Backhoe Is there a 4"-6" backhoe bucket for my BX24?

[Mike_V]

I'd like to bury some irrigation pipes and electrical wiring. I've read other solutions to trenching described in this forum but none seem as practical in my situation as a narrow bucket would be. I'd also like to use it to prune some of our pesky ficus roots. Who knows where such a bucket might be available?

 

[Dusty]

I have never seen one, but you could purchase a 10" bucket and cut it down in size. I know that someone here once made a 24" bucket for use on the BX. Unless you have sandy soil, the smaller bucket might run into problem when it encountered rocks with difficulty pulling them out. I know that even the 12" bucket on the BX 22 can run into problems in New England getting rocks out.
Dusty

 

[shownuff]

yes there is ,i think its a 6 or 7 inch made for the bx 24 when i was lookin at the new ones my local dealer had the tiny bucket on the backhoe and i thought it was a toy.dealer said made especially for elect trenching ...

 

[art]

I sure hope you aren't going to be digging in clay or wet ground as a bucket that small will have a lot of trouble with cleaning while dumping.

 

[Dusty]

From the Kubota website, they now offer a 8.0 in. (203.2 mm) (BT2930) and a 12.0 in. (304.8 mm) (BT2931) bucket for the backhoe. I wonder if the 8" bucket would fit the older BX22/23 models? Does anyone know if they changed the attachment arrangement on the end of the hoe?
Dusty

 

[Spudgunner]

All the following measurements are O.D.

The bucket that came on my BX23 is 7 3/4" wide at it's lowest (closest to the ground when fully curled) and about 9 1/4" up near the teeth. The point about the clay is very well taken; additionally, the length of the horizontal pin that attaches the bucket links to the crowd is 6 3/4" which would seem to apply a practical width limitation of about 7" to a bucket that is going to dig to any depth. Since direct burial cable (like type UF-B) is usually buried 12"-18" deep, the bucket/crowd links are gonna hit the surface, it would seem, when attempting to dig to that depth. