Hi there everyone - im new here and work in heavy equip parts. Im here actually because I dont know anyone that i can ask for help in this matter... My employer isnt helping much and my ignorance seems to bother whoever i ask ... Anytime i come across a customer who needs a bucket - naturally one of the questions that has to be asked is weather the bucket will pin straight onto the machine or weather there is a quick coupler on there. Here's where my world falls apart ... I was wondering if we can have a little bit of a discussion about the differences between the different style quick couplers PLEASE with pics to help me understand and stop feeling so confused or the questions i should be asking to not sound like an idiot when im genuinely trying to help. thanks all.
What equipment are you asking about ? Excavator? Backhoe ? farm Tractor? or ? And size ?
@ hosspuller thanks for chiming in ... generally for excavators, back hoes and loaders but mostly excavators. sizes can vary. from the mini excavators on up ... its especially the smaller ones that i seem to be most hesitant about. wayne roy? bobcat? john deer? kubota? with the hole in the back? people seem to not be able to tell me its this type or that type rather want to try to describe how it looks or operates, etc.. i just wish i knew what to ask to make it a simpler
The correct term would be a Quick Attach adapter. Due to manufacturer styles variations will be hard pressed to find a fits all for any particular breed.
Excavators in general have two types of quick couplers. Pin grabbers and wedge locks. Pin grab couplers will grab onto buckets with standard lugs and the pins left in all the time. The most common types have a hydraulic cylinder powered from the machine that will force one or both jaws apart to grab the pins and hold the bucket. There are manual versions of these using lead screws or big bolts and others with a cam over mechanism. I'll have to search through some of my files to find some of these. The wedge locks styles use buckets that have a special set of mounting lugs installed on them. The front of the coupler locks into the front part of the bucket lugs and the back part of the coupler just sets against the back of the bucket. A wedge is driven in between the lugs on the bucket and a mating part on the coupler and two bolts are installed to keep the bucket and coupler mated together. The wedge style couplers maintain the distance from the stick pin to the bucket teeth so you don't loose and digging force. However the lugs and wedges wear out over time and get loose. This style also locks you into only one type of bucket mounting. The pin grabbers increase the distance from the stick pin to bucket teeth or lip so provide a little bit less digging force. Most operators though can't tell the difference. The pin grabbers give you a lot more options and abilities to use different buckets. The pin grab couplers themselves are a little more expensive to purchase but then you don't have to buy buckets to go with them. When I get time to go through the photo archives I'll post some photos of each type. The other style of bucket you mentioned was a Wain Roy style. I've never seen them used for excavators but that doesn't mean it couldn't be done. I've seen plenty of them on loader backhoes. Basically there is a hook on the coupler that fits through a hole in the top of the backhoe bucket. When the hook is rotated through the hole a mating boss lines up with a lug on the bucket and a pin is inserted. All I've ever seen of these were manual latches. They are cheap, don't take well to abuse and don't last long even if not abused. I've seen these mostly in rental fleets.
Yikes...there are as many different quick couplers as there are different kinds of women...there are even differences between the same manufacturer ISO, wedge, pin grabber, pin on, x change...and then the different sizes ....omg i will just stick to trying to figure out women instead... i know it is impossible but at least it is.mostly fun.
This is.kubota wedge
Funny you mention that, I saw a rental TB240 with Wain Roy style coupler a few days ago. The coupler and buckets all had Tag branding on them. I had to do a double take when I saw that.
I dug into the archive and found a few examples of each. I'll start with the wedge style. These seem to be falling out of favor now. The first is a Cat style wedge. Note the similarity to the Kubota wedge seen above. Next photo shows a PSM wedge style. They were the first on the market that I saw that became common through all the dealers in this area. This photo shows the wedge install the the kind of issue that is common with them. The next photo shows the bolts that hold the wedge in place.
The last photo I have of these shows the hydraulic cylinder that can be operated from the cab.
The next three photos show the pin grab style quick coupler. The seem to be the go to now days. The first photo shows a breaker being held by a pin grab coupler. Note the distance added between the stick and the breaker. The second photo shows the jaws that grab the pins. The last photo shows the cylinder that works the jaws. That should give you some ammunition when dealing with sellers. Good Luck
Just to control slack in lock up the pin grab style I would prefer. Never been sold on the wedge type.
Wainroy is common mainly because the design is 50 years old and a lot of guys like myself have thousands of dollars wrapped up into dozens of buckets and attachments so it's to costly to change that said I personally like the style its simple and robust when the fit gets sloppy you just weld up your bucket a little they tighten up I have seen wainroy coupler on 12 ton excavators it's not common
A lot of guys like the pin grabbers, it let's them flip the bucket for scooping vs digging. The problem is, it wasn't designed for that and your placing all the breakout force on the hydraulic lock cylinder. It usually winds up destroyed. There are also the older European couples to look out for Volvo used the wedge S series couplers. Sometimes the wedge gets jammed and you need a jackhammer to separate. Then you have Liebherr's own design which is very strong but may run into alignment problems. Hope it helps more than hurts.
Any bucket we buy normally has pin mounts, or nothing. We buy the attachment ears from the quick attach manufacturer, and weld them on ourselves.
There is a Nordic standard for quick couplers on excavator attachments. I have a Rototilt coupler that has an S60 coupler. The 60 refers to the pin diameter at 60mm (2.362" so I order 2-3/8" rod and cut off 0.013"). According to the literature, pins range from 30mm to 120mm with this standard of couplers. The width between the ears is much wider than standard buckets and the geometry allows attachments to be mounted forward or backwards. Finding S60 attachments here in the states is sometimes difficult. Volvo uses a few of these. See the following document http://mankinen.fi/en/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Quick-Couplers-for-Excavators.pdf for more information on the standard and for dimensions if you want to build your own couplers as I do. I have ear plates cut via water jet then I supply my own pin stock and weld everything together.