Qickrete Mixing Question - Tractor Bucket

[Old Red]

I borrowed a buddy's wheel barrel to mix up 8 eighty pound bags of concrete the other night. I need to mix up about 11 more bags. He took his wheel barrel. I do not own a wheel barrel and would rather not buy one for this project as my bucket on my BX23s is my everyday wheel barrel. Anyway, can I mix bags of concrete in my bucket? Is it a pain to do? Does the wheel barrel design make it easier to mix than a tractor bucket or is it all the same? I will be shoveling the concrete out of the bucket vs dumping it.

Any advice on using the BX series tractor to mix concrete? Should I just go borrow a wheel barrel?

 

[Diggin It]

A bucket is a bucket whether it has a single wheel and two wood handles or four wheels and hydraulics.

 

[LD48750]

I borrowed a buddy's wheel barrel to mix up 8 eighty pound bags of concrete the other night. I need to mix up about 11 more bags. He took his wheel barrel. I do not own a wheel barrel and would rather not buy one for this project as my bucket on my BX23s is my everyday wheel barrel. Anyway, can I mix bags of concrete in my bucket? Is it a pain to do? Does the wheel barrel design make it easier to mix than a tractor bucket or is it all the same? I will be shoveling the concrete out of the bucket vs dumping it.

Any advice on using the BX series tractor to mix concrete? Should I just go borrow a wheel barrel?

The concrete doesn't care.
Your bucket will work fine.

 

[check 6]

I agree. I have mixed in my tractor front loader and then rinsed out the bucket and the tractor never new. Plus you can mix it in a safer place and transport it to the job site. My wife calls our BX "the powered wheelbarrow.

 

[Industrial Toys]

A wheelbarrow might dump it better. Depends on where it's going.

If using the tractor bucket, make sure you clean it very well. I have concrete on several pieces of equipment that seems impossible to get off. Unbelievably impossible!

 

[Old Red]

Thanks. I figured as much and the first time mixing I was worried about getting concrete stuck in the bucket but I went and sprayed that wheel barrel out and it cleaned up nicely. I also have that Pirhana Tooth Bar from BxPanded on the front. Probably get in the way a bit, but I'll manage. I just didn't know if how the bucket is designed if it was more of a pain, less of a pain, or the same amount of pain mixing bags of quickrete up.

Thanks, looking forward to getting my sons Goalrilla in the ground once and for all!!

 

[Industrial Toys]

Aside from cleaning, my biggest worry with hand mixed concrete is avoiding unmixed, dry, pockets of material. I try and make it soupy, then slowly add more dry material. A wheelbarrow and a garden hoe does a good job of making sure it is well mixed. Better than a tractor bucket.

 

[Doofy]

I'd just go rent a wheelbarrow or a small mixer. The proper tools for a job are usually worth the cost.

 

[LD48750]

I'd just go rent a wheelbarrow or a small mixer. The proper tools for a job are usually worth the cost.

A hole in the ground is a proper tool for mixing Quickrete.

 

[Old Red]

I'd just go rent a wheelbarrow or a small mixer. The proper tools for a job are usually worth the cost.

Yep, they actually had a mixer for rent you pull behind your truck for $55 dollars but I didn't know what the learning curve was like on that. So I figured wheel barrel or tractor. I refuse to buy a wheel barrel since I own a BX. I thought I was gonna be able to do away with the shovel since I bought the bx backhoe, but I just dug a 4 feet deep 20 inch diameter for my son's big basketball goal.

 

[Doofy]

I spent many years installing playground equipment. When young and strong, I'd mix by hand. Later on, a cement mixer was toted around. Then came Quickcrete, you poured it in the hole and just added water. Life became easier.

 

[Captain Dirty]

. . .If using the tractor bucket, make sure you clean it very well. I have concrete on several pieces of equipment that seems impossible to get off. Unbelievably impossible!

^2. In high school I had a summer job tending hod for a mason. Cleaning cement from tools, tub, or whatever requires rubbing, be it hand, brush, or rag. Just spraying water leaves a residue that becomes permanent.

 

[3Ts]

If using the tractor bucket, make sure you clean it very well. I have concrete on several pieces of equipment that seems impossible to get off. Unbelievably impossible!

^3 I used my tractor bucket for concrete and didn't get it all cleaned off right away. 15 years later, there is still concrete on it.

 

[LD48750]

^3 I used my tractor bucket for concrete and didn't get it all cleaned off right away. 15 years later, there is still concrete on it.

And what has it hurt in the last 15 years?

 

[Old Red]

Just finished my job. TEN 80 lb bags (800 pounds) of Quickrete mixed up in the little BX bucket. Piece of cake. As soon as I finished the pour I drove over to my woods and dumped a tiny bit of leftover concrete out and drug the hose over, rinsed and not a singe grain of concrete in the bucket. Washes off super easy. No biggie at all, I highly recommend it.

Attached is a photo of the bucket sitting in my garage after I was finished. No evidence of 800 pounds of concrete being mixed in that bucket an hour earlier.

 

[wagne223]

A hole in the ground is a proper tool for mixing Quickrete.

This is my method for anything being set in the ground. Just mix it in the hole, cover it with dirt and move on.

Of course when it comes to mortar or concrete for a pad, I use a more refined method.

 

[wagne223]

Just finished my job. TEN 80 lb bags (800 pounds) of Quickrete mixed up in the little BX bucket. Piece of cake. As soon as I finished the pour I drove over to my woods and dumped a tiny bit of leftover concrete out and drug the hose over, rinsed and not a singe grain of concrete in the bucket. Washes off super easy. No biggie at all, I highly recommend it.

Attached is a photo of the bucket sitting in my garage after I was finished. No evidence of 800 pounds of concrete being mixed in that bucket an hour earlier.

View attachment 602788

Not even a shovel scratch in that bucket!

Almost makes me feel bad for loading a pile of busted up concrete with mine today!
Ha ha....almost!

 

[Old Red]

This is my method for anything being set in the ground. Just mix it in the hole, cover it with dirt and move on.

Of course when it comes to mortar or concrete for a pad, I use a more refined method.

I considered that. There was water in the hole already. But I am putting up a giant very expensive NCAA regulation sized basketball goal up for my boy. I doubt he'll ever put much hurt on the goal, but you never know what friends he might have over. So I pumped the water out of the hole, mixed in my bucket. Hole is over 4 feet deep and 16 inches diameter and last foot at the bottom was 20 inches diameter at the bottom. Once I was 3/4 way up I put in 4 pieces of rebar, then covered those, smoothed and placed the anchor system in. This foundation is a beast...but for fence posts and what not I'm just mixing in the hole.