Device for emptying backhoe bucket

20 20 · Jul 9, 2009

I also have the same problem get mad enough sometimes to bang the bucket on a rock or stump. I also don't think the size of bucket will help much, atleast not with the glue type gung that I have.

aggiehortguy91 · Jul 9, 2009

Try taking smaller "bites". Don't fill the bucket up. The more bucket surface that the clay touches, the better it grabs and holds on. A full bucket of clay also makes a great seal so you create a vacuum behind the lump as you try to dump it out. You will still likely have to give it a little shake but it should come out easier. Wetting things down sometimes helps as well since the water lubricates things a bit but a full bucket is still going to be almost impossible to dump.

kthompson · Jul 9, 2009

I have mini excavator and use it a fair amount in clay from the red clay with some sand in it to grey gumbo. I have found the 30" bucket is easier to get it out of or rather normally dumps better from it than the 20" bucket. Following a friends suggestion found a chain set up where they were loose and fell into the bucket and behind the dirt when digging and when uncurled cut through the clay and would help push it out was a big help. My set up was very simple just took a chain and using clevis bolted it to holes in the side of the bucket (for side teeth) and wrapped it around the thumb mount. This put the chain in a "v" design in the bucket. It did not work 100% of the time but at least 90%. I think if you were to use a chain made up much like a tire chain it would work better than the set up I used as more chains, more surface to push the clay. Just be sure you have enough slack in the chain when the bucket is uncurled the chain still has some slack.

To me the best way to shake stuck dirt out is to raise the boom with bucket uncurled and drop it with sudden stop. Don't like that shock to machine either.

bearmtnmartin · Jul 10, 2009

couple ways to get the clay out is either take a 4 inch load belt that truckers use and bolt it to top and bottom of the bucket so it moves to the back as you fill the bucket and then tightens when you curl the bucket out. Or do more or less the same thing with chains, or weld a few lengths of chain into the back of the bucket. They sort of curl up in there and keep the stuff from sticking as bad. I've never tried any of them myself, but I've seem them all done and the operators all claimed some success. If you are digging in clay all the time, you can cut your bucket apart and have it narrowed up at the back .Or the simplest way of all is to take long shallow pulls when you are digging and don't let it pack in there to begin with.

Reg · Jul 10, 2009

I like the chains idea, maybe 3/8 welded front and back with enough slack to go all the way to the back surface.
Nobody mentioned the drainage holes, which I assume also go some way towards relieving suction.
All hoe buckets DO HAVE the drainage/suction relief holes - right ?

ray66v · Jul 10, 2009

Reg said:
I like the chains idea, maybe 3/8 welded front and back with enough slack to go all the way to the back surface.
Nobody mentioned the drainage holes, which I assume also go some way towards relieving suction.
All hoe buckets DO HAVE the drainage/suction relief holes - right ?

The chain can offer some relief, if you place it properly.

The "holes" make no difference whatsoever.

I also tried a dual taper design, back narrower than the front, top narrower than the bottom, which is supposed to be easier to empty, no joy.

I will add before someone mentions it again: Spraying the bucket with "Pam" or other slippery lubricants like silicone, or "Armour all, are good, last for only one scoop.

kthompson · Jul 10, 2009

ray66v said:
The chain can offer some relief, if you place it properly.

The "holes" make no difference whatsoever.

I also tried a dual taper design, back narrower than the front, top narrower than the bottom, which is supposed to be easier to empty, no joy.

I will add before someone mentions it again: Spraying the bucket with "Pam" or other slippery lubricants like silicone, or "Armour all, are good, last for only one scoop.

A few years back a gentleman who dug grave plots told me of one cemetery they always carried buckets of oil with them. Shovel in the oil before each scoop.

An additional thought on the chains. Mine were not set up this way but would seem if you had them near the side of the bucket it would help cut the clay loose from the sides. But really think you need chains running between the side chains much like tire chains.

Kays Supply · Jul 12, 2009

I tried the graphite paint on mine. It only helped when I got home and used a garden hose on it. It came out then, but not much better on the job site.

BX Tex · Jul 12, 2009

kthompson said:
I have mini excavator and use it a fair amount in clay from the red clay with some sand in it to grey gumbo. I have found the 30" bucket is easier to get it out of or rather normally dumps better from it than the 20" bucket. Following a friends suggestion found a chain set up where they were loose and fell into the bucket and behind the dirt when digging and when uncurled cut through the clay and would help push it out was a big help. My set up was very simple just took a chain and using clevis bolted it to holes in the side of the bucket (for side teeth) and wrapped it around the thumb mount. This put the chain in a "v" design in the bucket. It did not work 100% of the time but at least 90%. I think if you were to use a chain made up much like a tire chain it would work better than the set up I used as more chains, more surface to push the clay. Just be sure you have enough slack in the chain when the bucket is uncurled the chain still has some slack.

To me the best way to shake stuck dirt out is to raise the boom with bucket uncurled and drop it with sudden stop. Don't like that shock to machine either.

Once when I was browsing a patent website, I came across this very thing of using chains much like a section of tire chains .....tried to find it again,but no luck