Has anyone heard anything good or bad on the swisher dump bucket?

 

I asked the same question some months back, a couple of folks responded generally with good things to say-

Link to thread

MB

 

I have one and it works great. It holds about as much as you can carry in a wheel barrow. If you're planning on building a motocross track with one, forget it. But if you have sand or dirt or manure to move around, it's awsome.

 

Pros: Saves your back, cost
Cons: "Generic" fit, time consuming to mount, takes away ground clearence, cant use A-Arm guards with it, dump lever has worn down some
Things to consider: make sure your winch has a "mechanical" brake to hold the load steady

I would not trade mine for anything. When you need it, it sure beats a shovel and wheel barrow!

 

the "universal mount" is a pain to get right. The dump bucket works very well for moving wheel barrow size loads, but really shines when moving SNOW!!! Scoop move, dump. Helps a LOT when you have a heavy snowfall. Quick type connect system allows for changing from bucket to plow and back very quickly. Very solid stuff - the blade is very stout as is the bucket - nothing else is the equal when it comes to sheer strength. All other attachments look like toys by comparison. If you order it shipped, the UPS man will HATE you, lol!!!

 

Well with the help of some suggestions, I went out and bought one of those buckets. I haven't got to use it yet, but I did get it all mounted together. That universal mount is a pain in the ***. I have an AC TRV and the wheel base is about a foot longer plus th 2" reciever with the ball hitch. Saying that I had to create an extension to the universal mount, I think it is pretty slick extension and seems real solid. I am real curious to see this work. Does the bucket bounce around alot when lowering and raising the winch. This could be interesting

 

I have an interesting Swisher story to share: I live next to a private dirt/gravel road that is pretty long and goes back into the woods near my house. The people that live down it are older and they have many pot holes on the road. I took the Swisher and scooped up gravel that had washed to the side of the road and filled in the pot holes for them. Everyone stopped to thank me and told me to feel free to ride anytime I wanted. It felt good to help them out and I have a nice place to take an enjoyable ride or to test stuff out on. They are very diverse products.

 

Well I got to try out the swisher bucket and all of your comments are of value. If you don't have the "mechanical brake" on the winch, it sucks. So I called my local dealer and with the help of George of Gander Mountain ( also a Forum member ) we have a brake on the way. The bucket was kind of difficult to operate the first time ( especially in front of a crowd and at times embarrassing ), but I got the hang of it after a while. Once I get the brake this bucket should be of great use.

 

Thanks for the update mikeyman. Due to the comments on this thread am I looking into getting the 62" plow and bucket for my '04 Grizzly. I have had some very nice email exchanges with Blake in the customer service department at Swisher. Fast responses and good information.

Could explain a little more completely why or how the universal mounting bracket is difficult to install. Everyone has mentioned this, but I don't see what is going wrong from info on the Swisher website.

Thanks again,
Don

 

Ther universal mount is a pain to deal with because of the LAME directions and the LAME customer support. The most important thing to do is to get the overall length correct, period. Once that is done, you should put the bolts through the slots in the middle of the frame, and set them so they sit at the end of the slots and cannot slide backwards, at all. Everthing should be left loose until it is all mounted and square. Use the mouting brakcets that came for your bike, once again, put them on loose. the center square bracket holds the spring arms in place, thats pretty much it.

The problem comes with lining up the spring arms so they sit over ech other quarely, and stay that way. When we raised and lowered the plow or bucket, the springs would scissor over each other. This was caused by the center frame piece sliding under the weight of the attachment. We had problems keeping them lined up and we got two different sets of advice from Swisher, which caused an engineering meeting of the minds on their part. We finally got - r - done when we got the length correct, put the bolts to the end of the slots - so there was no way to move them backwards, and used an electric impact gun the snug the bolts on the center adjustment. We also added two bolts extra in the middle to augment the two that came with the kit. Once we stopped the center frame from sliding, the problems were over, but we damn near took the whole thing back to swisher over it. The mounts on the A-arms just hold the front of the frame off the ground using the springs pieces.

I got to the point with this thing that I was telling swisher how to do it, lol!!!

I'll tell you though, I'm hard on snow plowing and I just run into hidden stuff all the time. It hasnt moved since we got it finally and really assembled correctly.

As for put on and take off - realistically - forget it. You can detach the plow or bucket, using one huge pin, very quicky. Getting the frame on or off is hardly the 5 minute easy job the claim. Driving around with the frame on the quad is pretty easy and usually is not a problem. I have a Foreman - not the best ground clearance - and I didn't have any problems during hunting season - but I took the frame off when we just went to Hatfield -McCoy.