Rock bucket / Skeleton buckets - two questions

I just opened up two new fields last year out of 100% wooded areas of my land. The dozer took out all the stumps and he went over it with a huge brush disc as well, so it's as cut up as possible.

Now what I have is 10 acres of, well, basically rocks from golfball to bowling ball size. This is kind of the only good news on my land, nothing much larger than bowling ball, but I got plenty of them.

I don't know anyone who owns a full on rock picker, so I was looking at what would be then next best thing: A rock bucket or as some guys call them, a skeleton bucket.

I have a John Deere 2010 gas tractor with loader. It is what it is.

So my questions for the forum:

1. Do rock buckets work? I mean honestly, could I get rid of 80% of the larger rocks our of the top 4-5 inches? Or to what depth would a rock bucket work?

Really this "how effective are they?" question is a big one. I don't want to go through all the expense and hassle and then discover that they are practically useless.

2. Could a Deere 2010 gas push a rock bucket and how big?

3. Is a loader bucket on a Deere "standard" as far as how it mounts such that I could put an aftermarket rock bucket right on?

4. Would rental of a skid steer and rock bucket be vastly better? Thing is that rental of these babies would be in the $200+ a day range, so for a 1 week rental, I could buy a rock bucket that's mine forever. But maybe renting is the way to go if a skid steer or track loader would be much more efficient than the Ol' 2010.

Many thanks.

Grouse

Place an ad-free landscaping rocks pick your own !

Well like you said the 2010 is what it is ? A bucket to fit it will have to have the mounting points custom made. Should be an easy job to make the whole bucket for a local welder shop. It's got to work better than lifting them all by hand !

a skidder on tracks is the best solution you've mentioned,the 2010 is the weak point in your solution

(quoted from post at 13:26:21 11/11/15) a skidder on tracks is the best solution you've mentioned,the 2010 is the weak point in your solution

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So are you saying that a 2010 couldn't even push a rock bucket? Or it would just be slow?

I guess what I'm getting to here is what is the "minimum" tractor size for a rock bucket? Are we talking 100 HP / 4WD territory?

Thanks.

Grouse

I also thought if you could find or rent or borrow a bucket set up for a skid steer then someone could just make a quick attach plate for your loader. Then anything could fit it.
Also for larger stuff a 3pt. York rake if you remove every other tine it would let more dirt through. Then as the ground gets hard you can put them all back on and go back getting the smaller stuff.
I have moved a lot of shale stones and dirt from spots we tore up and leveled. I just pull all the rocks mixed with whatever into the low spots and fill them in.

I find whenever I'm doing something like that, rent a machine. I'd rather be hard on a rental than a machine I plan on keeping for many years.
You have a great idea, but I honestly dont think the loader on the 2010 is tough enough to handle a 60" bucket going through 4 inches of dirt. A
skid steer would be a lot handier I think in your case. I know they make, (what is it called?) a rock picker upper that goes behind a tractor. I
dunno if it'd be practical for 10 acers though. Just my 2 cents.

Probably the most practical approach is renting, I agree Barry. I also was thinking that if I could get someone on the Deere so I could dump the track loader rock bucket into the Deere's bucket and keep the track loader's snoot in the dirt instead of shuttling rock back/forth to a pile, a guy should be able to run a heck of a lot of ground through the picker in a 10 hour day.

I'll see if I can come up with a rental that makes sense time/money wise. Not everybody has the rock bucket.

Grouse

Just the other day on the rock picker thread I brought those up. I googled them and there are several types from many makers. Some look like a potato digger.

Hi, how about this idea? . Buy a rock picker, do
your job carefully then sell it. Look on tractor house
ed will.

I have a rock bucket and it works very well for rocks on the surface that are larger than the space between the tines( ~3 inches).

I bought a rock bucket from Jenkins Iron & Steel in Long Prairie MN. Works great on a 930 case with Buhler. They made it fit my quick/tach perfectly. It works best for me if I hold it at an angle, the rocks will roll right up into the bucket. I go about 7-8" in the ground. Check out their website

(quoted from post at 19:56:20 11/11/15) I bought a rock bucket from Jenkins Iron & Steel in Long Prairie MN. Works great on a 930 case with Buhler. They made it fit my quick/tach perfectly. It works best for me if I hold it at an angle, the rocks will roll right up into the bucket. I go about 7-8" in the ground. Check out their website

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What kind of tractor and how much HP?

How big of a bucket width wise?

Mid if I ask what you paid for it?

Grouse

I would hire a bunch of help & pick it by hand. If it is full of roots & wood from grubbing, any machine will be bringing that thrash back to the surface. You may end up with a worse mess than the rocks.

yes you can get a rock bucket, you can get it to fit your loader, but would be custom order (company like HLA or Cotech makes them)

If your loader is full hydraulic, don't see why it wouldn't work? No one said you have to fill it with 1/2 a ton of rock at a time.

The farmer that I worked for as a kid had one made up to mount on the 3 pt of his Ford 960. It had a frame made up of something like five inch channel stock The tines were made of old car axles which were bent just shy of 90 degrees, and spaced about 3-4 inches apart. It worked well.

Quoting Removed, Just what does this mean ??? Jim in N.M.

Update.

I just found a rental place 9 miles from my property that has a Cat track skidsteer and a rock bucket for rent. They said the rock bucket works great, but were very clear that it has to be bone dry for it to work well in our area. Otherwise it's a mud bucket which makes sense. Timing is everything they said.

So I'm going to go at it late next spring or early summer if it ever dries out. This'll have to be a spur of the moment call based on weather, but when I get going we're not stopping for love or money if its working.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Grouse