anyone use an oversized bucket to increase productivity?
An over sized bucket can make your machine tippy or even dangerous at times. In my case the amount of times I would be loading/moving light material would not justify an over sized bucket. I just put a quick attach on my machine and bought two new buckets a 16" trenching bucket and a 36" ditching bucket. I could have went with a 42" for a couple dollars more but the extra weight loaded was more than recommended by Kubota. Once I tried the 36" I was glad i didn't get the 42" as the 36" is just about tippy at the full extension over the side of the tracks. Nothing worse than to have to remember every-time you use a certain bucket with heavy material not to tip it over. IMO.
how much weight are your buckets? It seems like some of the buckets that come are the machines are small. Need to find what your efficiency weight is.
Just happen to have the plate off of my buckets in front of me. I take them off before they get destroyed and can't read them anymore. My 36" ditching bucket weighs 270 lbs and has a capacity of 5.87 cubic feet. So if it is overfilled with gravel it is probably about 6.5 cubic feet. A yard of gravel weighs about 3000 lbs. I would guess that the bucket and material weighs about 1000-1100 lbs. This amount of weight is easy for my machine to pick up as I have my hydraulics turned up about 8%. The problem is when your arm is at full extension over the side of the tracks. The last thing you want to do is tip over. The only way to know is to have a weighed amount of weight attached to your bucket and do the math as to what you can carry safely and buy a bucket of the correct weight and capacity. The bucket on your excavator could be way undersized for your machine, just because it happens to be the bucket that it came with. The 16" bucket weighs 190 lbs and has a capacity of 2 cubic feet and my 24" bucket weighs 205lbs and has a capacity of 3.9 cubic feet. The 24" is a little deeper than the 16".
I use a 62" ditching bucket on my 305. I used to have a 48" on my old one but when I bought my new one I thought I would try a big one to see. As far as efficiency wise I think it helped out a bit, but the bucket capacity wise is almost the same as my 48, so its close.
How did you turn up the hydraulics 8%? Do you have any pics of that 62" bucket on your machine.
Heres the big bucket
i know with our 420 when we bought it, it came with the option of a high capasity bucket. what that means is that it is deeper . so that your 2 foot bucket can hold as much as your 3 foot but not dig a wider ditch. also you can move more material than the standered bucket and still have the break out force of a 2 foot bucket. i don't think a 305 with a 60 inch bucket would ever work in the heavy clays we have here
why the buckets seem small is because that is what the manufacturer said was approved for that machine. for the load, break out force, and so on. thats why if you try one machine and it has more power to you and some just do have more power it may just be the bucket size on it. like if you take a case and case bucket and scoop a pile up and then take a bobcat bucket and scoop a bucket out and dump them side by side the bobcat bucket will have more dirt in it because of the depth of the bucket.
I take it you mean bigger than the standard factory bucket size? In that case the answer is yes, just about every excavator will have a range of buckets, I have a 200mm trenching, a 300mm and 450mm general purpose buckets (the 450 is close to standard size) and a 900mm final trim/mud bucket, which can shift a lot of material for a 1.6 tonne machine but, as has been said, if used the wrong way can tip the machine over.
So what is the point of tightening the pressure relief valves if you don't use it to the max? My attitude is that Kubota know more about their machines than me, the dealer or someone on the internet. Unless the factory approves it, I won't be messing with the relief valves unless it is to see that they are set where they are supposed to be. Sure the Kubs are a quality machine and will probably handle the extra PSI but........... Also when you are trying to pull out a stump, with the backfill blade in front and dug well into the ground, with the machine tipped slightly back and the boom will still pull the back of the machine off the ground, you sorta know that hydraulic pressure is not the limiting factor.
I wondered if someone would pick up on the not using it to the max . I should have said not continually using it to the max (I am the only operator). Every once in a while you have that rock, stump or root that just a little more breakout would be useful. The upping the pressure is probably more common than you would think. The service Dept's for a lot of makes have percentages for their pressures +/- that are not easily available to the general public. The consensus is just don't be stupid with increasing pressure and you shouldn't have a problem. I don't know about your machine but I get into situations all the time that the hydraulics are still the limiting factor especially digging just below machine grade. You also only want any extra power for the stick and bucket. More power to the tracks, swing or boom is just looking to break or bend something. But yes you are correct in the end Kubota/whatever mfg has decided what power your machine should have and that is what you should go by.
i was refering more to the volume of the bucket, if you had 2 24inch buckets , one could have a volume of 4 cubic feet and the other 6.5 cubic feet.