So I been looking around and found these a few places.
Was thinking seems like an idea for some light scooping, gardening, stall cleaning, etc.

A little pricey for the mount and the bucket though.

Well I ran across a mount and bucket at what seems like a more reasonable price so thinking hard on that.

My questions

Does anybody out here use one of these on their polaris?

Does it do some of the basic stuff, like I mentioned above?

Is it worth the investment?

Does anyone have any pics out there of one of these doing any work?

Thanks!

 

i have been looking at them also i have a 400 xplorer i don't know if thay will work with my straigh axel

 

Any thoughts out there?

 

Big Bros,
I was looking back at some threads on the swisher bucket and one posted earlier this week.
I am considering getting a swisher bucket for some work I need to do. I just put in a 1/2 mile of road on my property and I need to bring in stone to help with mud and ruts. I can spread some of it with a back blade that I have. I don't plan on doing the entire road but problem areas.
Any way my question to you is after having this swisher bucket for awhile what are the short comings of it. Does it scoop properly. does it dump. Is it beating up the machine. Is it a tool or is it a toy. I plan on moving base ball sized rocks from rock piles and loading them onto a 4 x 8 trailer to haul to where i want it.
I'd appreciate any input before I invest another $500.00 + that maybe should go into a tractor.
I have modified my Sportsman quite a bit with brackets for different tools and so far have done well.
What do you think of the dump bucket?
Thanks in advance and any input from others who have this bucket would be welcome.
Deerkiller

 

For the most part it works well.
I need to purchase or make the extension as the mount kit is short on my 800. I would suspect it would be on a 500 as well.

I like it for the most part. It doesn't raise high enough. when fully raised the top of the Bucket is a little short of the Top of the ATV.
It won't "Dig" but I can pick up about anything with it. Sand, Dirt, Compost, rocks/gravel/chunks of Firewood. It has the same issue as most ATV implements it lacks "Ground Pressure" since it is moved up and down via cable. It will scoop into things that the bucket weight can get under, but if the area is hard, like packed dirt, it will ride over it.

It will dump them, but would dump better if it were a little higher up.
I notice with compacted stuff like Dirt/Compost I need to dump it a couple of times an drag it backwards to clear it.
Sand seems to do ok, Gravel and Rock is much better. Again this is due to how much it tips over when you "Dump" it.

It will not go high enough by itself to dump into a trailer. I did however setup a Compost sifter on my ATV trailer parked it next to a dirt mound and drove the atv and bucket up there to dump it over the sifter into the ATV trailer. That worked.

I have some pics on my page here including how I mounted it. and I may have a couple of others that are more in operation. May even have a little video my wife shot.

As far as what I think of it? I like it did most of my stuff here. Haven't needed a tractor yet, but there are places I need to work that I know it isn't going to do. So those I rent or buy.

 

Thanks,
That is helpful.
Does the bucket trip mechanism reset itself when you lower the bucket? do you need to back up to fold the bucket back forward? can you trip it with a load of stone in the bucket.
Is the height that the bucket can be raised to limited by where the winch attaches to the bucket? or does the frame hit the bottom of the quad.
I have heavy springs on the front of the quad. it supports the plow with little sag.
Does the leaf spring setup lock the A-arms from moving?
I'd like to see the video if you have it available.
Thanks.
Deerkiller

 

The bucket release has a rope pull that you manage from your seat. It gets harder to unlatch with a heavier load on it. I read somewhere that someone was using a pulley to double the leverage that makes sense.

I have always been able to trip it, but it is tough with a load of "Wet" compost materials.

The bucket dumps from any height but the lower it is the less drop there is of the front opening to the ground.
To re latch it for the next load you back away lowering the bucket until it latches. I noticed it was getting a little stiff and a touch of WD-40 fixed that.

The limiting factor on Height is the Winch point. I have thought about a 2" lift and stiffer springs to compensate for my Snow Blade that would help some with the bucket too. Also since it mounts with a spring setup across your A-Arms it does seriously stiffen the front end. Almost locks them but not completely. Like I told the wife it is no fun riding when I have the mount on it. Really stiff...
The setup works such that it really isn't carrying the load on your suspension but rather on the mounted frame.

I have had it so heavy in the bucket, the rears were losing traction and I had to shift my weight back on my seat to travel. At that point it was hard to dump as discussed above. If you see my pics and have any other questions about mounting I may have another pic somewhere. I documented fairly well as I couldn't find that anywhere to answer the questions I had before I bought it.

Sportsmans Guide was by far the best deal I found....

 

Thanks again,
I did see it in Sportsmans, I found it through Sears believe it or not for $469.00 free delivery. including the mount.
I just rented a bulldozer for the weekend a few weeks ago to put in a road. Let me run buying a bucket past my wife and see how that one goes over. She wants furniture, I want stone on my road.
Thanks for the input.
Eric

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Deerkiller

She wants furniture, I want stone on my road.


Eric</end quote></div>



just kidding i know what it's like [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Ok, ok,
I added a few picture in my profile of me building my road a few weeks back.
They should show up in a few minutes.