The Case of the Breakaway Bucket

Cliff_Johns · Mar 3, 2005

This is a very interesting article from a design magazine. The writer investigates insurance claims and sometimes writes them up. This one has to do with a backhoe bucket falling off. The investigation and the determination of the actual cause is very interesting reading.

The Case of the Breakaway bucket

This guy has a very cool job!

Cliff

jimg · Mar 3, 2005

Agreed, this was an interesting read! Thanx for posting it.

frank_f15 · Mar 3, 2005

VERY, VERY INTERESTING. THANKS FOR THE POST.

GerardC · Mar 4, 2005

Good reading. Too bad the real world lawsuits don't get resolved as quick as reading the article. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif Gerard

Cliff_Johns · Mar 4, 2005

It is too bad about the time required.

From reading this, I have a better understanding of hydraulic engineering issues too. I feel like I learned a few things.

Glad you guys liked it.

Cliff

GerardC · Mar 4, 2005

The article reminds me of the TV show Modern Marvels on The History Channel. They do a lot of shows on machinery and the like. Gerard

Taylortractornut · Mar 4, 2005

Ive had this happen to me before with an 8500 pound Kent hammer with a JRB quick coupler on a 300 Komatsu. I worked for a Missouri based compan that ran all JRB fully hydraulic couplers and had a few mishaps due to the conditions we were digging in. They have a similar pilot operated cylinder that wedges the pins in the bucket. to latck the bucket you simple swung the coupler over to the pre pinned attachment and it had a half circle hook on it and it engaged the front pin. Then youcurled it in till you have the back pinand attach ment seat in the open ened back couple and activated the diverter valve thatt diverst 500 psi off the boom lift and the bucket cylinder. you could just raise the moom and curl the bucket and it would run the wedge pin into the bucket pins and you were set. We dug out blastedrock below water level onthe Tennessee river and while digging the small rock fragments would fall into the radius lincages that attach the cylinder for the buckettothe coupler. when you curled in they would get in there and break the hoses and sometimes the swivel fittings that went onto the wedge cylinder. It even broke the heads off the manual saftey pins. We usuallyal just took the crane and a large trebble hook to find the bucket. The scarriest wasI had the 8500 pound hammer on the hoe and was breaking rock in a trench and was about to pointthe stinger down in the ditch for the inspector to check the ditch and the condition of the stinger bit. when he motioned me to uncurl the bucket i made him move back. when i moved the bucket back the hammer free fell. almost hittin the inspector and ruining 2 500 dollar lines. What caused it was the operator before me didnt add enough fluid to the tank because the boss wouldnt order any for that week and the boss told him to run it the rest of the day. They didnt tell me anything the boss just sent me to run the machine found out later the other operator had been fired a few minutes before i was told to get on the machine. The safety pin in that couple had vibrated loose during the hammering we found it on the ground when the hammer landed.

PineRidge · Mar 5, 2005

Stories like this one make you stop and think about safety with machinery. Thanks for the post Cliff.

jimg · Mar 5, 2005

Mike,
I makes me think about how valuable to the bottom line QA is and how sometimes in the quest to save a little money a lot gets spent in the end. IIRC a safety pin was designed in but omitted later in mfg.

LarryD · Mar 9, 2005

I'll be sending that along to my civil contractor for information. He is very safety conscious and would love to avoid a lawsuit.

I have to admit though, every bucket change I've seen his guys do requires manual pin removal. He does get new equipment regularly though.