I spent some time restoring the bucket on my 45 loader. Sanded the rust and some loose paint and used several rattle cans to paint the bucket. Also sprayed some clear and added new decals. One 6 inch to the back of the bucket and a 3" on either side of the arms.
I was going to have it powder coated, but the $300 price tag made me rethink it and decided to paint it myself. I think it turned out pretty good. My wife said, "Now what are you going to do when you need to use it?"
You don't powder coat something that is going to bang into rocks. Paint scratches and can get worn off requiring a simple sand and repaint to fix, but powder coat chips and moisture gets under the edges of the chip so that the ensuing rust can lift large patches of powder coat. The result is u-g-l-y, and the repair is to grind off all of the powder coat and rust patches and start from scratch.
I agree with Tudor 100% on powder coating. If you use a loader, it's going to lose its paint on the bucket. I don't really worry about the bare steel, if you use it often enough it stays polished. If you put it up for a while, then I'd use a spray bomb to coat the bare spots and keep the rust away.
I love those ripper teeth, did you buy them or make them? If you made them, what from?
I originally was going to powder coat it since it is powder coated from the factory. I agree, it's going to scratch off eventually, so spray cans were the way to go, plus it was a lot cheaper.
The bucket had missing paint when I bought it. Since then I have moved 40 tons of traffic bond for a retaining wall and patio and also the retaining wall block and pavers, so it has had some use. Not to mention removing the huge 300-400 lb boulders from where I built the wall and tons of dirt from planting a tree line.
I power wire brushed and sanded for 2 hours then pressure washed and let dry.
By the afternoon I was spraying green paint in light coats letting it dry between coats.
Probably 8 hours total at that point.
Then I let it dry for several days and re-sprayed green again.
Then let it dry for several days and clear coated and is what you see today.
Wasn't too bad, just a lot of patience which I normally don't have.
I spent some time restoring the bucket on my 45 loader. Sanded the rust and some loose paint and used several rattle cans to paint the bucket. Also sprayed some clear and added new decals. One 6 inch to the back of the bucket and a 3" on either side of the arms.
I was going to have it powder coated, but the $300 price tag made me rethink it and decided to paint it myself. I think it turned out pretty good. My wife said, "Now what are you going to do when you need to use it?"
The Tooth Bar is from Titan Attachments.
They are large, but not too large. They are good for hauling stuff that doesn't fit in the bucket, which is most of the stuff that I've used it for. Plus, they are great for digging. I dug a patio 12" deep and then back filled with gravel.
The bucket is a life saver.
Here is a boulder that I moved. If I didn't have the teeth it wouldn't have fit and it helps get under it.
I put ATV tires on the back and tubed them and filled them with water. I still need more weight. It frequently gets stuck trying to pick up mulch, riding on mulch. teeth would help also.
Looks very nice! Now it matches the rest of the beautiful machine again.
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