Welding Tips and Tricks

I am putting an SSQA mount on my 60" LA681 Kubota bucket. To do this, I had to remove the old ears completely, as shown in the picture.

I need a little advice on the mount plate I will be putting on the bucket.

Because things are hard to find these days, I had to get a 3/8" solid plate, meaning it's basically a four-foot-long rectangle of steel. I know I don't need all of it to make the bucket strong. I would like to use as little as possible so the bucket will be easy to paint and I will not add any more weight than is required. This might also allow me to use the scrap to make plates for another attachment.

I saw someone claiming his own bucket only had two 7"-wide plates, with nothing joining them. There are plates that have most of the steel in the middle gone, but they leave a bar across the top. I don't think the bar can add a lot of strength, since it's long and thin. I would like to use two separate plates, but I want to be sure the bucket won't snap off some day.

Here is my thinking: if the amount of weld holding the new plates to the bucket is equal to or greater than the amount that held the factory ears on, I should be fine. Anyone here have an opinion?

The tractor will lift 1500 pounds to full height, not including the bucket, and it has a breakout strength of about 2500. Those figures should be reduced slightly because of the added length of the SSQA adaptor on the FEL.

Possibly-useless photo of the mount plate held above the tractor bucket.

Here is a bad photo of a Youtube video. A guy put a mount on a bucket about like mine. His mount came as two plates connected by a long, thin strip of steel.

I don't think that strip does much of anything, and I could cut the center out of my panel and weld the ends to my angle iron support. I think he made a mistake when he removed his angle iron.

Which hole the panel did you mean?
It is generally a good idea to make it as 1 piece as you can, cutting the middle out of the panel can introduce stress points and would need welding, so extra work. And not much weight saving. Youtube one Looks like a backyard job but fair one.
Ideally that top strip only needs be as wide as the pickup area but then you need to tie it in.

I can't find any reference to holes in my posts, so I can't figure out what you're asking about. I read them a couple of times looking for it.

I ended up cutting the ends off the plate and setting the middle part aside. I thought about it, and I considered the original ears, which had about 10" of weld on each side and 3" on the tops and bottoms. I realized the new plates would have around 9.5" on the tops and bottoms, and considerably more on the sides, so the new attachments should be a lot stronger than the ones the factory created.

I cut out about 25" of the plate, so over 50%. I would guess this amounts to around 50 pounds of steel, based on how unpleasant lifting the complete plate was. I left most of the angle iron support, and it will be welded to the new plates and also sealed up with additional plate tomorrow.

In its new life without forks, the bucket will be subject to much less stress than it used to handle, so I think I'm overdoing it. Welding the plates all the way around will reduce the water that gets under them, so that should make it harder for rust to eat them from inside. Kubota left gaps in the angle iron's welds, so some water can still get in through those and find its way under the plates.

Here is what I have.

I'm pretty happy with it. I am not a real fabricator, but I got this done well enough to do the job, and to most people, it will look like I hired somebody.

Actually, given the way a lot of professionals weld, maybe it already looks like I hired somebody. There are a lot of ugly welds out there.