This is probleby a stupid question to ask, but I was wondering if any of you guys who have been doing this for a long time have any tricks for keeping mud and clay from sticking in your buckets. I've been digging for 4 years now and always wondered if there was any products of simple tricks for keepin it from sticking.Any help would be great Thanks
hi i have a friend who took pieces of chain and laid them in the back of the bucket welding the ends so that the chains dont quite reach the back of the bucket anymore and that seemed to work for him. They are about 7 or 8 inches apart. might be worth a try:beatsme
You can take an old tire chain{size depends on bucket} and rig it so as the bucket dumps the chain helps to push the clay out. They also make a bucket that is for clay it has no real sides to speak of.
You can get 'clay spades' which is a bucket without sides and teeth but as far as I'm aware these are only available as 9 or 12 inches wide - mainly designed for excavating utility trenches because the narrower buckets are the ones that get clogged up easily.
chain in bucket works. weld one end near teeth, then weld a hook on the boom. you will have to play around with the length of chain
if youve ever seen buckets with 3 holes on each side, the clay doesnt stick in them as much because the holes allow air to get into the bucket to stop the suction of the clay... holes are not good if your going to be in any type of sands or fine materials but clay thats the way to go...
2 chains, one on each side, and then weld old cutting edges or similar steel between them. If you get the chains where the steel will lay against the back of the bucket, and the plates close enough that they fit snug when pushed back then the now flexible floor will push out the sticky stuff each time you dump. Attach the ends of the chain with a repair link or a clevis so you can remove it in case it needs cleaned behind the plates, or to repair, or to dig without it in free flowing material. Called a "clacker" bucket.
Around here most of the contractors I deal with use what is called a "chuck blade" for moving clay. Mostly used on 200 - 400 class machines.
I agree on the clay spade, a bucket without sides if you are doing a lot of trenching in clay, but how many of us can afford a special bucket for all the special occasions especially if not used very often. I have seen chains but only in the bigger buckets and am not convinced they will work in a smaller bucket but have not tried them myself. The trick I use when in clay with my 18" bucket is, dont fill it! peel the ground and only half fill the bucket, many will argue that you are wasting time with only half a bucket but a half bucket will be doing its third swing while the full bucket with the clay jammed in it will still be getting shaken about or banged on the ground to get the material out. The other trick I learned from manual digging is clay will slip off a wet spade easier, so if the oppertunity is there, then wet the bucket.
Half filling the bucket is also my method of preventing build up - may be inefficient but I prefer not to shake my machine about to get the mud out (it hurts me let alone the machine!!) Although come winter time sometimes even a half bucket full of clay gets clogged up so then its time to get the spade out and clean the bucket myself
Anyone have a pic of the chain idea. I would like to try this on a smaller bucket (12"-18") they clog fast.
clay some "operators" beat the hell out of the dumper with the bucket to remove the stuck clay :Banghead doing trench work i peel it like robs says cheers graham
Hey folks, I just joined this forum as I was looking into this issue of clay in the bucket. I have a 54" wide bucket on my machine and I figure right now after two days of digging wet clay it's about 50% packed full of clay. I started on it with a shovel but quickly gave up. I like this idea of a clacker bucket, and couldn't visualize what some guys said about welding spare plates or whatever, but the simple chains makes sense. I found a picture that I think is just the chains. But I guess the bigger question right now is, what's the best way to get this garbage out that is currently stuck IN the bucket. I'm a bit surprised that I didn't think to beat my bucket on the ground, but I did leave it curled out so if sun hits the bucket and warms it and dries the clay inside a bit, it should just fall out. But digging it out with a handheld shovel is likely to kill me! I was also thinking on the theory of clay beds on dump trucks, that have the rounded bottoms (no corners). I guess one could weld some 45 degree angle plates between the bottom and sides of the bucket, but matching the curved back might be hard. And then you have a permanent reduction in volume welded in the bucket too. Any advice would be much appreciated.