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bucket teeth

heymccall

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
5,352
Location
Western Pennsylvania
Screw Esco. We ran them for years. If, no, when, an adapter broke, it was never, ever in stock. Turns out that it would appear that Esco releases a new design every time the patent runs out on the old one.

Plus, we have other brands that came with different machines, and, spare teeth are never on the right jobsite, as the storage trailers don't always go with the same jobsite.

So, what we do...
A) enrolled in Caterpillar's GET program.
2) watch for incentive programs, like buy 2 sets of teeth and get a discounted, or free, edge assembly.
iii) change the lip or adapters to Caterpillar style.
d) every Caterpillar tooth is a day away or less
5) adapters remain available, even when Esco is on their 3rd design, Cat still stocks J & K adapters, that they've had for years.
I still have V, Super V, Rotoloc, R style, and many other teeth lying around that became obsolete, to me, when adapters weren't readily available.

I suppose it doesn't matter if you only have two machines, or one jobsite, but when you have 80+ buckets on 6 jobsites, with Caterpillar, i don't have to stock any teeth, as I can have them today or tomorrow.
 

boaterri

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2008
Messages
229
Location
Florida, USA
Occupation
Retired Television Engineer
I too have a JD 9300 backhoe attachment that uses 23 series teeth. I gave up on the retaining pins and use a grade 8 bolt and nut. Since going that route have not lost a tooth.
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,260
Location
Canada
Use grade 5 bolts because they will bend. Grade 8 will snap. Learned from pipeline guy digging perma frost. To build up shanks consider using a special build up rod instead of something like 7018.or Mig. It is also used for build up before hard facing. Big advantage is it doesn't mushroom like standard welding rods. It comes in a wire form too. Might be harder to grind or shape but will last longer if you get the right profile to match the original.
 

boaterri

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2008
Messages
229
Location
Florida, USA
Occupation
Retired Television Engineer
Use grade 5 bolts because they will bend. Grade 8 will snap. Learned from pipeline guy digging perma frost. To build up shanks consider using a special build up rod instead of something like 7018.or Mig. It is also used for build up before hard facing. Big advantage is it doesn't mushroom like standard welding rods. It comes in a wire form too. Might be harder to grind or shape but will last longer if you get the right profile to match the original.

Thanks!

Rick
 

skyking1

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2020
Messages
7,465
Location
washington
+4 on the worn shanks thing above. I have 2 CWS buckets with hensley tigers on them, and I can't recall losing a tooth on that machine. The buckets themselves are in bad shape but the shanks are good.
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,260
Location
Canada
Glad I could help. Guy I knew swore buy Hensley teeth but that was from several years ago. He was one of the first to dig pipeline with a hyd. Hoe so had lots of experience with different teeth. Welded teeth (shank part welded to a big flat bar) are junk and will break. Depending on the tooth they could be hardfaced but would have to see if it's worth the time and money. Somewhere I have an old copy of the Stoody hard facing guide. It had procedures for building up shanks on stripping shovels. Chunks of steel are welded on to build up shanks to size. Then they use build up rod for final size and shaping. The teeth weigh 350lbs. each!
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,260
Location
Canada
Oops. Just remembered it wasn't the shanks they built up. It was the teeth themselves. I think the guide book I have is from 1966 when way more hard facing was done on all kinds of equipment. I think by the mid to late 80's into the 90's was when hard facing took a nose dive. Had work experience at a shop in 1981 than ran 2 idler build up machines and 1 or 2 roller build up machines 24 hours a day. Not sure if on weekends though. I don't even think they do any build up anymore. I think aftermarket brought the price down where hardfacing wasn't economical except for the big machines D8 and above. They used to have machines for building up rails as well.
Another shop I worked at did chromium carbide overlay on pipe. They would get the wire in 500lb. drums and about 16-20 drums in a shipment. It was made for them by Stoody. If I recall it was over $10/lb..!!! It outlasted standard pipe by 3-4 times depending. They mostly did the pipes for Syncrude and lots of spares so there could less downtime changing out worn out pipes.
 

AzIron

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2016
Messages
1,541
Location
Az
23 series shanks have a small margin of wear for sloppy fit and when they do the pins bend and fall out that said Romac pins are junk of course so are there teeth if I have been having great results with h an l teeth and I get them cheaper than genuine Hensley
 

davecampbell

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2012
Messages
348
Location
Oklahoma
i'm still not a fan of esco ultralok but to be fair I discovered that a previous owner put u40 teeth on this bucket and its suposed to have u35. The new 35 teeth I bought seem to stay on ok. They are insanely expensive at 185 per tooth!
 

suladas

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2016
Messages
1,731
Location
Canada
i'm still not a fan of esco ultralok but to be fair I discovered that a previous owner put u40 teeth on this bucket and its suposed to have u35. The new 35 teeth I bought seem to stay on ok. They are insanely expensive at 185 per tooth!

Are they gold plated teeth or something? It's been a bit since i've bought a tooth for my 210, but I think it's like $30.....
 

davecampbell

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2012
Messages
348
Location
Oklahoma
Are they gold plated teeth or something? It's been a bit since i've bought a tooth for my 210, but I think it's like $30.....
plain old painted teeth, but apparently patented to protect them from aftermarket makers. So with zero competition they can pretty much charge whatever they want.
 

suladas

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2016
Messages
1,731
Location
Canada
plain old painted teeth, but apparently patented to protect them from aftermarket makers. So with zero competition they can pretty much charge whatever they want.

If you go through a lot of teeth, i'd be cutting off the shanks and going to another system that isn't stupidly priced. Actually if it was me, i'd switch just on principal to not give crooks that much money for teeth.
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
In backhoe buckets (smaller) I had a Hensley preformed cutting edge with integral shanks. When they got worn I explored replacing with the same edge. It would cost about the same as a new bucket. I burned & ground to use weld on shanks from the Case dealer with good results.
I used to buy edges & shanks & teeth from Adirondack Road Materials, but they appear to be out of business.
The Essco system is very appealing, but they don't seem to offer small enough for my needs.
 

alco

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2006
Messages
1,286
Location
here
It's funny how the construction end seems to have the exact opposite experience of the mining side. We find Esco teeth are less expensive than the Hensley teeth. The Escos last longer, and stay sharper than the Hensleys that turn into a boxing glove very quickly.
 
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