5 Things to Consider When Buying an Excavator Bucket - test

What to Consider in an Excavator Bucket

When purchasing an excavator bucket, there are five key aspects to keep in mind:

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1. Your Application
2. The Heaviest/Harshest Material to be Handled
3. Optional Wear Accessories Needed
4. Coupling
5. The Limitations of Your Machine

This article will briefly touch upon each point. For a comprehensive overview, please download our Excavator Attachment Guide.

1. Your Application

The first consideration when selecting an excavator bucket is the application. Different applications have various requirements. For instance, a trenching bucket is suitable for digging trenches but is less efficient for pulling batters.

A variety of bucket styles are specifically designed for particular tasks. Refer to our list of buckets and attachments for detailed information on their capabilities and which bucket fits your application.

2. The Heaviest/Harshest Material to be Handled

While your bucket may handle multiple material types, it’s essential to ensure it can manage the harshest material you expect to encounter. If you plan to use the bucket for 80% in topsoil and 20% in gravel, you should opt for a bucket capable of handling gravel to avoid premature wear.

For further details on bucket design and durability, check out our article linked here!

3. What Optional Wear Accessories are Required?

When selecting wear parts and ground engaging tools (GET), your choices should be guided by the application and material handled. Without the necessary wear parts, buckets will wear out prematurely and need refurbishment or replacement more frequently. This consideration is crucial when buying an excavator bucket. Kerfab can assist in identifying any necessary wear accessories.

Contact us to discuss your needs related to Excavator Buckets. Our knowledgeable sales team can help you find the best options for your requirements.

Common GET and accessories include: teeth, bolt-on edges, side wear plates, side cutters, rear wear plates, internal liners, heel blocks, lip shrouds, wing shrouds, and more. For more information on wear parts and GET, see our article linked here!

4. Coupling

Quick hitches (also referred to as quick couplers) play a vital role in many operations. The ability to easily switch between attachments is beneficial, even if it reduces breakout force. Check our Quick Hitch page to decide if a quick hitch suits your needs.

5. The Limitations of Your Machine

Your excavator is designed with specific capabilities and limitations, which must be considered when selecting an excavator bucket. Kerfab maintains an extensive library of machines, their specifications, drawings, and relevant information to ensure your attachment fits correctly. An ill-fitting attachment poses risks, including potential damage to the boom, arm, hydraulic system, and hitch. Conversely, a bucket that is either oversized or undersized can hinder efficiency, resulting in lost time and increased costs.

To explore our range of excavator attachments, please click here! For more information or any inquiries, feel free to contact us at 818 079 or email us.

Choosing an excavator for your job is only the first step in acquiring the necessary tools. Whether you opt for a mini or large model, excavators are incredibly versatile due to their bucket and attachment options. With various types of backhoe and excavator buckets available, numerous factors contribute to selecting the right bucket for the job.

This guide will help you understand excavator bucket dimensions and various types to aid you in selecting the best bucket for your needs.

Choose An Excavator Bucket That Suits Site Conditions

The primary consideration when choosing an excavator bucket is the application and the type of material you are handling. Typically, you want to acquire the largest bucket suitable for your job while considering material density and the capacity of your hauler truck.

Bear in mind that the bucket's weight impacts your cycle time, and it becomes heavier when loaded with dense materials. As a general guideline, opt for a smaller excavator bucket for high-density materials to maintain productivity. The goal is to load your hauler truck swiftly with as few cycles as possible to minimize fuel consumption, wear, and downtime.

Different applications may also require specific bucket types. For example, it would be impractical to dig an 18-inch trench with a 30-inch bucket. Certain buckets feature designs to handle specific materials. A rock bucket is equipped with a V-shaped cutting edge and long, sharp teeth, making it effective at breaking through hard rock and pushing heavy loads. Meanwhile, a digging bucket is ideal for dealing with hard soil. Take the type and density of your material into account and ensure that you select a bucket that can lift it.

