Device for emptying backhoe bucket

[Volp]

I have a problem with heavy clay getting stuck in my backhoe bucket.
I sometimes have to empty it manually!
Are there any solutions to this problem?
Can you put in an extra bottom in the bucket which scrapes out everything when the bucker is uncurled?
Looking forward to see your brilliant solutions to this problem!

 

[jimgerken]

I know just what you are saying! I wanted the same thing, but can't figure out how to do it without routing more hydraulic lines on the hoe frame. Maybe if we have to go to the trouble of routing the lines, the thing we add is what you described, like a false movable bucket bottom, AND it doubles as a hyd thumb.

Ideas guys?

 

[ray66v]

There were several threads that discussed this problem, I would have linked to them but could not find them right now.

There are all kinds of ideas and contraptions, I have tried most of them. None have been the holy grail.

The easiest solution is to either use a bigger bucket, or dig when the ground is dry.

 

[JohnDeere4300]

I have clay dirt in my front yard also and that's why i dug a pond.

I also have a problem with the clay-dirt getting stuck in my BH bucket especially if its wet..I keep a small shovel on my tractor just for that, and i have to get off and shovel it out most of the time... I have seen people bounce their BH-arm up & down to try & get it out..But I don't think its a good thing to do all the time.

 

[EddieWalker]

I don't think a bigger bucket will solve the problem as I have a 24 inch bucket on mine and it's a real problem. Even my loader bucket will build up with clay when it's moist and I have to dig it out by hand.

With the bucket teeth pointing straight down and the boom up as high as it will go, I've found that I can sort of pop the clay out sometime by bringing the hoe stick in quckly and letting it stop abruptly. I am worried that this might cause some damage to my cylinder, but it's the only thing that I've found that even comes close to emptying the bucket.

I tried painting my bucket to make it smoother, but that didn't accomplish anything.

I've seen special buckets for digging wet clay, and they don't have any sides to them. There is just enough metal to keep the shape of the bucket, but mostly it's open.

I've also found that extremely wet clay doesn't do this, it's only the moist clay that compacts into the buckets. Really wet stuff, like digging the silt out of my pond, just falls right out.

Good luck, if you come up with something that works, is inexpensive and easy to make, patent it, you'll make a ton of money!!!

Eddie

 

[LBrown59]

There are some threads about this.
Try a search and see what comes up.

 

[Grrrr]

Just hire a mini digger when you need one.

I have this problem, but I just shake the joysticks like **** and it always comes out

Good thing I don't own the machine though

I have seen a buckets like one of those ice cream scoops, where there is like an ejector plate that pushes the clay out.

Like this

 

[ray66v]

I don't think a bigger bucket will solve the problem

Right, nothing will completely solve the problem. Especially if your at the extreme end of the scale.

Both of the excavators I know, say the smaller the bucket the more it sticks.

I can dig ground here with my 12", that will never come out of my 6". I only use my 6" in the middle of the dry season, then it works fairly well.

One thing I realized: If your going to shake the bucket to loosen the dirt, shake it opening facing upward, right when you finish curling it. This works better than anything I have tried, and seems easier on the equipment. If you shake it opening facing down, it tends to pack in even tighter.

 

[Volp]

Thanks for the input!
I have found one thread , Ejector Bucket Design which is interesting but the design is still not tested. They mention the use of chains in the bucket which I understand will cut through the clay when the bucket is uncurled. This seems to be a simple solution but I have still not found any pictures of this.

 

[Volp]

Found another thread, Backhoe bucket, there one conclusion was that nothing works when clay is stuck in the bucket! A bit disappointing. Hope that there are more positive views to be found!

 

[20 20]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[oughtsix]

Would a nozzle(s) to inject water or air behind the clay in the bucket help?