I need to purchase another bucket for my JCB 8029 mini excavator. I have some 4' deep trenches to dig and feel that my 12" bucket is too narrow and my 30" trenching bucket is too wide. What width bucket would my machine handle and give me enough room to work in the trench. I am not a big guy. I would most likely be working in clay type soils. I am thinking a 24" would be a possibility and afford me the max working room. JCB lists a 20" bucket as an option for my machine but it would be nice to have more room if the machine can handle it. Digging speed would not be a priority. Also are there bucket manufacturer's to steer clear of?
I dig for plumbers, and they are OK with the 24" bucket on the JD35. Your 30" is going to be a little slower, but buying a 24" seems redundant.
My 30" bucket does not have teeth. It is a straight edge bucket that I assumed would not be good for trenching in harder dry sub soils with some shale and rocks. I think its more designed for ditching. There are no soft loamy or sandy soils where the machine gets used ( personal farm use ).
I call those a cleanup bucket. Sounds like you need a 24".
18” bucket would be good. Usually works out to be close to a 22-24” trench depending on soil conditions.
Plumbers don't like that ditch when it is getting close to 4' deep. It is all I do, dig for plumbers. I have to double stroke it with an 18 to get room to walk next to the pipe, and it does not move the dirt well. I have an 18 and it sits on the trailer a lot. I do use it where the trench is shallower when possible.
18 would be most common to have for footers .. 12 is all I can afford for perimeter drains with pea gravel fill to the top they can be 6 ft deep .. careful on buying bucket if you got a thumb I had a manufacture who mounted the ears wrong and the thumb would not close .. I had to torch it a little .. more than just the ears have to match the quick connect ...
Get rid of the 30" bucket. Get a good quality heavy duty 24" digging bucket with pin on teeth. Get a wider clean out/backfill/grading bucket, min width 36" width. I have 12", 18", and 24" digging bucket for my Takeuchi TB240. My wider smooth edge bucket is 48" wide.
Agree - 18" bucket fits the bill. When I bought our 305 used it came with a 24". Had the salesman add an 18" in the deal. Like you said an 18" bucket will create a 24" wide ditch in most soils. We use the 18" for pipe from 4" up to 10". 12" pipe and larger we'll use the 24" bucket.
How useful is the 12"? Very new excavator operator, just bought a machine. I suggested getting an 18" bucket to the salesman and he said a 24" would be more useful. If I take delivery of the 24" I was thinking of adding an 18" or 12".
FWIW I have an 18", 24" and 36" bucket for our 305E. Those sizes work for us. What will be doing with the machine?
Farm work, trees, ditches, waterways, maybe some trenching, brush clearing.
What machine did you buy? Size matters regardless of what they say.
Kubota KX057-5
Heavy clay soils will stick like glue in 12" bucket.... Ed
24 inch with side cutters on the bottom. That's a small machine you might be better off with a 18 inch with two inch side cutters on each side making it a 22 inch cut. The cutters will make a big difference in the drag on the sides of the bucket with a small machine. Side cutters will also help break the clay and not jam the bucket making it stick. I've welded different width steel to the sides of the teeth to make different width cuts for special footings. Seen every width imaginable.
really, the 18" too. I have been there. It is also a ratio of depth to width. My deep 24" for the 120 sticks bad because the sides provide so much surface for that clay to love you long time. Love you long time, bucket.
I have always had good luck with a 48” smooth edge grading bucket with a bolt on edge, a 30” high capacity heavy duty digging bucket, 18” high capacity heavy duty bucket, and a ripper tooth. That 57 will handle a 30” bucket for digging easily. Buckets are expensive though, if I only had to choose 2 it would be the 30” and the 18” to start. Werk Brau makes quality buckets and used to make the Kubota buckets, not sure that’s still the case. though. Did you get a pin grabber coupler or the Kubota style coupler for the buckets?
For my U35 Kubota I have 12” and 24” digging buckets and a 36” smooth ditching/grading bucket. For water lines and electric which are around 2’ deep the 12” works good. In heavy clay it will stick if you aren’t careful, but if you use a gentle touch when filling the bucket (don’t just cram it full) it isn’t bad. Any trenching deeper than 2-3’ I use the 24” bucket. Skyking is right about the ratio of depth vs width. On my Case backhoe the narrowest bucket I have is 18”. For a 5-6 ton mini ex a 16”-18” would be better than a 12” I would think. As for the OP, that is a fairly small mini ex, I would go for a 16-18” trenching bucket depending on conditions and how deep you need to go. I can work down in a 16” trench but it is tight.
Kind of interesting hearing what guys use. I have a 12" that I use to pull concrete sometimes, frost diggins, tree roots and for monolithic pour footings. I use a 24" for most footings, waterlines, sewer lines, and a 30" for crawl spaces, septic system drain fields and so forth and a 48" clean out for grading and truck loading. I have never owned or seen a reason to own an 18". The excavator is a 6 ton. I didn't think that 18" was that popular, but apparently a lot of guys use them.
Back when I did commercial work I did every size you could think of. Had teeth with one and two inch sides welded on them so I could go in one inch increments from 12 to 28 inches. The exc. I have now has a 1, 2, and 3 foot bucket along with a 5 foot smooth edge. I use the 5 foot a lot cleaning lagoons and cutting down building pads when I load direct on the truck. 3 foot is my favorite for digging and I whine like a baby when someone wants a 1 foot footing.