Excavator Bucket Types

Excavators can perform a wide array of tasks such as digging trenches, laying pipes, landscaping, and moving snow. Multiple bucket types enable excavators to manage various materials within these applications. While numerous specialty buckets are available, the five most common types include:

• General-purpose, all-purpose, or digging buckets
• Grading, cleaning, or ditching buckets
• Heavy-duty or severe-duty buckets
• Trenching buckets
• Micro trenching buckets
• Angle tilt buckets
• Tilt ditch cleaning buckets
• Skeleton buckets
• Utility buckets

What is a General-Purpose Bucket?

A general-purpose bucket is highly versatile and suitable for many excavation tasks. Also known as a digging bucket, it is the standard attachment that comes with an excavator. If you rent an excavator without specifying a bucket, you’ll likely receive a general-purpose bucket. It features short, blunt teeth that work effectively on soil and is available in various sizes for different applications.

Here are some materials you can transport with an all-purpose excavator bucket:

• Dirt
• Sand
• Topsoil
• Clay
• Gravel
• Loam
• Silt
• Ground with loose gravel or stones
• Frost-covered soil

Wear-protection components are also available to enhance an all-purpose excavator's effectiveness with more abrasive materials.

What is a Grading Bucket?

Grading buckets are recognized by their smooth edges, broad construction, and flat cutting edges. They often include lift eyes, weld-on side cutters, and reversible bolt-on cutting edges, allowing for optimal performance in loading materials, grading, leveling, back-filling, and cleaning ditches for better drainage.

Correct usage of a grading bucket offers versatility in various applications, including:

• Landscaping
• Ditch maintenance
• Slope shaping
• Road construction
• Utility work

What is a Heavy-Duty Bucket?

A heavy-duty or severe-duty bucket is typically constructed from high-strength, abrasion-resistant steel. Its enhanced durability makes it popular for use in rock quarries, where it efficiently loads trucks with high-density material in fewer passes.

Cat® excavator buckets come in general, heavy, severe, and extreme-duty varieties designed for enhanced digging capability with heavy or abrasive materials, such as:

• Blasted rock
• Hard-packed clay
• Stone
• Sharp rock
• Ripped basalt
• Gravel
• High-silica sand
• Shot granite
• Shale

Severe and extreme-duty buckets can even handle heavier materials, including:

• Limestone
• Sandstone
• Broken slag
• Basalt

What is a Trenching Bucket?

Similar to a grading bucket, a trenching bucket specializes in trench digging. It is effective for narrow cable trenches, pipe culverts, and drainage channels due to its narrow shape, sharp flat blade, and extended front section for improved access. This tool digs deep trenches while maintaining a swift cycle time and is recommended for high-precision tasks, such as excavating around pipes.

What is a Micro-Trenching Bucket?

This narrow bucket has a claw-like design and is employed to dig deep trenches just a few inches wide. It efficiently saves contractors significant time in both digging and backfilling. This bucket is also known as a fiber-optic bucket, as it is ideal for laying fiber-optic cables, irrigation systems, and pipes.

What is an Angle Tilt Bucket?

An angle tilt bucket shares many applications with a grading bucket, with the added advantage of 45-degree rotation in either direction. Its tilting capability enables precise slope creation and permits the excavator to move or reshape more land without frequently changing positions, contributing to increased uptime in heavy-duty construction.

Angle tilt buckets are available in various sizes for numerous applications, such as:

• Grading
• Trenching
• Ditch cleaning
• Sloping
• Land clearing or snow removal
• Finishing
• Leveling
• Landscaping
• Digging in hard-to-reach areas

What is a Tilt Ditch Cleaning Bucket?

A tilt ditch cleaning bucket, as suggested by its name, performs specialized cleaning tasks and shares a design similar to that of a grading bucket. It can tilt at a 45-degree angle, allowing the operator to work at challenging angles. Considered a "finishing" bucket, it is often utilized at the project’s completion to tidy up and create smooth finishes.

What is a Skeleton Bucket?

Visually, a skeleton bucket is akin to a digging bucket, though a significant distinction exists. Its back features large slots arranged like a grid, which allow fine materials to filter through while retaining larger materials.

As a versatile tool, the skeleton bucket simultaneously serves as an excavating bucket and separates stones, concrete, and debris from useful or building materials.

What is a Utility Bucket?

Utility buckets are exceptionally useful for excavation near pipelines and cables. When cables are struck, it can endanger the excavation team and disrupt the connected system. With a utility bucket, crews can work confidently without the concern of striking cables.

This bucket type features a double-enforced design incorporating rounded edges instead of teeth, enhancing structural integrity. Utility buckets are best suited for working close to gas lines, sewer pipes, and underground cables.

What Types of Specialty Excavator Buckets Are Available?

In addition to the commonly used buckets, many specialty bucket designs are available for specific jobs. Examples include:

• V-bucket: A specialized bucket for trench-digging applications capable of creating long, angular, V-shaped trenches ideal for laying pipes and utility cables.
• Rock bucket: Similar in design to general-purpose digging buckets, featuring long, sharp teeth with a V-shaped cutting edge for exceptional pushing power, making it effective at breaking through hard rock.
• Frost bucket: A more specialized version of the rock bucket with more teeth, designed to penetrate hard surfaces efficiently. Ideal for digging frozen ground.
• Hard-pan bucket: This bucket resembles a rock bucket and includes attached ripper teeth on its back. It can loosen compacted soil while excavating.

Renting or Buying Used Excavator Buckets? Know What to Look For

With various types of excavator buckets available, considering a rental for specific tasks is beneficial. For multiple jobs, purchasing a used bucket can save you money. However, if you opt for a pre-owned or rented bucket, it's essential to inspect it for damage or repairs by checking for the following:

1. Cracks, bends, and dents: Inspect weld points on the bucket for signs of damage, as cracks or dents may develop over time.
2. Rust: Rust signifies excessive wear. Determine whether it can be refurbished or if the bucket is in poor condition.
3. Scalloping: Worn excavator bucket teeth may develop a half-moon shape. If they are scalloped but still functional, consider replacing them soon.
4. Parts availability: Ensure you can find replacement parts for customization features that will eventually wear out, particularly for discontinued models.
5. Fit: Confirm that the bucket fits your excavator. An oversized bucket can cause inefficiency and potential damage, while an undersized bucket hinders productivity.
6. Play or movement: After attaching, open and close the bucket to check for looseness in the bushings, pins, or couplers.
7. Dig: If everything is in order, test the bucket's functionality by digging and comparing cycle times with other buckets.

Selecting an Excavator Bucket Size

Most construction projects benefit from a larger bucket that improves productivity by minimizing the number of required passes. Choose the largest excavator bucket that maintains efficiency unless specific size limitations apply, such as when digging a trench.

Bear in mind that a bucket suitable for a 20-ton excavator may be too large for an 8-ton excavator. Oversized buckets can burden machines, resulting in extended cycle times, reduced efficiency, or unsafe conditions.

Excavator Bucket Size Chart

Typically, a range of bucket sizes will be compatible with your excavator. Mini excavator bucket sizes vary from specialized 6-inch buckets to 36-inch buckets. Note that some sizes may be limited to grading buckets and may not extend to other bucket types.

