Concrete placement bucket

[toolslinger]

When my folks built their place in PA, they put it on piers. Not something simple like sonotubes... Plywood formed, 4 sided, tapered piers. The low side units are probably 9' above grade, and the base is around 24" square. That's a lot of concrete.
It was all mixed, and poured by two guys in the early 70's. My father loaded and ran the mixer, and my uncle ran back and forth to the forms with a cut 55 gallon drum attached to the bucket of a JD300. No premix for them... They'd buy 100 bags of concrete every weekend, and had sand, and gravel delivered.
So, could you do it... Sure.
If there's another way to pump it, or truck it direct, I'd look real hard at that...

 

[nyone]

When my folks built their place in PA, they put it on piers. Not something simple like sonotubes... Plywood formed, 4 sided, tapered piers. The low side units are probably 9' above grade, and the base is around 24" square. That's a lot of concrete.
It was all mixed, and poured by two guys in the early 70's. My father loaded and ran the mixer, and my uncle ran back and forth to the forms with a cut 55 gallon drum attached to the bucket of a JD300. No premix for them... They'd buy 100 bags of concrete every weekend, and had sand, and gravel delivered.
So, could you do it... Sure.
If there's another way to pump it, or truck it direct, I'd look real hard at that...

I have also done the sand, stone and portland and mixed it my self also. In fact that's what holding half my house up. For the price I dont think il be saving any money vs buying bagged concrete.

 

[cwbyeng1300]

Did you get alot of separation? My driveway is prety smooth and can drive a car up it if you hit the hill good. No big ruts or bumps.

Probably had some, but we poured slow out of the bucket - that was about 15 years ago & the 120' tower is still standing on the ridge. The onsite engineer watched the pour & approved it, but we all agreed it wasn't the best solution to the problem - but it was the only way to get the concrete up there. We had to use two 4x4 trucks chained together just to pull a 10k load to the site. D8 dozer would spin out pulling a truck in...

 

[Smokeydog]

Concrete buckets can be rented or bought at Bobcat stores. Hydraulic controlled discharge if you have 3rd function. U-mix or ready mix. Don’t water down mix either way. Takes many knowledgeable pairs of hands. 5,000psi concrete.

 

[nyone]

I called the local batch plant and they get $200 a yard plus this fee and that fee I wouldnt be saving anything vs bagged concrete so bagged concrete it is.

 

[ruffdog]

The contractor neighbor has one of these for remote jobs.

https://www.bobcat.com/na/en/attachments/concrete-mixer

 

[caver]

or one of these BMX-250 Skid Steer Concrete Mixer Attachment
that Camarata kid has/had one he tried out on his YT channel. Probably pricey.

 

[4570Man]

or one of these BMX-250 Skid Steer Concrete Mixer Attachment
that Camarata kid has/had one he tried out on his YT channel. Probably pricey.

I have a smaller one. It works good.

 

[ljjhouser]

If you use bags, have a lot of help and rent a very large mixer (or two). Using 80# bags, looks like about 160 bags to mix for 3.5 yards. And watch your set time.

 

[diesel85]

If you use bags, have a lot of help and rent a very large mixer (or two). Using 80# bags, looks like about 160 bags to mix for 3.5 yards. And watch your set time.

I agree. If prohibitive or risky to get a concrete mixer in the site, a large mixer and extra hands is the way to do it.

Like I said, when I was doing my patio, the extra hands and that mixer made it go very quick and easy. Lot quicker than I thought it would've been. In fact, out of the whole project, doing those footers were the most daunting, but because I had the right people and a mixer, it was cake.

Up north of me, there are lots of places I know that were built using a mixer and bags of concrete because it was prohibitive to get a regular mixer truck in or a pumper. With enough help, the finished product looks exactly the same.

 

[farmalldx33]

I think I would just get a load of stone, a load of sand and a few bags of cement and mix my own concrete. Then you can do it at your own pace.

 

[4570Man]

I think I would just get a load of stone, a load of sand and a few bags of cement and mix my own concrete. Then you can do it at your own pace.

It’s not much if any cheaper that way and more running around getting material and having to measure them. It’s easier to just buy a couple pallets of quickcrete. At least it used to be. The quickcrete has went up quite a bit.

 

[nyone]

I agree. If prohibitive or risky to get a concrete mixer in the site, a large mixer and extra hands is the way to do it.

Like I said, when I was doing my patio, the extra hands and that mixer made it go very quick and easy. Lot quicker than I thought it would've been. In fact, out of the whole project, doing those footers were the most daunting, but because I had the right people and a mixer, it was cake.

Up north of me, there are lots of places I know that were built using a mixer and bags of concrete because it was prohibitive to get a regular mixer truck in or a pumper. With enough help, the finished product looks exactly the same.

I have a small husky mixer but looking at the yardage I need I may look at renting a bigger one.

 

[m1garand762]

Just get a few bags of Portland cement a few tons of sand a few tons of 57 limestone and rent a mixer for a day

 

[S854]

I have been driving a mixer for almost 25 years… most recently in western Montana… just yesterday I backed up a steep, 1/2 mile drive with 9.5 yards in my drum… the super was kind enough to drive me up in his pickup prior to my delivery to give me an idea of where I was going and how best to approach it… his truck wouldn’t make the climb without engaging 4-wheel drive… modern mixers have side-to-side and front-to-rear axle lockers… my mixer made the climb, in reverse,with little drama and no wheel spin… the one problem you may have is getting a large, cumbersome truck access to your caissons …unless they’re all in a row there’s gonna be quite a bit of jockeying necessary to reach them… how big (and flat!) is your job site?

 

[bdhsfz6]

Anyone ever cobble one of these type of buckets up with useing there current bucket as the base?

I have 18 1'x6.5ft sono tubes to fill and can only get a cement truck about 700ft away. It's about $1000 in concrete bags. Last time I checked 3.5yrd of concrete from the truck wasn't $280 a yard.

For jobs requiring 5yds or less, I mix my own. I usually have piles of sand & gravel around but I'll occasionally buy bags of pre mix if necessary.

I welded an SSQA plate to the frame of an old 6 cu ft. stand mixer I bought at a yard sale. I replaced the burned out electric motor with a hydraulic motor which I power using the 3rd function valve. With the mixer attached to the tractor FEL, I load the ingredients and mix them while transporting to the job site. Pouring is easy using the FEL without having to get off the tractor. It takes around 5 trips to pour a yard but turn around time is reduced by mixing while transporting.

I particularly like this idea because it saves setup & cleanup time. Instead of getting the sand, gravel and cement together next to the mixer, I take the mixer to the components.