I picked up a Johnny Bucket Jr.
 

I picked this Johnny Bucket Jr up for a pretty decent price Sunday. It was on a 149 so he sold it as fitting a wide frame. So I got home and put it on my 1872. It fits with no problem it appears. Front tires are close and I didn't start it up so not sure if they would hit when turning but I think it will be fine. I got to looking at it :bigthink:and decided to try it on my 147. Snapped right it! Sweet! It fits both wide and narrow frames. Outside flat stock on the mount holds it from shifting on the wides and the inside flat stock holds it from shifting on the narrows. I need to make a lift bar for both machines so I couldn't really try it. I tried my snow thrower rod and it worked enough to pick it up to the point its on in the pictures. About 2-3". Got to shove some leaves around. Had a hard time dumping it, lol.

I wanted to put a tilt cylinder on it for the 1872 front auxiliary ports. That would eliminate the rope trip part but we will see I guess.

That's nice, it looks great on your cub! :beerchug:

I think we need a video of that in action.. :biggrin2: :beerchug:

I second both motions! Awesome score!

Larry, it is too bad you had room on your trailer for that on Sunday as I thought it would look good on some of mine also. Good luck with it, it looks great.

Rod

lol, thanks Rod!

I got the lift figured out today. To fix my lift problem with it not lifting high enough I welded a piece of metal on the lift arm. It is weak and figured it would help strengthen it too. I plan on adding more lift rod holes so I can fine tune it. I had some problems with it bending my lift arm outward but I think I just figured it out. The snowthrower lift arm attachment also supports the lift arm from going outward. I didn't put it back on tonight because I ran out of time. I couldn't use the lift attachment plate thing because it don't have enough travel to pick the bucket up all the way. You can see what I am talking about in the pictures. Its the white piece laying near the foot rest. I also added my home made lift helper springs I use with my thrower. Under the s/g. I have the original IH one in the back but it sucks compared to these. The original spring must be weak. When I have this set up on my blower tight it actually hold the snowthrower off the ground some. If my plans all work out, the lift arm is going bye bye anyways. :biggrin2:

Video maybe tomorrow if it dont get dark to stinkin early again. By the time I get out of work it dont give me much time to tinker outside.:bash2:

Hope you get a chance to get your video! :beerchug:

Great find
 

That is such a simple device and it looks like with a couple of hydraulic rams could very easily be a poor man's front loader. I was wondering if the plans for it have been published any where? What do the two side mounts fit onto to make the pivot? Not the frankenstein bolts? It would also seem to me if the lift arm on the bucket were longer (taller) it would make lifting a little easier when loaded. On the snow plow that I have it doesn't have to be very long because the plow does not gain weight with a load. How high will the thing lift? I would imagine a load of dirt would be a handful to raise without some assist. Have you tried to lift anything heavy yet? You guys are lucky to live in the land of CC's. Down here in Ga. it is very hard to find any of these type of gadgets.

Larry,
I like the bucket! Great find. Your mods are coming along nice! That would be great for moving some dirt around the yard.
Regards,
Chris

inspectorudy, I made a video showing how it hooks up to the tractor. It was dark but the halogen light did the trick. Still no action shots but dont worry. I will do one.

Today I lowered the lift rod some. Might be able to lower more? Welded the lift rod attachment back on and used it out in the yard a little. I was able to lift a near full load of dirt but it wasn't easy, lol.

How do I embed the video? Here is the youtube link of installing the johnny bucket jr.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwKdK86uYzQ

Nice vid, Larry! Thanks for sharing. :ThumbsUp:

NIce vid!! I think I will start to keep an eye out for one, should keep the loader urges at bay for a bit!

front attachment pointq
 

Great video and in the dark too! Thanks for the effort for all of us. I still can't get how it attaches to the front of the tractor. Does it use the spring loaded bar under the front? Or are there a couple of bolts. It must be stout for the loads you mentioned. Anyone ever tried to copy one and if so how much did it cost.

inspectorudy, Yes it attaches to the front where the spring bar is. Normally pins go in there for a mower deck or snowthrower. That is it. Pretty easy to hook up. I hooked it up in the video. Couple minutes and its done.

Made a video today just as it was getting dark. For some reason the last part of the video is real dark. I tried to edit it with the youtube editor but it says it might take a while before its edited so if you see me walking to the tractor in the beginning and picking the camera up and shooting the ground because I thought I turned it off when it was still on, lol, then its not edited yet because I cut that out and maybe you should check it again later when its lighter. The video shows me using the Johnny Bucket Jr to dig some small tree stumps/roots out. This is the longest I have used it yet and only my 2nd time really using it. I did get a few decent size loads in it but nothing to crazy for sure. Sorry it got dark so quick. I will try to do another one maybe this weekend or something. I hate this time of year with it getting dark so stinking early.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wia9tnBMaPM

I like that thing!! Nice score and cook video! Out of curiosity how much weight do you have on the rear? Are they ags as well? Looks like it has enough traction as it starts choking the engine down and isn't spinning too bad. Wondering if there were any tricks for getting to to dig a bit better, or is that just the limits of these awesome little tractors! Love the idea to put a second cylinder on it to get rid of the trip rope but looks like you have gotten that down pat as well and it's not that painful to use! Thanks for sharing!!

Thanks ajcombs! For weight I have 50lb on the wheels, 40lb massey ferguson wheel weights in the tool box under seat and 170lb of me. I also have the pto gearbox on the back but that isnt much. The tires are not ags. Im not sure on the psi but I have them kinda low for traction and better ride. I barely have the engine reved over idle. Maybe 1/4 throttle. For digging better I assume you are talking about digging in, or depth. The downside of this design is you can't angle it just a little. If you could it would probably dig in better. A small spike blade edge would help Im sure. I just got this so Im still learning it. Yesterday I played a little with it and it wouldnt dig in the harder soil. I flipped the bucket down and drag it forward like a push blade. It seemed to help the bucket catch better when I flipped it back and tried to fill the bucket. Like you said the rope thing isnt as bad as I thought it would be. The lifting is a lot easier with my springs and not to bad but hydraulic would be better for sure. I bet hydraulic would be slower though so manual lift might be a plus for the speed. For as simple design as this is, it sure seems to be working pretty well. I really like it!

Fun with Johnny Bucket
 

That looks like you are having fun with that thing. One word of caution that I learned when I built a front end loader on a garden tractor is that when you are ramming something in the ground like you are in the video, it really puts a ton of stress on the connector to the tractor. If I had to make a guess what that thing looks like it was made for it would be a good manure hauler out of a big cow barn or stable where the floor is hard and flat and there are no obstructions. It may cause a lot of stress problems with only the attachment points that you have if you are going to use it as a front end loader or dozer. If there are holes already there in the tractor it might help to install a couple of big bolts through the bucket and tractor. Good luck and enjoy it.

Sweet video Larry! Nice black dirt too! Those roots were giving you a fit for a while.:bash2:

Awesome vid, Larry! Thanks for sharing. :beerchug:

By request I made a better video showing how it works and attaches. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl_1PNMEVKM


Also, Matt G. suspected, I might have front tire clearance issues the the JB JR on the 1872. Matt G. is correct. It does hit when steering. I might be able to fix that by spacing out the frame where the bucket attaches to the frame of the JB Jr. You can see in the picture its just bolted on. It will create a leverage problem some and might weaking it too. I think I might just keep this as a 147 attachment.

Thats why you have steering brakes!!!

Cool vid, Larry! I enjoyed it. :beerchug: