Changed my tune on the cheap bucket teeth after a bad week

I used to think all bucket teeth were basically the same, so I'd grab the cheapest ones I could find, like $25 a pop. Last month on a job in the Mobile River mud, I blew through three of them in four days. The weld points just snapped clean off, not from hitting rock but just from normal wear. My foreman finally pulled me aside and said, 'You're losing more time changing teeth than you're saving money.' I bit the bullet and spent $80 each on a set of the heavier duty, forged ones. That was three weeks ago, and I haven't swapped a single one since. The cut is cleaner and they just feel solid in the muck. Anyone else run into this and have a brand they swear by for real tough material?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugo_cooper2mo ago

Honestly, that $80 price point is still on the lower end for forged teeth in my experience. The really good ones for that kind of river muck can run over a hundred each.

vals382mo ago

Yeah, you were basically buying those teeth from the same place that makes those plastic tools for kids. The ones that snap if you look at them wrong. Spending all day welding on new ones in the mud sounds like a special kind of job site punishment.

cooper.viola1mo ago

Honestly, that "plastic tools for kids" comparison is a bit off. Those cheap bucket teeth are usually cast iron or low-grade steel, not plastic, they just break like it. So you're not welding plastic, you're swapping out garbage metal that shatters the first time you hit a good size rock.