I’d like to get a 24” bucket for my 580M to increase capacity. I’m mostly clearing/enlarging small creeks which involves wide, shallow digging. The creeks are in the woods so there are lots of roots. I also clear a lot of trees. I never do any trenching. I’m looking at a 24” bucket that I can either trade in my 18” or buy outright. Is there any reason to keep the 18”?
I wouldn't keep the 18" bucket unless I had a reason for it.
24 is a good all around bucket, if you have plans to do trenching, the 18 may be handy..
I personally would keep the 18 and get a 30 inch bucket for it. I don't know what the digging is like there, but I bet your machine could handle a 30 inch bucket no problem, you always have the 18 inch if you want to rip out stumps or do some trenching. Don't case machines have some style of their own quick coupler on the backhoe?
I have a 12" ,14", 24" & 30" best size for a trench if you have to work in it is 24" , 30" if you want to move or dig and amount of dirt, 12" is best only in certain soils far to slow in gravel or sand where it keeps caving in. I own the 14" only because when I dug for the gas company that's the size they wanted me to use.
For each job you want the biggest bucket that the machine can easily handle. 580K I had 24 & 12" I used the 12" most as it was a better bucket for stumps, and digging out big rocks. Here, no rock is ever alone. Moving a big rock requires removing 100 smaller ones from around it, Digging out a stump requires tearing out roots one at a time. My thumb seemed to work best with the smaller bucket. Digging a 46" deep ditch with 18 or 24 " bucket moves virtually the same volume of dirt. The 18" bucket will make near twice as many scoops to do the same job. I had two buckets, now I don't, but wish I did.
24" is my preference on T/L/B. Does your 580M have an extendahoe ?
I have a 18” and 36” bucket for my 555e. I am pretty satisfied with both.
No extendahoe. I haven't removed the bucket but it appears to be pretty simple. It's taken me 8 hours of seat time over the past two weekends to clear 100 yards of a small creek bed with 500 more to go. It took me an additional 4 hours of chainsaw/log chain work to clear a work area beside the creek. When the ground will support me, I get inside the creek bed and loosen up a section with the backhoe. Then I remove the material with the loader bucket. That moves much faster. I'm going to pass on this particular 24" bucket as closer examination revealed some cracks in weld repairs. My 18" is a heavy duty AIM. To this point, I've only been looking at used buckets. Anyone have a recommendation on new buckets?
cant help you with finding a new bucket but IMO your money is best served finding a used bucket with the same pin sizes. I did that with mine and only paid $350 plus the new shanks and teeth I put on it. I would have had probably $1200-1500 to buy the same bucket new with shiny black paint.
The local Case dealer has a couple of good used ones and will take my 18" in trade. I think that's the route I'll go.
I have a 21" bucket (1/3rd yd) on my 580SM and if it is heaped with extendahoe out it can get a little tippy if you are swung full 90 degrees from center.
New to me 580 Super N, has a great deal more hydraulic power than 580K I used to have. I was digging through heavy root & rock soil yesterday thinking in this soil I could do with a 30" bucket. I have a 24" on this. These buckets are easy to change, I'd choose a heavy duty 12" for the tough digging of boulders & stumps, and a 24" heavy for other ditching. I'd also love a 30" toothless clean up bucket. Unless the dealer is offering a big trade in I'd keep your narrow bucket.
Does your 36" bucket have teeth, Cosmaar1? A used equipment dealer nearby has a 36" toothed bucket for $650. I'm thinking about checking it out.
Absolutely. We fixed some minor issues it had and had to trim off a little bit to make the bucket fit nicely into the dipper, but it was perfect otherwise. pic attached.
Biggest thing you need to make sure is that it will fit your dipper width wise and also the pin sizes are the same. Who cares what the brand or color is.