Tips on Selecting the Right Excavator Bucket | Volvo CE

To coincide with the launch of our new EC200E excavator, I thought it would be helpful to provide a quick overview of excavator buckets, especially for any new excavator owners out there.

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When it comes to selecting buckets, the options can seem limitless. That&#;s because excavators can tackle a diverse range of projects. There really is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to utilizing excavator buckets across different jobsites &#; even across a range of projects on the same site.

Three of the biggest considerations to keep in mind when selecting a bucket are:

1. The quality of the bucket and its features
2. Bucket size
3. Matching the bucket to the application

Whether you&#;re well-versed in excavator buckets or still learning, you&#;ll find value in these tips. That&#;s because the consequences of using the wrong bucket can be significant. If you don&#;t have the right bucket for your specific application, you&#;ll likely see lower productivity and fuel efficiency. You could also have premature wear of the bucket.

Bucket Quality

All buckets are not made equal, so you&#;ll want to do your homework to ensure you get the best bucket for your needs. One thing to look for is features that promote durability and reduced wear, such as wear strips that protect the bucket&#;s sides and back, and side cutters that protect the bucket&#;s cutting edge and improve penetration.

And don&#;t forget about what&#;s on the edge of the bucket to engage the ground and the material. If you don&#;t have the right edge or teeth, you won&#;t be able to do your job the way you want. For example, general purpose buckets typically have teeth, which is great for excavating. But if you&#;re doing grading or landscaping work, Volvo offers a bucket with a bolt-on edge to help give your work a smooth finish. For extremely compact material, on the other hand, you may need pick-point teeth. Also look at the tip radius &#; a short tip radius produces enhanced break-out force which reduces wear on the bucket and a long tip radius offers greater bucket capacity.

Volvo recently launched an all-new premium tooth system that not only increases productivity and fuel efficiency, but is also more wear resistant and much easier to fit, thanks to a hammer-less pin design. The teeth feature a new locking system that has a reusable locking pin, which locks into place simply by twisting it a quarter turn. You just place, push and twist &#; that&#;s it. With a system like this, you won&#;t always be in the market for a brand-new bucket.

Picking the Right Size

There are a lot of factors that go into picking the right size of bucket, including:

• Application: I&#;ll get into applications in greater detail below, but you want to maximize your bucket size for the application so that you can get more work done quicker. You can go too big, though, and hurt your productivity. A bucket that&#;s too large can slow cycle times, especially when moving high-density material. Also, digging a 24-inch trench using a 36-inch bucket would, obviously, be counter-productive.
• Material Type and Density: The material you&#;re working with and its density factor into how much you can actually pick up, which in turn affects the bucket size. As noted above, having too much of a high-density material in your bucket can hurt cycle times.
• Excavator Specs: The excavator&#;s size, configuration, desired reach and other specs help determine bucket size. It stands to reason that you wouldn&#;t put the same size of bucket on a 14-ton excavator as you&#;d put on a 75-ton machine. At Volvo, we have bucket sizes listed for our machines to ensure proper sizing is simple.
• Haul Truck Capacity: In order to fill up trucks as quickly as possible in the fewest number of passes, match the excavator&#;s productivity and bucket size with the capacity of the truck. You&#;ll get more done in less time, lower fuel consumption and reduce wear on your machines.

Matching Your Bucket to the Application

Matching your bucket to the application will save you time and money. So, let&#;s go through some common bucket types and how they&#;re used:

