Seems to me it won't pick stuff up as well as a grapple or scoop as well as a bucket. Like most all-in-one products it looks like it does a little of everything but none of it as well as a tool dedicated to a job. Here's a link if you haven't seen one.
I made something like this for my medium-size backhoe loader which was 60" wide and had 3' sticking out from the leading edge. 18" was under the bucket. It looked like a grate; a piece of 1/2" x 4" x 1-1/2" x 60" angle welded to the grate crosswise to the 1"sq bar stock teeth fit over the cutting edge. A 1/4" x 6" x 60" strip welded along the rear of the teeth bolted to the rear underside of the bucket.
I went from a 7/8 yard struck capacity to 4-5 yds of hand piled-on brush, or 2-3 yds construction debris depending on what it was.
The only downfall was unlike the Loader Buddy, my bucket was not relieved on the sides to allow for more capacity and leverage (which translates into lifting ability) and longer items. A top single arm grapple would have been the cat's meow, but I sold the machine and bought a skid steer with an industrial grapple bucket with even more bucket side relief--and capacity upped to as much as 5 yds of non-hand piled brush---even an ocassional scrap car. But all this added capacity comes at a cost both dollars and weight--$5,200 for the bucket and cuts 800 lb. off the 5200 tipping capacity. Even still, the skidsteer is much more capable the backhoe loader any day by threefold.
Not like a tooth bar in that the teeth or bar bolt to the leading edge of the bucket; mine went on like stepping into some bathroom slippers (tired now and can't think how to phrase it better). Once on the bucket, and with the loader raised then I would install 6 1/2" bolts along the back bottom to secure it to the bucket--the angle iron along the front edge of the bucket kept it from moving up/down and back, the bolts prevented dropping down allowing it to come off. I made it strictly for picking large loose loads which was my main business 11 years ago--like constructiion debris, tree branches, stumps, fire wood, metal scrap, cement chunks, etc. On ocassion I had to back drag where I picked up debris but it put tremendous stress on the bucket bottom pulling all 6 bolts one at a time through 3/8" plate leaving "bullet holes" in the bucket. Eventually I used 30,000 lb. ratchet straps to hold it wrapped backover the back of the bucket---this allowed some springiness when I put too much down pressure on it.
Not practical for digging at all, plus the tremendous leverage on the bucket cylinder just wasn't a good idea.
Take a look at manure forks or buckets--these have round bars that are widely spaced--mine were 1" sq bars with a chisel edge (note the loader buddy has the chisel the wrong way which just ride up over stuff). My teethe were spaced about 4-1/2" for strength (in numbers) and had welded 1/4" x 2" x 4-1/2" plates tipped backward between teeth to keep them from bending, and the helped prevent submarining of the teeth in loose soil. The whole assembly weighed about 300 lb.
Why do you say the wrong way? Wouldn't the way loader buddy has the chisels prevent the submarining in the loose soil you talk about? The web site says it is good for handling logs too, maybe this keeps the picking up of excess dirt to a minimum.??
I say wrong way because, yes it helps prevent submarining BUT also prevents picking up stuff unless you drastically tip the bucket forward which is counterproductive---think of the purpose of a tooth bar and the tooth orientation for. Not necessarily digging but getting under things to get a bite.
Loader Buddy: Loaders -- Tractor Attachments/Implements 3ph Discussion Forum
Winchester AA once fired 12 Ga
Winchester AA hulls for sale
03-12-2010, 18:47 
Digg It 
Del.icio.us 
Technorati 
Furl 
Stumble This 
Pics
