Hey guys, What's the largest bucket that can be put on a 30 Metric Ton Excavator for loading clay into ADT's? A bucket that will balance out the machine.
What boom and stick? generally we run 2.5 yd buckets on 30 tonners, but on our high and wide Kobelco were running a 3.5 yd.
Actually, the stick and boom length is irrelevant right now. In general I want to maximize the bucket size. Thank you for the quick response!
IMO it has to be relevant... the boom and stick length will be a factor in determining what capacity bucket you can safely use. You my fill a large heavy bucket but the machine may become unstable as you boom up and stick out The empty weight of the bucket is also just as relevant as capacity.
Sorry that I'm struggling to explain this. I don't know how else to say it. What is the max. size bucket using any boom/stick configuration while loading the ADT's. Sometimes they will be top loaded, and when not top loaded they will be loaded as close to the excavator as possible.
That's the problem--you can't just say "any boom/stick configuration" because that will determine which buckets you may, and may not use. We discuused this recently specific to one particular machine, a PC-400: Look at the table I posted, which came directly from the manufacturer's website. You'll see that certain combinations, while the bucket may mount to the machine, are outside of the envelope of what the machine can handle. You sure you're not Digger293's boss?
Ill put it this way, On a 330 cat, with a mass excavator front, id run a 3.25 yd, but you wouldnt clear he side of the truck if sitting ground level . It would however be stable. now with a reach bom and a short stick id probably go with the 2,5 yd to maintain stability and clear the truck; long stick, probably a 2,1 yd.
Thank you ! That makes sense.
I think you got the idea already, but I'm going to add a few more examples to help out. Cause, why not right?:beatsme On our 345LME we put 72" 5 yard buckets and have a variable gauge undercarriage. When the bucket is heaped you can really feel it rock the machine especially if the truck is just a little farther away than you'd like it to be, but for most of our hoe operators it doesn't even slow them down. I believe we have a 66" or 72" bucket for our 345L's with standard a boom and 11' stick, but the yardage is much much smaller (like around 3-3.5 yards i believe). Keep in mind also, a variable undercarriage helps stability a lot. For example, McAninch uses 8yd buckets on their 385L's with standard booms and medium sticks, but those most likely have the u/c spread out as far as possible and I am pretty sure Cat beefs up the counterweights quite a bit for them as well. I still don't know how it doesn't negatively impact the machine however:beatsme , since the largest bucket Cat makes for the 385 LME's are 8yds as well. I've loaded 30-ton Adt's with a Cat 330 before, it had an 11 or 12 foot stick on it, and we were trying to get a bigger bucket for it, I think we finally got a 48" bucket, and that is a lot of weight when you get the bucket full and stretch it out. I know we were trying to find a 60" bucket, I can only imagine the bucking bronco action that would have started:Cowboy Sorry, I appear to have gotten long winded.:Banghead hope my ramblings helped
72" bucket is what I ran on an older 330B CAT, 4 passes would fill a Volvo 25 ADT.