• General Purpose: General purpose buckets (some simply call them digging buckets) are designed for use in a large variety of ground conditions for all digging jobs. They easily handle materials such as topsoil, clay, sand and dirt, as well as tougher grounds with gravel and loose stones. They&#;re designed with teeth for efficient excavating and higher digging forces. On general construction and excavation sites, digging buckets are most common. And depending on the application, the bucket might have additional wear components to handle heavy or abrasive materials.
• Heavy-duty: Reinforced heavy-duty buckets provide productive digging in compact materials like blasted rock, hard-packed clay and stone. They can also handle gravel, ripped basalt, shot granite, high-silica sand, sharp rock and other dense materials. Volvo buckets are manufactured using high-strength AR400 steel. Abrasion Resistant (AR) steel is extemely hard and makes for more durable, impact-resistant buckets. The bucket has an all-round heavier and tougher build than the general-purpose version. Heavy-duty buckets are typically used in applications like rock quarries for loading and rehandling. They allow operators to fill haul trucks as quickly as possible in the fewest number of passes.
• Ditching/Grading: Ditching (or grading) buckets have smooth edges designed for ditch maintenance, landscaping, backfilling and slope shaping and are optimized for filling, soft material digging and moving material around. You&#;ll see them used a lot in road construction. They&#;re also ideal for work done in a creek bed &#; drain holes allow water to filter out, removing added weight. Ditching and grading buckets tend to be wider, and with a flat cutting edge, they&#;re ideal for landscape finishing work and utility projects.

Customization and Quick Coupler Options

Buckets can also be customized with different types of teeth, side cutters, additional guarding, even different shapes to improve penetration. In Florida, for example, we&#;ve customized buckets with a spade nose, which is like a flat tooth. It creates a flatter edge which helps with the type of soil they dig in.

Volvo buckets are available as a direct fit or with Volvo quick coupler interfaces. If you&#;re planning to switch out attachments often, buying buckets with universal quick couplers is important so your operators can switch out attachments fast and easy, on any brand of excavators you&#;re running. If you only run Volvo equipment though, our dedicated S-type couplers are the best option for enhanced performance, including better breakout forces and capacities.

Learn more about Volvo buckets here, and if you have additional questions, just post a comment below.

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What to Consider in an Excavator Bucket

There are five key things to consider when buying an excavator bucket. These are:

1. Your Application
2. The Heaviest/Harshest Material to be Handled
3. What Optional Wear Accessories are Required?
4. Coupling
5. The Limitations of your Machine

This article will briefly touch on each point, but for a complete and thorough look, please download our Excavator Attachment Guide.

1. Your Application

The first consideration when choosing an excavator bucket is your application. Different applications have different requirements, for example, a Trenching Bucket is ideal for digging trenches, but will be inefficient and very difficult to pull batters with.

There are a range of bucket styles available that have been designed to do specific jobs. See our list of buckets and attachments for full details on their capabilities and which bucket suits your application.

2. The Heaviest/Harshest Material to be Handled

While your bucket may be used with different types of materials it is important to ensure your bucket can handle the harshest material you expect it to deal with. If you expect to use the bucket 80% of the time in top soil and 20% in gravel and you must use the same bucket, it&#;s worth choosing a bucket capable of handling gravel otherwise your bucket will wear prematurely.

For more information on bucket design and durability, please see our article on that here!

3. What Optional Wear Accessories are Required?

There are multiple options when selecting wear parts and GET. Appropriate wear parts are guided by your application and the material being handled. Without the necessary wear parts buckets will wear prematurely and require refurbishment/replacement far sooner so this is important to consider when buying an excavator bucket. Kerfab can help identify which wear accessories you may need.

Popular GET and accessories include: teeth, bolt on edges, side wear plates, side cutters, rear wear plates, internal liners, heel blocks, lip shrouds, wing shrouds, and more. For more information on wear parts and GET, see our article here!

4. Coupling

Quick Hitches (also known as Quick Couplers) are a vital part of many operations. The ability to quickly and easily switch between attachments is worth the decrease in breakout force for many operations &#; see our Quick Hitch page to help you decide if a Quick Hitch is right for you.

5. The Limitations of your Machine

Your excavator was designed and built with different features and limitations, this must be taken into consideration when choosing an excavator bucket. Kerfab maintains a library of countless machines, their specifications, drawings, and any related information to ensure that your attachment is the right fit for your machine. Attaching an ill-fitted attachment can not only be dangerous, but it also poses serious risks to your machine. A bucket that is too large/heavy can damage the boom, the arm, the hydraulic system, and your hitch. Too small and your machine is inefficient, costing you time and money.

To see our range of excavator attachments, please click here! If you would like more information or have any questions please don&#;t hesitate to call us on 818 079 or us at

Contact us to discuss your requirements of excavator buckets for sale. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.