Little Buck Loader Updated Review 

I decided to purchase a Little Buck Loader for my John Deere X739. I can't say enough good things about Luke and his Sister Leah. They both went out of their way to make my purchase a very pleasant one. I only wish that all of my purchases from any store or on the Internet would be as friendly and personal as these people are and the company!!! I was treated like I was a family member. When you call them on the phone they always pick up and answer and return your calls with any inquiries that you may have, Luke even answered my call with one time with "Hi Wayne, whats up?" when I dialed his number by mistake. The Little Buck looks and works great! I would not hesitate ever to purchase one of these again! These are not poorly made, there may have been some slopy welding issues in the beginning, but they have corrected that as soon as it was brought to their attention. Any fast growing company is going to have some issues in the beginning, but a good company will address and correct those issues like Buck Loader did.

Holy smokes. I had almost ordered one of these, but after seeing how poorly these are made I will either pay the difference for a JD 45 loader or have one built locally. This is just ridiculous. Thank you so much for the video.

I'm sorry you had issues with your little buck, I recently purchased one and picked it up at our local Fastenal location on 9/16/2021 and it was everything I wanted, no issues and no damage and works great, I hope you can resolve your issues.

The reason the other had a weld in that top spot and this one don't is because it was probably cracked and they welded it together to repair it. Thanks for the updated video.

As I had noted in my first thoughts on this, it has been 3 years since was posted and I hoped a American company would fix issues around this and succeed. I spoke with a few folks who recently bought these and it convinced me to buy one.. First, the welds are vastly improved. Not showroom but it's not going to come apart either and much better in appearance as well. They are certainly acceptable.. Shipping was super fast, had it in a few days. Slight issues are grease fitting locations for a right angled grease hose gun and the hydraulic hose placements that are opposite as far as functioning like a backhoe for example. Correct as far as left and right goes but when I pull back on the lift lever I expect it to go up not down. Same way for the bucket. But, in five minutes you can reverse them, Should note this was on a JD 322. Functioning so far is great, very slight hesitation on the bucket curl which the builder advised was probable but not enough to be a nuisance. I decided to weld my own hook on the bucket which I attached first on a 1/4 plate then welded the plate to the center of the bucket. There are many things you can either fab on or buy ( like a grapple for example ) to make this really versatile. I wish I had the tractor and this unit many years ago when I was younger, would have saved me a lot of work.. I now give it a definite thumbs up..

It's now been a few weeks and I've found the LBL to be completely useable. Haven't run of of ideas yet for uses. If you can afford it and don't overload it, this can be a real work saver especially when you get older. I just saw a post on a Dernord 1/8 NPT ball valve in reference for the slight hesitation issue. I wasn't aware of it , nor would I know how to hook it up but I will check into it. I welded a center hook on the bucket and also ordered clamp on pallet forks. Only problem might be I need more weight on the rear, not the loaders fault just physics at work.

10/6/2018. I just picked mine up at their shop today and it looks like they’ve corrected any faults people have mentioned. Mine looks great. Met Steve and got a shop tour. Now to put it to work

From shipping. thanks for your videos

Looks much better. Props to little bucket loader for making things right. Hoping to order one this spring for my x485. Look forward to seeing more videos

The bend looks like a fork lift hit. I'd like to see more material on the top and sides to hold a tad more without losing things. Looks good to me

Great video review. Thanks. What gauge steel is the bucket made of?

Fork lift ding just hammer out with a board on top. I'll need to get one

Hows the mounts on the bucket to the main mounts. Mines off on one side. He said to bring it back since were about a hour away but I asked to send braces to add gussets. One main shaft looks off. Being a welder years ago I feel I can adjust things. The buck loaders great

Wow I bought both videos. Thank you so much for showing them very disappointed in the quality and craftsmanship for $1,600. I wonder if they would sell me one completely disassembled just with a plate cut out let me welded together myself. I could do a much better job. The problem with the welds on the tubing is they don't double the sides so the well doesn't sit flush so they're not getting good penetration on the wells so if it's going to break anywhere it's going to break in the lifting arms. And also the thing you touched with your hand in the inside of the bucket that was way too much heat put in the metal which means that's weak right there so when that pushes down on that it's going to rip that part of the bucket out eventually. That will be where it fails probably first. I've been welding for 20 years and it is much better the second one. But still nowhere near something I would ever let go out of my shop. And by no means am I a perfectionist.

The weld at the top hinge you are refering to at 2:40, is actually the weld that is in all dimensional tubing except DOM. There is nothing defective about it. It's on the inside of the tubing.

Could you do an update as to how the loader has been performing and any issues you may have encountered over the past several years? Thanks!

would be great to see the bucket in action

Did you update the transaxle hydrostatic pressure relief valve?

I'd prefer about 4 to 6 inches added to the top of bucket then taper down to the front on the sides.

Where is the video of the loader in use?

do you have to remove/disconnect the deck in order to have the LBL mounted and operational?

Normally wouldn't comment on others welds, but so much could have been done to clean up the look and not show how bad the welds are. Maybe i'm more picky since I do ornamental builds. Hopefully its still working

I just ordered the X739, we are seriously looking at this loader, still pretty happy with it?? My JD rep. reviewed it and was concerned with lack of support by the front axial .

Question; Mowing deck hydraulics disconnected when this unit is connected?

First, I love the concept of an affordable FEL for existing older machines. I would like this company to succeed but they really need to ramp up quality control. As a former welder those welds are simply atrocious. If that is the new and improved version I can only imagine what the old one was like. I mean, they KNOW it's going to shown on UTUBE and thousands are going to see it and they didn't have QC go over it with a fine tooth comb to put their best foot forward so to speak ? Many, if not all, are hand welded by someone in a hurry or just didn't care what he/she was doing. Some by MIG and some by Arc perhaps but most are not something you want to show your friends. At 2:40 it appears the nut is only partially welded and has air holes in it. And look athe quality of the welds to the upper right. That's just not acceptable. Whether the material thickness is strong enough is a question to be answered at sometime down the road. The bucket looks like it could be thicker for guys ramming into dirt piles ( and you know some guys will do it ) I hope they do whatever is necessary to make a quality product. I am really sorry to note this.. I want American companies to succeed but they have to do a better job than this... I hope it at least is fully functional for the consumer in it's present state. Heck, I'm in the market for one and the price is somewhat reasonable but I can't bring myself to order one after seeing this... It's now 2021. Perhaps things have improved. I hope so.

I'm not impressed at the look of the welds.

I won't one for my 318

1800 bucks for that shoddy looking quality is terrible in my book.

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