All of the digging, trenching, scooping, and scraping done in an excavator is only possible because of the excavator bucket attached at the end of the excavator's arm. And since every action will add a little more wear to the bucket, the life of an excavator bucket is always finite.
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If your bucket is nearing the end of its usefulness and you're in search of a used excavator bucket to replace it, you might be wondering what exactly to watch for in your search. To help you search and ensure you find the perfect replacement excavator bucket, we've put together this short and simple excavator bucket buying guide.
If you're in the market for a replacement excavator bucket you'll quickly find you have options both for new aftermarket buckets and used excavator buckets. If cost is a factor, the advantages of a used bucket are clear and, because buckets are sold for a variety of reasons from a change in the design an operator needs to a good used bucket outlasting a machine, there are often a wide range of used buckets available. As long as you know what to search for and how to evaluate the bucket, often a great used bucket solution is out there.
To ensure the bucket you find is the one you need, here are 4 simple considerations to watch for in your search.
Your excavator is designed to work with a range of excavator bucket sizes and weights, but every excavator has an upper limit and at a certain weight the bucket will bog down your machine. If you're buying a similar bucket to what you have now, you're generally ok, but be watchful of big jumps in size and weight.
Ensuring the bucket will actually fit and mount to your excavator can be done in two ways: searching by make, model, and serial number or searching by bucket dimensions.
Finding the make, model, and serial number of your excavator is as simple as taking a close look at your machine and matching those specs to a bucket that came off the same machine. With those details, you'll be able to search a reputable reseller's database or contact an excavator bucket seller.
However, since many buckets often fit more than one machine, if you only search by buckets labeled for a certain machine, you'll often limit your search. With a few simple measurements, you can often open up a much wider range of available buckets.
To search, you'll need the size of your pinholes, distance between pinholes, inside width of pin ears, and a few other measurements. To make your search that much easier, we've actually put together a simple measuring sheet and a short explainer. Grab the measuring guide (below) and read that post to make your search simple.
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A used excavator bucket has just come off a Komatsu PC350. Now, it'll be inspected to determine its usability on another machine.
Whether you're searching online or on foot, you'll want to take a good look at the condition of the bucket -- a reputable and organized seller will always provide pictures. While some rust is often common, make sure rust hasn't affected the structure of the bucket. If the rust is minor, but you still want the bucket to look new and to be better prepared to avoid more rust in the future, you can plan to paint the bucket yourself or ask the seller about reconditioning the bucket themselves to save time.
You'll also want to look for cracks and holes in the bucket. If you're handy with repairs you can often touch up a bucket yourself, or again ask the seller about reconditioning the bucket. Either way, you should have a clear picture of the condition of how the bucket will arrive before you buy it.
When you inspect the bucket or its pictures, you'll want to take a close look at the teeth -- both to ensure they are suitable for your needs and to take into account their condition. Since teeth and the edge of the bucket can vary in design, you'll want a bucket that is suitable for your most common jobs (or plan to change the teeth to suit).
In used buckets, you'll often find a wide range of teeth conditions. Take a look at the teeth and determine if they're not overworn for your work or if you need to plan to replace them yourself or have them replaced in the near future.
This Komatsu general purpose bucket has just been reconditioned. Fresh teeth and a new coat of paint finish it off and now it'll be palleted and shipped to a customer.Since excavators interact with a wide range of materials and perform a diverse set of jobs, the design of an excavator's bucket can vary significantly. In your search, you'll find general purpose buckets, heavy duty buckets, trenching buckets, and grading buckets. To determine what type is best for you, evaluate the design against your most typical jobs. Remember, though reinforced sides and guards add strength and repel wear, they also add weight, and, in turn, affect the functionality and efficiency of your excavator.
You'll also want to determine the capacity of the bucket and match that to the capacity of the trucks it will be filling and the density of the materials it'll be handling.
With a few quick measurements and a good understanding of what to look for in your excavator bucket search, you should be searching (and hopefully finding) the perfect replacement bucket for your excavator, simply and quickly.
If you still find searching difficult, feel free to contact our Parts Specialists -- they can search our deep inventory, as well as, our national parts network. And as a leader in salvaging excavators, we understand what to look for and how best to evaluate our buckets and ensure they're up to the job for our customers -- just give us a call.
Choosing an excavator for your job is only the first step in acquiring the tools you need. Whether they're mini or large, excavators are incredibly versatile because of the available bucket and attachment options. Given the many types of backhoe and excavator buckets on the market, a lot of factors contribute to finding the right bucket for the job.
From understanding excavator bucket dimensions to learning about the different excavator bucket types, this guide will teach you how to choose the right excavator bucket for your needs.
When choosing an excavator bucket, the first thing to consider is the specific application and type of material you are handling. You typically want to find the biggest bucket for your job, taking into account the material density and the size of the hauler truck.
Remember the weight of the bucket limits your cycle time, and the bucket only becomes heavier when loaded with heavy materials. As a general rule, use a small excavator bucket for higher-density materials to avoid slowed productivity. You want to be able to load your hauler truck quickly with as few cycles as possible to reduce fuel consumption, wear, and downtime.
Different applications can also require specific types of buckets. For example, you wouldn't be able to dig an 18-inch trench with a 30-inch bucket. Some buckets have features to handle certain types of materials. A rock bucket has a V-shaped cutting edge, and long, sharp teeth that can break through hard rock and push heavy loads with more power. A digging bucket is known to handle hard soil. Consider the type and density of your material and ensure you select a bucket that is capable of lifting it.
