Any suggestions on a skid steer mounted, small crusher for decomposed granite and river rock. Can't haul rock in (cost effectively), and need to find a solution that's under 8,000 pounds so a skid steer unit seems to make the most sense. Maybe something like this: MB-L160 S2 Bucket Crusher for excavator, loader, backhoe loader and MB-L160 S2 Bucket Crusher for excavators, loaders, backhoe loaders and skid steers. Learn more www.mbcrusher.com Was hoping to find something used for under $15,000, but maybe that's just not realistic.
I looked at those, I think especially when your in a situation like you are, that trucking in isn't a great option, they could work. When I looked at them (Conexpo) I recall they could crush down about 10-12 ton an hour. So basically a dump truck an hour. They are expensive new, and I am not sure what the upkeep is on them. FAE makes an interesting attachment that crushes rock, but 15K wouldn't touch one though.
Maybe you could try to expand your considerations.
You need to crush decomposed granite? What kind of rock is the "river rock"? What type of material are you trying to produce? You have a skid steer that can lift 8,000 pounds? I hate to be so stuck on the specifics of what you have posted, but in crushing, the devil is in the details. The type of rock you will try to run through such a lightweight, under powered crusher will be critically important. I have a little bit of crushing experience, and I own an MB crusher bucket as well. The concept is sound. The application may not be as sound. The crusher bucket I have (BF80.3 S4) weighs 6,000#, and it takes a 65k# (Cat 325NG, and 245G) carrier to run it (Side bar: I doubt that your 8k# skiddy will be a good carrier for an 8k# crusher bucket.). In my opinion, the MB crusher buckets are best suited for crushing relatively soft (low compressive strength) material like concrete. Concrete is relatively soft compared to rock (2,800# vs 20k#). Even though harder material seems to crush faster, this only applies when one is using a crusher with enough power, and inertia, to prevent hot stalling. I doubt that the skid steer sized crusher has such mass, or horsepower. The crusher bucket that I employ will hot stall, and I feel as though I'm asking a lot of it to crush rock. If you do decide to go this route, you, or your operator, will have to develop some skills and protocols to get the most production. I don't care what MB states (or even tells you in person), I am nowhere near the production rates that they claim. That being said, if one has the proper material, and is trying to make certain material, one can make money at it if the cost of import is high enough to offset the relatively low production. Based on the crusher you have listed, the MB website list a minimum carrier weight (for a skid steer) of 11,000#. It's been while since I've been in the market for a skid steer. It looks like there are several in that weight class now, so you probably have that covered. I haven't seen any crusher buckets going as inexpensively as you state you'd like to buy one for. The crux on this is finding out if the bucket can crush your particular feed material (and the size it's currently in), to the intended product, at a consistent rate that is fast enough to be feasible/profitable. Maybe things have changed at MB, but there wasn't much of a dealer network when I bought my first crusher bucket. At that time MB didn't have any way to demo one unless you were willing to go to there headquarters in Reno, and crush whatever feed material they happen to have (which may not be anything close to what you would be crushing). If you don't elect to buy, you bare the cost of the trip. Having a local dealer would be a huge plus. Since you're looking to buy used (I assume your looking to buy used at the price you stated), your basically taking a shot in the dark.
Thanks for the info. I'm not concerned about seeing their claimed throughput, and don't intend to crush anything over 4" in diameter. I spoke to a vendor that had a red rhino machine and they came out at first saying that I was likely not going to find something small that could crush decomposed granite + river rock. After realizing it is partially a rock size issue, I thought why don't I just screen it down to 4". I just want to crush my own A/B. I have more rock than dirt and it's not practical to haul aggregate to my build site. I can expand my budget now that I have an understanding of how these jaw crushers work. The MB bucket I saw (MB 140 or 120) looks like it'll work on my 8000lb machine (not capable of picking up 8k, weighs 8k!). I'm not opposed to hand feeding a small crusher if I knew it would do the job. Any other thoughts?