Clay difficult to remove from 9ins trench bucket

[FarmGeek]

I've seen your clay and agree it's the worst stuff on earth. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
In the East we have red clay that can be tricky to work with too. I noticed the problem is caused by the clay filling the bucket so completely that no air is available to break the suction.
I had a small bucket that I put some drain holes in for bringing up creek sand that worked great on wet clay. Perhaps that may be an option?
The chain idea is interesting but in wet clay you would have wet chains stuck to the bottom of the bucket too. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
The above link showing a clay spade is a wonderful design. Why didn't I think of that??? /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Good Luck!

 

[1948berg]

Make the bucket even narrower in the back, giving it a conic shape. and some holes to let air into the bucket. I had a bucket once with a steel blade mounted inside it in a way that when you opened the bucket to emty it the blade forced the clay out. The blade was fixed to the digger, it did not move, only the bucket did. it was to much work to get it on and off.

 

[tawilson]

The chain suggestion in the first post I took to mean a chain attached to the bucket and to the dipper so that when the bucket is curled to the dump position the chain would tighten and possibly pop the clay out. Sounds reasonable. But you say drilling a couple of holes in the bucket helps also?

 

[dsgsr]

I have two holes in the bottom of my hoe bucket and it does help. It also helps to have a rock or stump nearby to tunk the bucket onto, I have a hydraulic thumb on my hoe so sometimes I move the rock with me.

David