# Garden Tractor Bucket



## Gary 207 (Jan 22, 2019)

I have up grades I have done on post # 8 below.

I just got this John Deer riding mower last year from the previous owner of a house I bought for $250.00 which I realize was a gift. I bought a blade for it last winter and realized after several days of snow there was no wear to push the snow. I saw several pictures on the Internet of different ideas of this concept and I had a lot of scrap material lying around . There is no welding involved I use to own a sail boat so I had the blocks/pulleys to lift the bucket back into place and lock automatically into place also I used ropes to pull the bucket back into place just like pulling in the sails also one rope to release the bucket. The power winches I looked at said they had to have a cooling off period after heavy use and I did not know if the battery would hold up. So I came up with the Idea to use a Dutton-Lanson worm gear hand winch that holds the load when stopped from etrailer, its operated by a 20 volt battery drill on high speed works very well. The arms to the bucket are 3/4 EMT electrical conduit the frame is made out of 3/4 inch galvanize water pipe. I had the two 5 ft vertical pieces and used a pipe flange to attach it to the bottom frame I built and I used 3/4 inch EMT conduit to make up the frame first using rain tight connections easy to cut and cheap, when I had it all laid out I had the the pipe cut to size and threaded at Home Depot and replaced the 3/4 EMT with the pipe. I did try it out with just the 3/4 EMT but it broke the connectors under a heavy load not right away. The bottom frame I used two pieces of unistrut bolted together filled with wood to accommodate the 3/4 inch pipe flange. I had some 1/8" 3" X 3" aluminum angle I made the attachment to the frame. The bucket was made out of 1/8 aluminum and is 12" X 12" X 42 wide will hold 80 pounds. I had to block the back post out to clear the rear deck and the back post is 1 1/4 inch EMT conduit X 5 ft I had, I may switch this out to square tube. The winch is mounted on a wooden 2 X 6 clamped to the top rails. I do not use the mower deck. Gary 207


----------



## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

Wow, way to go Gary! I like the self leveling bucket as well! Welcome to the forum!


----------



## PJ161 (Sep 12, 2016)

Ingenuity has its benefits, nice work Gary. I would assume it can be removed in the summer fairly easily for mowing. Quite a back saver!  PJ


----------



## bontai Joe (Sep 16, 2003)

I love that you made this all up with no welding. Fantastic!!


----------



## Gary 207 (Jan 22, 2019)

PJ161 said:


> Ingenuity has its benefits, nice work Gary. I would assume it can be removed in the summer fairly easily for mowing. Quite a back saver!  PJ


----------



## Gary 207 (Jan 22, 2019)

I did not realize how strong the step was to get on to the tractor holds my 200 pounds. If I was to do the bottom mount over so as not to interfere with the mower where I have the white plastic bent and attached to the step and the frame I would attach the white plastic to the lower mount where the wood block is. If you look at the aluminum attached to the frame the black rod with the yellow tape is the forward pedal that that is your lower starting point. I do not use the mower. Gar 207


----------



## Gary 207 (Jan 22, 2019)

If you look at the original picture you will notice the bucket when raised is flat and it spilled out some snow I changed the top arm and it now tilts back worked a lot better. One advantage to the system when the snow is being piled with the rope retrieval system you can flip the load forward over and back down the backside of the pile. The bucket was bending where it is latched at the top and I put a one inch EMT conduit pipe across to prevent the bending. One other modification the bucket swayed from side to side as I work on a sloped driveway a piece of 1/2 inch EMT conduct bent flat at the ends and bent at a 45 degree angle at the ends with 2 hose clamps attached to the to arms took care of that problem. I put some 7/8 wood dowels into the ends of the arms to keep the arms from wearing out if at a latter date I will cut them shorter. I did load the bucket with packed snow and the load weight in a 80 pounds. I cleared 3 neighbors drive ways with 3 foot of snow and it worked better than I had expected and the vinyl table cloth work in the rain and snow I have to make sure when I make a top it slops back when I stopped water went on the engine hood. Gary 207


----------



## Gary 207 (Jan 22, 2019)

This a closeup of the bucket latch and the bracket I used to pull the bucket back with the cable on it. You can see the one inch EMT conduit I bolted on to keep the bucket from bending under a load. I used a piece of Starboard plastic to help the cable side I may make a roller later. Gary 207


----------



## Gary 207 (Jan 22, 2019)

My tractor bucket update,
Installed a top out of 1/4 inch plywood with a piece of 3/4 inch PVC at the front edge to prevent water from running of into the engine air intake tested in the rain works good. The frame is already in place, I used some 3/4 inch PVC to keep it from sagging.
I installed some support brackets made from 3/4 inch EMT conduit on the front end. In the picture of the front end there is a wooden dowel pointing to a 3/4 inch concerete fourm stake inside the 3/4 inch EMT I stood on it with my 200 lbs it is very solid.
I bought Ag bar tires filled them with glycol 40 pounds in each tire, I did not have to use chains on this test very happy with the traction. I think it keeps the weight off of the tractor and transfers the weight directly to the ground as opposed to adding weight to the rear of the tractor.
I bought a1/8 X 24 X 48 inch sheet of aluminum to make the bucket bigger from 12 X 42 inches to 18 X 42. But like a big dummy I had to try 24 X 42 the hook held but the bucket got bent. So after beefing up the bucket and making 18 X 42 I ended up from 80 pounds to 110 pounds of ice. I did have to beef up the hook.
In one of the pictures I am holding a rope cleat the rope stretches and makes the bucket unlevel I installed it on this pipe and makes adjusting the level easy. I was using my old drill that is why it hangs crooked the one I use the handel is velcroed to that bar and keeps the drill in the same position
It is surprising how well the bucket pushes the snow just like a blade. If you lift the blade slightiy and release the hook it will scrape the snow down clean to the deck.
I am using the shorter arms to the bucket for this test, that I use for the rake. Also by changing the arm mounting holes the bucket has a tilt backwards but the snow stays put like it is.


----------



## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

Nice job Gary. After all the work, it's got to be awesome putting it to use huh?


----------

