How to get clay out of backhoe bucket?

[tallyho8]

I am excavating with my backhoe and the ground is a very sticky brown clay. I get a scoop of clay and go to dump it and it won't come out of the bucket. I hold the bucket upside down and hit it with a maul and it does no good. I shake it a little but am worried about hurting my cylinders or tipping the trencher. Before I started I cleaned my bucket real well and sprayed silicone in it till I ran out and then coated the rest with oil hoping this would make the clay release easier.

I try to dig it out of the bucket with a shovel but the clay is very tough. I spray it with a water hose with a jet tip on it and it barely dissolves any of the clay. This 4 hour job has turned into a 4 day job or longer.

Please give me your secret way of removing this clay.

 

[4570Man]

A bigger bucket and wait for it to dry out some. I’ve seen people weld a short length of chain in the bottom.

 

[Ortimber]

The only advice I have is to use a wider bucket. It seems the narrower buckets just don't clean out well.

 

[natedog75]

Cut holes in the bucket to release suction. I have done this with my 12” bucket for the mini-x. It works until you want to pail water or scoop up small gravel.


Don’t pack it by cutting it more with the teeth instead of scooping it out like normal. Think more along the lines of peeling an onion. Takes a little longer but once you get the hang of it it isn’t as bad. Better than trying to get packed clay out. Basically braking up the clay as you are digging it out.


Use chains in a x welded to the back of the bucket to break up clay. I get the same effect with the onion peeling method. You have to hook the chains to something outside the bucket so they will tighten some when you dump. This I very effective. I would weld loops in the bucket so I could remove the chains later.

Use oil as a lubricant. This is messy and time consuming. An alternative is to dip your bucket in water before scooping.

Edit: Grammar. Thanks Autocorrect.

 

[natedog75]

They make a clay bucket that is just basically a bucket with out sides. That’s the spend a lot of money option. Works the same as onion peeling method.

 

[Big Barn]

Don’t pack it by cutting it more with the teeth instead of scooping it out like normal. Think more along the lines of peeling and onion. Takes a little longer but once you get the hang of it it isn’t as bad. Better than trying to get packed clay out. Basically braking up the clay as you are digging it out.


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Definitely this^^^^ will help

Good advice.

 

[drssg]

I've used a pressure washer with an aggressive spray tip. It's still a hassle, but it helps.

 

[Billrog]

Don't try and fill your bucket just use the front 1 - 3rd of it .

 

[tallyho8]

It seems like someone could invent something like a thumb that would set inside the bucket and then push the clay out when dumping.

 

[natedog75]

To get the clay stuck in the bucket out I use a shovel. A sharpshooter works the best. Also a pike pole helps. I have resorted to a t-post put in the ground and pushing it into the clay in the bucket to brake it up.

The easiest way I have found is let the helper scrape it out while you do something else. Haha.