Loader CK-20 54" bucket volume

malk315 · May 3, 2010

Hey all-

Curious if anyone has done an accuarte measurement or good estimate of what one heaping bucket of loam is in the CK-20 loader's KL-120 bucket 54" (also a cut level bucket full)

I realize I could measure and calculate the volume based on 1 cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, but I was wondering if anyone has already done it by measure, or even better -- by taking a bucket of material and dumping it into a "box" of known dimensions to really get an accuarte measurement (would save me the time of doing it too!)

I'm going to move some loam with a truck and would like to be fair to my builder who is giving me some loam for free and grab a few yards by counting buckets at least.

If I measure it out myself, I'll reply to my own post for your reference.

Josh61513 · May 3, 2010

Do you have a high volume/oversize bucket? The brochure I have says the CK20s/KL120 loader comes with a 48" wide bucket.

The brochure says the factory bucket for the CK20S w/KL120 loader is 48" wide and it can hold 5.65 ft^3 (0.2 yards) of material, 7.76 ft^3 (.28 yards) heaped. It has been my experience that the loader will lift/carry just about anything you get into the bucket, but the marginal curl strength makes it hard to get a heaped load every time.

Josh

malk315 · May 3, 2010

Cool -- thanks for the info.

My machine is a CK20 hydro purchased new in 2006, but manufactured in 2003. With Kioti machines, the model year is the year you buy it.

So being of '03 vintage, my loader has the 54" bucket and it's standard, not a high volume or oversize as far as I know.

My manual doesn't seem to have the capacity, so I measured it.

The closest representation I came up with is a trapezoid for the shape of the bucket by 54" or 4.5 feet. The trapezoid I used was 19" at bucket top, 10" at the base, and 14" of angled sides. Using the pythagorean theorem after dropping a perpendicular line, the altitude of the trapezoid is 13.25". Area is (b1 + b2 / 2) * altitude, so:

10 + 19 = 29 / 2 = 14.5 * 13.25 = 192.125 in^2.

One square foot is 12" x 12" = 144
The area of one "bucket trapezoid unit" is 192.125 / 144.0 = 1.3342 ft^2

Now we multiply 1.3342 ft^2 * 54" (which is 4.5 ft) and we get 6.0039 ft^3 for my 54" bucket with a "cut level" load. This seems to jive very well with the 48" advertised "cut level" load of 5.65 ft^3.

So I figure a heaping bucket is probably around 8.25 ft^3 or pretty darn close to 1/3 of a yard (which is 9 ft^3).

So 2 yards of material in my brother's truck should be 6 perfectly heaping buckets, so I'll probably throw 8 in there figuring 4 average loaded buckets is at least 1 yard and we'll just be over by a bit.

Thanks a bunch for the info, and I hope this helps out some other who might be estimating material etc.

malk315 · May 3, 2010

I just realized this could be done a lot easier if the bucket "shape" is identical between 48" and 54" buckets.

Just take the 5.65 ft^3 and divide by 48 and then multiply by 54 and it comes out as 6.36 ft^3 for the 54"

The heaping value would be 7.76 / 48 * 54 = 8.73 ft^3

So my trapezoid method isn't too bad (conservative) assuming both buckets are the same shape. 1/3 of a yard for heaping is a good estimate.

mx5guy · May 3, 2010

I am just amazed at the ability to get bucket full, I am getting better but I find picking up dirt sand with bucket much harder than diging with backhoe.

darkviper · May 5, 2010

there is a simpler method. Use a 5 gallon bucket and fill with water. Water takes 7.5 gallons per cubic foot. so figure how many gallons and the divide by 7.5 and that will give you the cubic foot of the bucket. Heaped and another 25 %