For guidance on the appropriate bucket size for your excavator's weight, refer to the excavator bucket size chart below:

• Up to 0.75-ton machine: Bucket widths of 6 inches to 24 inches or 30-inch grading buckets.
• 1-ton to 1.9-ton machine: Bucket widths of 6 inches to 24 inches or grading buckets 36 inches to 39 inches.
• 2-ton to 3.5-ton machine: Bucket widths of 9 inches to 30 inches or 48-inch grading buckets.
• 4-ton machine: Bucket widths of 12 inches to 36 inches or 60-inch grading buckets.
• 5-ton to 6-ton machine: Bucket widths of 12 inches to 36 inches or 60-inch grading buckets.
• 7-ton to 8-ton machine: Bucket widths of 12 inches to 36 inches or grading buckets from 60 inches to 72 inches.
• 10-ton to 15-ton machine: Bucket widths of 18 inches to 48 inches or 72-inch grading buckets.
• 19-ton to 25-ton machine: Bucket widths of 18 inches to 60 inches or 84-inch grading buckets.

How is Excavator Bucket Capacity Calculated?

The capacity of each bucket varies based on its size and the material it will handle. To calculate bucket capacity effectively, follow these five steps:

• Identify the material weight, expressed in pounds or tons per cubic yard. Use the Fill Factor Data Sheet from the bucket manufacturer to determine the fill factor for that material type.
• Calculate cycle time by timing a loading operation. Start the timer when the bucket begins to dig and stop it when the bucket starts to dig again. Use 60 divided by the cycle time in minutes to obtain cycles per hour.
• Divide the hourly production requirement set by the project manager by the cycles per hour to determine the per cycle payload (tons moved per pass).
• Divide the per cycle payload by material density to find the nominal bucket capacity.
• For the heaped capacity, measure the internal volume of the bucket and add the material’s angle of repose. Use a 2:1 ratio for wheel loader buckets and a 1:1 ratio for hydraulic excavator buckets.
• The struck capacity is the bucket's volume after it has been leveled across the top. Calculate this by measuring the bucket’s length, width, and height.
• Finally, divide the nominal bucket capacity by the fill factor to find out how many cubic yards of material you can lift with each cycle.

Excavator Bucket Customization and Accessories

There are several ways to customize your excavator bucket to suit the specific applications you have in mind:

• Teeth types: Customize your bucket with various teeth types. Chisel teeth feature a smooth, angled tip with a flat bottom suitable for most applications. Specialized teeth types, such as rock chisel teeth, offer enhanced penetration for hard materials.
• Teeth spacing: Adjust the spacing between teeth depending on the application. Wider spacing allows for better penetration in rocky conditions, while tighter configurations work effectively in soil and trench digging.
• Edge configuration: Buckets can have either spade or straight edges, with spade edges ideal for hard materials and quarry applications, while straight edges provide cleaner cuts for soil work and trenching.
• Side cutters: Additional bolt-on side cutters or root cutters can be added to assist in excavating through roots.
• Wear protection: Enhance bucket durability with side cutters, bottom wear plates, and sidebar protectors to extend its lifespan.
• Quick coupler: Switching between various attachments is crucial on a job site. A quick coupler allows for easy interchangeability of buckets and tools.
• Power-tilting coupler: This feature allows any tool to tilt up to 180 degrees or 90 degrees left or right for precision work.
• Thumb: For irregularly shaped or bulky loads, an excavator thumb can attach to the bucket’s top to secure materials.

Changing the Teeth on Excavator Buckets

The ideal time to change teeth is before they wear down completely and expose the bucket adapter. Follow these steps to install new teeth:

1. Prepare safety goggles and boots, and gather a hammer, pin removal tool, wire bristle brush, and the new teeth. Be sure to tag out the machine before work begins.
2. Position the bucket parallel to the ground.
3. Remove existing teeth using a pin-removal tool, hammering the tool into the pin to push against the tooth retainer side.
4. Remove the tooth and clean the tooth adapter using a bristle brush.
5. Insert the retainer into the corresponding recess in the adapter.
6. Hold the retainer in place while positioning the tooth onto the adapter.
7. From the opposite side of the retainer, insert the pin through the tooth and adapter.
8. Hammer the pin until flush with the tooth's end.
9. Verify that the pin is locked in the retainer's recess.

Find Cat® Excavator Buckets and Attachments From Thompson Tractor

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