A real newbie backhoe question

CurlyDave · Feb 16, 2006

I dug a few trenches through wet clay with my backhoe, and the bucket is now packed full of very tenacious wet clay.

How do I get it out?

I shook the bucket with the hydraulics and the clay stayed in, I whacked it against a log lying on the ground and it laughed at me.

I faced the bucket down, and jabbed the clay with a medium size screwdriver (the biggest I had with me at the time) and the screwdriver bent.

Do I get a ripping chisel and a hand sledge, or is there a trick I don't know about?

ronjhall · Feb 16, 2006

If you have a Power Washer. Use it to blast the clay out.

tawilson · Feb 16, 2006

Sometimes putting the bucket in dump position and beating on it with a sledgehammer will loosen it up.

browns40 · Feb 16, 2006

Hi curly dave,

Do you hace an ice chipper? Looks like a giant steel drywall knife on the end of a shovel handle...

Works on the loader bucket...

MossRoad · Feb 16, 2006

I agree with the pressure washer method. If you don't have one, a garden hose with spray nozzle will work, but take longer. Better to get it out at the end of each workday than to let it setup overnight.

Highbeam · Feb 16, 2006

The pressure washer sounds like a messy job.

1948berg · Feb 16, 2006

Forget it! The next time you use it the clay will have dried, and it will fall out easily. If not, knock it down on a rock. Never sideways!

v8dave · Feb 21, 2006

Nobody asked the question: how big is your backhoe bucket? Narrow buckets will have the problem you described. If your bucket isn't at least 12" wide, think about getting another, wider, bucket for wet digging.

They aren't cheap but, if you do go out and buy another bucket think about a 14" or 16" wide and I've seen some others recommend a 24". 24" is a big bucket though, I personally wouldn't go that wide. I mention 12" above as the point below which you ought to think about geting another bucket.

Another point, if you think you can put up with it, is to drill a hole in the bottom of the bucket. Say at least a half inch. In a narrow bucket that'll help break the vacuum holding some sloppy clay in the bucket. And, if it doesn't, it makes a hole to put the hose in for blowing it out.

CurlyDave · Feb 21, 2006

The bucket is 12". As far as I can tell, tyhis is the smallest one available for the TLB 110.

Last Thursday ordered a 20" bucket from the JD dealer. Hopefully delivery later this week. I asked about the statement thay had made when I bought it that "parts usually ship in 1 day" & they told me the bucket was an accessory, not a part. Could have fooled me.

Anyway, the tractor is on land we bought in Oregon, and I am in the SF Bay area right now. We are going up this weekend.

I am not going to use water or a presure washer on the bucket for two reasons:

1. No water source.

2. I think this would make an incredible mess.

I left the bucket in dump position, and if the clay has not fallen out, I am going to try a hand sledge and ripping chisel. A ripping chisel is a piece of 5/8" or 3/4" hex stock about 20" long, with one end forged into about a 2" chisel blade. I suspect about 2 or 3 minutes to get most of it out.

I will tell the results next week.

MossRoad · Feb 21, 2006

If you had water, just turn the bucket upside down close to the ground and stick the pressure washer or hose under it. I would prefer to leave it sit like that for 5-10 minutes and let the water do the work over a chisel and hammer. But then again, the workout would do me good. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif