Moving wet concrete with tractor bucket?

[nyone]

Has anyone moved wet concrete from mixer to sono tube with your tractor bucket? Im going to be putting in roughly 12 4-5ft sono tubes next spring and trying to make this easy on my self and my help. These tubes will be on a slight hill and stick out of the ground by 8-12in.

Tubes are at a remove piece of property i own. No concrete truck acess and no pumper from the road. I have an electric mixer that i have used quite a bit on smaller 3-5 tube projects. The issue i always have is getting the Crete from the mixer to the tube.

Im debating on making a wood hatch over my bucket with a shoot hole or just mounting the mixer right to the bucket. I have no issues welding things to my bucket if needed. Any one do anything like this?

 

[EddieWalker]

I haven't tried it, but I have thought about buying one of those concrete buckets designed for doing this. I bought my hay spear from Titan and think it's well made and priced right. I'm surprised at how much the concrete bucket costs, but I'm guessing there is a reason for that. It's probably bigger then what you are looking for, but it should give you a good idea of what you need.

UA Made in the USA Skid Steer 3/4 Yard Cement & Concrete Bucket with Spout

Every time I want to do something like moving wet concrete around with my bucket, I figure out a way to get the mixer where I need it and do the job that way. I have a small Honda generator that has been great. I also have a metal feeding scoop that works great for dipping into my wheel barrow and filling up sono tubes or cinder blocks.

https://www.amazon.com/Harris-Farms...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

[Diggin It]

I have an electric mixer that i have used quite a bit on smaller 3-5 tube projects. The issue i always have is getting the Crete from the mixer to the tube.

Can't you just set the mixer at each tube, mix the batch, then tilt and pour into the tube? You'd be moving dry bags and water that way.

 

[jmc]

Step 11, from this Sonotube link, might save you a bucket modification:

"Prior to pouring concrete into Sonotube form, invert spare TubeBase on top of Sonotube form to act as a funnel for concrete pour."

TubeBase - Sonotube

 

[4570Man]

12 4-5’ tubes poured by hand ( a mixer still counts for hand in my book ) sounds awful. How tall are they? I usually set the mixer up on the up hill end and use a wheelbarrow to transport the concrete for jobs too narrow to dump the tractor bucket in. Moving the wheelbarrow is the easiest part of the project.

 

[TnAndy]

I had a hillside project with sono tubes. We moved a pallet of Quickcrete bag mix and stretched a water hose up there....pour in little dry mix, pour in a little water, punch it around with a tamping bar, repeat until the tube is full. Worked fine.

But I've also used a 6' wide bucket to fill block, using concrete from ready mix truck. Not bad if you don't get it too full.

 

[nyone]

Can't you just set the mixer at each tube, mix the batch, then tilt and pour into the tube? You'd be moving dry bags and water that way.

I can but my mixer prety much dumps out right on its front wheels and even making it into the wheel barrow can be difficult.

 

[nyone]

I had a hillside project with sono tubes. We moved a pallet of Quickcrete bag mix and stretched a water hose up there....pour in little dry mix, pour in a little water, punch it around with a tamping bar, repeat until the tube is full. Worked fine.

But I've also used a 6' wide bucket to fill block, using concrete from ready mix truck. Not bad if you don't get it too full.

Not going to even try mixing in the tube. That just sounds terrible and a good way to get an inconsistent mix.

 

[4570Man]

I can but my mixer prety much dumps out right on its front wheels and even making it into the wheel barrow can be difficult.

Whoever built my mixer didn’t put much thought in the process and did the same thing. I need to cut it apart and add 2 foot in the frame or take the wheel off and make it SSQA mount.

 

[oosik]

I had a dozen sono tubes when we built our log cabin in AK. Electric mixer - generator - sand - gravel - bagged cement - water. All had to be transported to the cabin site. Transported concrete to the hand dug sono tube holes with a wheelbarrow.

Thank God that was 1976 and I was a whole lot younger. Especially when you consider we fell, loaded, moved, two-sided all 128 logs needed for the cabin. Spruce logs - averaged 14" in diameter.

 

[RNeumann]

Sounds like you have something backwards? MIXER!?!? The mixer goes next to the hole......dump the mixer directly into the hole!!! The tractor moves the dry raw material to the mixer and a hose moves the water.

 

[rockinmywaypa]

build a triangular box that you can chain into bucket of tractor. tilt bucket back to carry, tilt ahead when over tube. easy to scrape out between loads.

 

[Diggin It]

I can but my mixer prety much dumps out right on its front wheels and even making it into the wheel barrow can be difficult.

I'd be rigging up a piece of 10-12" PVC pipe as a trough/sluice if it were me.

 

[oosik]

As long as you have a system that works for you - there is no wrong way. Some will be more difficult than others - but if it works - who cares.

 

[3Ts]

I've moved concrete from a redi-mix truck to the site with a standard bucket. It doesn't move much at a time since you can't fill the bucket or you'll lose a lot during the moving part. (try to transport water in your bucket and you'll get an idea as to the problem) I was moving it for a patio, so it was flat forms, the sonotube will be a problem since you'll need something like a funnel to get it into the forms.
Seems like the best approach is to put the mixer at the tube and mix it there. You may need to modify the mixer frame to raise it up so it will dump directly into the tube after mixing.

 

[caver]

Might as well buy one of these...you can't take that money to the grave.
That kid on YT Andrew Camarata just bought one for a recent video he did.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Buying a skidsteer concrete mixer - YouTube

Quite interesting. I thought the experience might be a bust, but he seems pleased. I don't know what he charges per hour, and then figure the equipment costs. Redimix can't be far off in price.

I have often wished I had a side dump skid steer bucket similar to what you would find on some CAT 977s.

 

[nyone]

If i had a spare $7k laying around i would be buying more land not a depreciating asset.

Seams like the concrete mixer mounted on the bucket may be the way to go. I think i have an idea for this to work.

 

[Industrial Toys]

And then pay property taxes forever, not to mention up keep..

 

[nyone]

Taxes and up keep is prety minimal on a piece of land. If it ment mixing 100 sacks of concrete or buying the lot next door i would be hand mixing.

Our whole cabin is going to cost less than $15k so its hard to justify a $7k skid steer mixer especially when i dont own a skid steer.