I don't know the exact name of these buckets, but they are often used to hold and carry (with the excavator) material for backfilling pipes etc where a loader or other unit is unavailable, or too large. The ones I've seen are steel, like a large tub, with a pair of arms and a cross member at one end. By placing the bucket in correctly, you can use the excavator to carry and sit it where you need it. Specifically, I'd like to find some info on these so I can kick around the idea of scaling one down to mini excavator size....I know the carrying capacity would be limited, but even if it's 3-4 buckets of material, sometimes it would be nice on certain jobs. Can anyone point me to pics or a page with specs/design data? Thanks guys!! Mark
Do you mean a "bedding box"? I Googled "bedding box". This is the first applicable result: http://www.speedshore.com/bb.html I don't think the optimal use of them is to carry them around loaded. Rather, you load them with another machine and they really just provide a closed container for scooping the material out of, and placing it with the excavator.
Those are the boxes I'm referring to, thanks!! I'm wondering if I can make it so that I can carry 3-4 bucket fulls of material. I often seem to need to move small quantities of material the 10' out of swing reach. It's not enough material or distance to warrant bringing in a skid steer, but more than I want to do using a wheelbarrow or something. (Seems like every time I get a job grading topsoil, I get asked by the homeowner to place 1/4 yard in a flowerbed or something similar.) One thing I've learned with the mini's is that by using the bucket to lift one end of a load, and the backfill blade to lift the other, you can carry some pretty decent weights, and still maintain turning and stability. I'm thinking of building a box with a 'hook' to catch on the top edge of the blade, and the cross bar for the bucket to curl and lift the other end. Mark
It sounds like a good idea, but I have to question whether it would be worth the trouble. I mean, all you have to do to move 3-4 buckets of material is to pick up a bucketful and walk it to where you want it, and then go back and do it a few more times. Now, if you're moving 3-4 buckets a hundred feet, and having to do that all the time, maybe...
If you don't do pipework, then there is no need for one.
a 55 gal oil drum with a chain would do the trick fill it move it dump it and there free
You could make one out of almost ant large steel container.Or have one fabed up to about 2 or 3 yard volume for a mini.Find a old pickup axel to weld on one end,and a crossbar on the other.That way you can lift one end and pull it around.I think for drainrock,topsoil,bark-ect on a small placement job would save some tracking.
Well, I'm getting some good ideas. I specialize in small and confined area work, my mini is a grand total of 39" wide. Sometimes when we get working at the rear of some homes we can't get even a small skid in to carry material in/out. (None of the rental places in our area have a skid less than 5' in width.) I'm hoping to buy a skid steer next year if I have enough work to warrant it rather than renting, but I'm also likely looking at a 5' wide version, because I can use it a lot at home around our farm. In time I want to get a walk behind skid (MT50 or similar) for these small jobs, but I'm thinking I can faricate something until then to work with the mini ex. Dusty, the barrel idea is ok, except hard to unload other than dumping it over....some material may be a bit heavy to carry with my small machine. Digger...you're right for 10' 3-4 times it's not a big deal....I guess I should have elaborated a little more. In particular this fall was so wet that often I couldn't access yards with my pickup or anything, so we had to move more material than usual. Since I am the labourer as well as operator etc, I'm hoping to figure out something that will move more material than a wheelbarrow, with a lot less effort. I'm now thinking of a small version of this unit http://www.bobcat.com/products/att/hopper.html with a bracket setup to hook to the backfill blade on my excavator. Will have to give it some more thought and see what I come up with. Mark
What if you took a concrete mixing pan, beefed it up and put some wheels at one end. If you attached a pintle hitch to the backfill blade and then an eye to the box you would have a trailer you could load, pull and then dig out of without having to worry about picking up or dragging it. It works out in my head but might not in the real world. The mixing pan was just an idea because I see contractors leave these at sites all the time, just to be pushed into the woods and forgotten about. You could always fab up a box of some sort. You would simply be making a trailer for your hoe.
Countryboy, thats along the lines of what I have in mind, except the pintle hitch idea. Good idea, but the small size of my backfill blade I think would restrict hitch mounting. I have an idea though for the connection, and it woudl work easily going either direction. Wish I could find mixing pans in our area, but I rarely see them at all, let alone left after a job. I'm thinking about using an old tank I have here, cutting it down and reworking it. I wonder if wheelbarrow tires would be big enough....next thing to figure out. Mark
Try doing an ebay search for "dumper" or "yanmar". They make a small tracked dumper unit, a C10R if I'm not mistaken, that would probably work out just right. Kubota, morooka, ihi are some of the other manufacturers of these rigs. I've seen several of these baby carriers on ebay over the past few months. Machinerytrader.com would also be a good place to look under the category "dumper". I bought a Yanmar C60R earlier this year for a foot trail job and the thing is amazing how much it will carry and where it will run. Up and down steep hills and through the softest swamps without breaking a sweat. The C10R would be small enough for a mini yet boost your output. The productivity will pay for itself if you bid the jobs right. I was running 2 tandem dumps on a job a couple months ago when both units broke down (subcontractors). Then it rained. I brought in the C60R and made better time with that than with one tandem that would haul 3 times as much as the dumper. And, I was able to complete the job even though it was a muddy mess. Waiting for dry weather would have set the job back another 1-2 weeks. Efficient production is the key to making money on your jobs.
I've thought about these units as well, I think they could also be a great asset for the right job. I'm still thinking of brewing up a mini bedding box because it would fit almost anywhere for transport, rather than having to haul a second machine to the site (especially if I know I only need to move a yard or two) with it. I'm starting to think about what I want to build, and with a couple landscapers that are repeat customers (neither one wants to get into the equipment end of things, so they hire me for all the excavating work. Often these guys want say a yard of material that they can shovel from to use around their project, and one of these to contain it might be nice.....little less cleanup on some jobs....(sometimes we are working around high end homes that have the 'golf course' lawns, everything is appearance). If I find it works well, and can build something that's light enough a couple guys can load into a pickup when empty, I may build a few so that I can leave them with the contractors while they are on site, and they can return them, or I can pick them up (for a fee of course) May also come in handy to use to deliver say two or three different material types (of small quantities of course) as well to the same contractors. (Sometimes they need topsoil, crushed stone at teh same job for example.) Mark
If you try building the box type unit, you might want to consider using plastic runners for skid pads. This would exert less ground pressure than tires. The plastic that I used for my dump trailer liner is HMW. It is so slippery that it was difficult to stand on during the installation and it is much cheaper than the UHMW types. The liner makes the dump trailer much safer. I would think that a materials box on plastic runners should slide over nearly any surface with ease and leave minimal tracking. Keep the skids wide to decrease ground pressure. You might want to consider a folding "Palletainer" with solid sides. These will usually fold to around 12" tall x 48" x 48" and they are stackable. I've purchased these used for $25 in the past. Even heavy cardboard should suffice to keep the dirt inside the vessel if you bought the heavy wire type.
http://www.exac-one.co.uk/Products/Trailers/Diga_Bara/index.html Look up Exac-one. trailers / diga bara.
That site dump cart is pretty sweet, im actaully on a similar project for my machine. As it sits right now i have a couple old 4yd rear load dumpster that i can chain into my bobcat bucket and use for light materials or i can jut drag them around with the mini like s bedding box... Works pretty decent