An excavator can do anything from digging trenches and laying pipes, to landscaping and moving snow. Several bucket types enable an excavator to handle various materials within these applications. While there are also many specialty buckets available, the five most popular buckets include:
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A general-purpose bucket has the most versatility and is appropriate for many excavating tasks. It is also known as a digging bucket, and it is the standard attachment that comes with an excavator. If you rent an excavator without specifying a bucket, you'll probably receive a general-purpose bucket. It comes with short, blunt teeth that work great on soil and are available in many sizes for various applications.
Here are some of the materials you can move with an all-purpose excavator bucket:
You can also find wear-protection components to allow an all-purpose excavator to work with more abrasive materials.
Grading buckets stand out for their smooth edges, wide construction, and flat cutting edges. They also have lift eyes, weld-on side cutters, and reversible bolt-on cutting edges. This construction creates smooth edges for all digging areas and works best with soft materials and soils. Grading buckets, also called clean-up or ditching buckets, have a lot of versatility for loading material, grading, leveling, back-filling, sloping, and cleaning ditches for improved drainage.
When you know how to use a grading bucket, you can use it for many applications, including:
A heavy-duty or severe-duty bucket is usually made from high-strength, abrasion-resistant steel. Because of their superior durability, these attachments are often used in rock quarries to load trucks with high-density material in fewer passes.
Cat® excavator buckets come in general-, heavy-, severe-, and extreme-duty varieties. They provide enhanced digging for heavy or abrasive materials, such as:
Severe- and extreme-duty buckets can handle even heavier materials, including:
Like a grading bucket, a trenching bucket is used for trench digging. It works well for narrow cable trenches, pipe culverts, and drains. It has a narrow shape, a sharp, flat blade, and an extended front section for better access. This tool can dig deep trenches while maintaining a fast cycle time. A trenching bucket should be used for high-precision jobs, such as digging around pipes.
This narrow bucket looks almost claw-like and is used to dig deep trenches that are only a few inches wide. It can save contractors a significant amount of time in backfilling and digging. It can also be known as a fiber-optic bucket because it is useful for creating trenches for laying fiber-optic cables, irrigation systems, and pipes.
An angle tilt bucket has many of the same applications as a grading bucket ' with the added feature of 45-degree rotation in either direction. Because of the tilting ability, these buckets are useful for creating precise slopes. They also allow an excavator to move or shape more land without changing positions as frequently. These features may allow you to experience increased uptime with heavy-duty construction.
Angle tilt buckets come in many sizes for a variety of applications, such as:
A tilt ditch cleaning bucket does exactly what its name suggests. This specialized cleaning bucket shares a similar design to a grading bucket. It can tilt at a 45-degree angle to allow the operator to work at difficult angles. Many consider this a 'finishing' bucket used at the end of a project for tidying and creating smooth finishes.
Visually, a skeleton bucket closely resembles a digging bucket. However, there is a major difference between the two. A skeleton bucket has large slots that work like a grid on its back. This is used to let fine materials filter through it, leaving behind larger materials.
The skeleton bucket is a versatile tool that does two things at once. It works as a usual excavation bucket that simultaneously separates stones, concrete, and trash from useful or building materials.
Utility buckets are incredibly useful tools when excavating near pipelines and cables. When cables are struck, it can harm the excavation crew and affect the system they are connected to. With a utility bucket, a crew can work without worrying about the risks of striking cables.
The bucket is double-enforced by using rounded edges rather than teeth, improving structural integrity. This bucket type is best suited for working near gas lines, water and sewerage pipes, and underground cables.
Besides the most commonly used buckets, you can find a variety of specialty bucket designs to use for specific jobs:
With so many types of excavator buckets, it's a good idea to consider renting one when you need to accomplish a particular task. If you plan to use the bucket for many jobs, you can save money by buying a used excavator bucket. If choosing a previously owned or rented bucket, you need to understand how to inspect for damage or repairs. Look for the following elements:
Most construction projects benefit from a bucket that will increase productivity by reducing the number of passes the tool needs to make. Select the biggest excavator bucket that won't compromise efficiency ' except when you have a particular size requirement, like when digging a trench.
Remember that the bucket you use on a 20-ton excavator would be far too big for an 8-ton excavator. A bucket that's too big will require the machine to do more work, and each cycle will take longer, reduce efficiency, or cause the excavator to topple over.
Generally, a range of bucket sizes will work for the excavator you have. Mini excavator bucket sizes can range from specialty 6-inch buckets to 36-inch buckets. Keep in mind that some sizes only apply to grading buckets, and you shouldn't use other types of buckets with those dimensions.
To see what size of bucket is possible for the weight of your excavator, use this excavator bucket size chart:
Each job's bucket capacity depends on the size of your bucket and the material you are handling. Bucket capacity combines the material fill factor and density, the hourly production requirement, and cycle time. You can calculate your bucket's capacity for a particular project in five steps:
To tool your excavator bucket for whatever applications you have in store, you can customize the bucket with many add-on features:
The best time to replace the teeth is before they wear down entirely and expose the bucket adapter. To fit the bucket with new teeth, follow these nine steps:
When you're ready to shop excavator buckets or need expert advice for your job site and machine, partner with the local leaders in tractor parts and repairs. We have a wide selection of Cat equipment attachments for excavators ' whether you're in the market for new or used buckets. Get the parts you need fast from the experts with over 60 years of experience in the business.
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