Compact Equipment Feature Story One

Eye on the Bucket Business
Get the Scoop on the Most Popular Compact
Excavator Buckets on the Market

By Jason Morgan

Many consider the bucket to be the vanilla in the 31 flavors of compact excavator attachments. In actuality, this seemingly simple attachment has incredible depth and variety — not only in size, but in style and functionality as well. Take a standard bucket for instance. On a 4- to 5-ton rated excavator, a bucket’s width ranges from 12- to 36-in. While the standard width on that class machine is 18 in., a contractor might opt to go with a wider bucket with a larger capacity for jobs such as excavating a basement or pool, or digging for drainage.

The size of your bucket plays an important role in its usage. As Ron Grimstad, product manager for CEAttachments Inc., advises, “You don’t want to move more dirt than you have to.” If your bucket width is too large, you might be moving more dirt than needed, thus making more backfill work several hours later. With bucket sizes ranging from 12 to 36 in., the perfect-fit bucket will depend greatly on your machine and the applications, as you don’t want to overload your maximum load capacity. An 18-in. (average size) bucket runs about $1,000, give or take a couple hundred depending on which way you move on the bucket size spectrum, according to Grimstad.

Besides width, there is the decision whether to invest in a heavy-duty-style bucket. Despite being heavier than a standard bucket, due to being made of steel, which
slightly shaves down the excavator’s load capacity, a heavy-duty bucket can perform the same functions as a standard bucket, and it lasts longer.

“Using a standard bucket in a heavy-duty application will lead to premature bucket and/or machine failure,” explains Keith Rohrbacker, Kubota product manager of construction equipment loaders and landscape tractors. The heavy-duty bucket is a wise investment for high usage applications. For approximately $200 more, depending on the manufacturer, you get an extra 60 lbs of steel in your bucket for increased durability, says Grimstad.

The range of options for standard buckets doesn’t end there; the teeth of the bucket also play an important role in bucket usage. Teeth are generally required for common digging jobs with the exception of frozen ground or solid rock. Specialized teeth such as Tiger or Sharp teeth are designed for rock applications. Using the bucket teeth improperly, as a concrete breaker for example, will lead to teeth damage, among other problems. While crimp-on, top-pin and side-pin teeth make replacement easier, there are some buckets with welded on teeth, which would require a digging dentist to weld on a new tooth.

The Bucket and You “Know your job,” says Mike Lumbers, Ditch Witch’s
senior product manager of compact utility products. “Whether you’re a carpenter, steel worker or construction contractor, the right tools make it easier on the operator and machine.”

When it comes to choosing the right bucket for the job, specialty buckets can increase productivity, depending on the application. A specialized bucket helps develop the force and power for a specific job, which takes strain off of the machine, according to Lumbers. For example, a coral rock bucket can increase digging force by 20 percent, with its shorter tip radius and increased number of smaller teeth that protect the bucket’s edge, when used for peeling actions required for digging coral rock.

However, this does not mean that the increased force produced by the coral rock bucket transfers over when used in standard digging or trenching applications. In fact, a coral bucket would be less efficient for standard digging due to its smaller capacity by nearly a cubic foot, depending on the manufacturer.

Similarly, a cemetery bucket is perfect for carving the flat, level walls of a grave, but its small capacity would make larger digging projects long and tedious. Ditching and tilting buckets are great for cleaning and forming ditches, but their smooth and flat front edge just won’t do when the job calls for pavement removal — that would warrant a pavement removal bucket designed for prying.

“Digging conditions are by far the most important factor to consider,” Rohrbacker says. “Conditions like sand, soil, rock or coral rock are all different and should require different buckets.”

For a job that involves several different digging conditions, a quick-attach system makes switching buckets simple and painless. Without a quick-attach system, the changing of a bucket could take over 30 minutes.

“Anyone who has ever driven in or out bucket pins will tell you, once you use a quick-attach coupler you never want to go back,” Rohrbacker comments.

There are two major types of quick-attach systems: 1) a spring-loaded system, which requires a latch to be thrown manually to lock the attachment into place and 2) a hydraulic system that uses a wedge to lock in the pin and can be controlled through the auxiliary hydraulic lines from the cab. Despite the fact that you can control the hydraulic quick-attach system from the cab, both systems require the operator to exit the cab in order to place a safety pin (it’s an OSHA regulation). Also, be sure the quick-attach system is compatible with your bucket(s).

Life, Love and Buckets
Like any tool, a bucket requires some daily TLC in order to maintain and prolong its life. The easiest, and perhaps most overlooked, way to care for your bucket is not to use it for applications that it is not designed. A lot of times, the bucket is used as a concrete breaker, Lumbers says. He has seen people hammering away with little concern for the well being of their bucket.

“We see most issues come up when individuals try to pry or remove stumps, pavement or concrete,” Rohrbacker says. Both Rohrbacker and Lumbers
recommend not to “corner load” the bucket when prying with the digging teeth.

Aside from using the bucket correctly, the user should inspect welds and high wear areas on the bucket — weld-on adapters, mounting hardware and bucket attachment points — for cracks or excessive wear.

Maintenance is also a top priority for a bucket. By using side cutters and teeth to full service life (but not beyond that), rotating teeth from ends to center and vice versa and fixing problems when they are minor, you can avoid downtime caused when problems arise.

When it does come time to replace that trusty bucket, the price range varies between $500 and $3,000, depending on the size of bucket and the size and brand of your machine. Specialized buckets tend to be a bit more expensive given their specific designs.

An 18-in. cemetery bucket would run around $750, while a 36-in. ditching bucket falls around $900. A coral rock bucket and an 18-in. heavy-duty bucket cost
approximately $1,200. While the additional expense for a specialized bucket may seem unnecessary, it is an investment that would pay off in the long run.

“A compact excavator with a quick-coupler, heavy-duty trenching bucket, hydraulic thumb, a ditching and grading bucket and a pavement removal bucket can actually replace machines like a backhoe, loader or dozer,” Rohrbacker claims. “The investment in attachments is one-tenth the potential investment in larger machines.”
With the right blend of care and attention to appropriate usage, a bucket can provide countless hours of productive work. It is high time that the bucket, regardless of size, type or function, receives more respect. For the bucket is a
compact excavator’s best friend and the backbone of the attachment community.

Jason Morgan is editorial assistant of Compact Equipment.