Concrete bucket

Builder · Dec 10, 2011

lostcause said:
i'm a little late to the game on this one, since you've already got it planned out. my question was: do most of the small pad jobs you do allow you to use a ready-mix truck, or are you using a small mixer on site? if you are using a small mixer and were then going to move it by tractor, what about a 3ph pto mixer? i just brought home a slightly-past-abused 3 point hitch pto driven mixer. it needs a bunch of work, but they still make similar ones new if you are in business. with that you can back right up to the forms & place it where you want it. i don't know how bad the cost is compared to a bucket, but it would cut out a piece of equipment, and the transfer from mixer to tractor.

My tow behind concrete mixer has mostly been sitting. Not a lot of call for brickwork these days with this horrible economy. I thought of a 3pt mixer, but didn't want to mess with stone, water, portland, etc. It's just easier to pump it or shuttle it in on a concrete bucket.
The jobsite is like working on a 30* angle all day long. No place to sit a mixer. Mounted on a 3pt it might work (go up to level spot, mix batch, then drive up hill backwards and drop a load), but that would be kind of slow.

jake98 · Dec 10, 2011

Builder said:
The jobsite is like working on a 30* angle

So you're going to need a retaining wall too then, sounds like.

tessiers · Dec 10, 2011

My opinion is the concrete bucket is not the answer to a maidens prayer. We use them all the time, with cranes for high walls and remote piers ect. We also use the same buckets with extending boom fork trucks which is OK too, however slow and tedious. We (the company I work for) own 5 cranes and 4 or 5 fork lifts, we also own a couple of tractors but never used them to bucket concrete. We also use gorgia buggies all the time, if the ground is good the buggies are good but they are useless on rough ground. If the price was right and you have enough machine to handle it I would buy it versus renting every time. Rental yards are not particularly reliable and concrete is very time sensitive. The pump is the way to go 9 times out of 10 but there is always an exeption.

We once walked a 30 ton Rough Terrain crane over and embankment with the help of a Cat 345 got it set up and pumped as far as we could then swung the buckets as far as the crane could swing then used the Cat 345 for final placement for some foundations for storm drain structures. I think we placed something like 40 yards like that, talk about time consuming. Also used the 345 to hold a Cat 325 which final graded the embankment on the way out.