is something like this:

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It looks to me like it will put it in the proper orientation for a FEL bucket.

There's an assortment of tooth types available for the Hensley stuff - which looked like something that might come in handy.

Do you think that having more teeth makes the bucket dig better? Judging by the pictures you posted it looks like your tooth spacing is roughly similar to what I've seen for tooth spacing on backhoe buckets - rather than the typical toothbar - where the teeth are usually farther apart.