I was considering the Swisher bucket loader for scraping/moving dirt and gravel. I've heard they are nothing but cheap props, guaranteed to destroy my front end.

Do you agree/disagree?

Anyone out there ever use these or know someone who has? If so, how are they.

ANY AND ALL opinions on this are much appreciated. TIA.

 

Overlook:

I have the Swisher plow and bucket that I use on our Prairie 360. The bucket will not lift to any great height but is usable for moving loose material from one place to another. You can overload the frontend on a quad with this or any similar device and common sense must be used in that regard. I have found the Swisher equipment to be well made and support from the company has been excellent.

If you intend to do heavy work then I would suggest you buy a tractor as none of the quads I have seen will do as much as an old 8N Ford.

 

Mike,
How long and how often do have you used this? What type of materials do you lift/scoop? Have you had front end problems or do you expect to have them because of the bucket loader?

 

Overlook:

Have had the bucket and plow for about 4 months now, they have been used for pushing/moving red rock, gravel, sand, dirt and bark chips. The plow is about what you would expect, the weight of the quad is such that any kind of major pile will stop forward motion but moving small amounts is easy and handy. You have to be careful when doing finish grade work that you don't destroy what you have done by spinning the wheels and digging holes.

The bucket is handy for moving stuff around the yard and outbuildings. Low speeds are required over rough areas or spillage is a major problem. A little experiance will take care of this. Don't plan on doing any major digging in hard packed soil.

With both of these attachments I found the winch was too quick for doing fine work. The up and down speed of the attachment was just too unmanagable. I corrected this by adding a couple of blocks in the line to make a three pass system that slows things down to a managable speed.

The Swisher mount system went on easily but I didn't like the way it hooked solid to the swing arm on the rear of the Prairie. The solid mount ment that the hitch or attachment had to flex as the swing arm traveled thru it's arc. I made a flexable attachment system that also has the advantage of being hooked on with a pin rather than a bolt. Easier to hook up and remove. At the same time I extended the hitch point to the rear to allow tighter turns when using the tow behind Trailcutter we bought from Swisher.

The front attaching method from Swisher also has been modified to allow more freedom of movement of the stock suspension. The Swisher system clamps two heavy spring leaves to the push bar and then these are pinned to mounts which clamp to the quads lower "A" arms. I felt this was putting undue strain on the arms at times and changed this to a "tube within a tube" system that allows the "A" arms to function as designed. So far this is working out fine.

I have one more modification I intend to make to the Swisher mount system. Where most plow mounting systems put the weight of the plow on the frame of the quad the Swisher system carries this weight on the lower "A" arms. This means the suspension is not carrying this load unless the winch is holding the plow, or bucket, up. Particularly when the bucket is full the front of the quad is pulled down when the impliment is in the raised position. I intend to build a bracket that will allow me to mount the winch on a stand attached to the front of the push tube just behind the impliment attaching point. This will place the full load on the "A" arms and eliminate the loading of the quad's suspension. Hopefully this will make doing fine work even easier. One drawback to this will be that it will make it easier to overload the front end of the quad as there will be no easily visable indication, ie: suspension squat, of the weight in the bucket. I guess all things have a trade off.

I really like the way the power of the quad is transfered to the push tube thru the hitch rather than from the frame. It keeps the quad from wanting to ride up and over the impliment. So far the push tube hanging below the quad has not been a problem but it does reduce the ground clearance quit a bit.

Hope this answers you questions.

 

Can you send pictures to me showing what you have done with your ATV

 

pics please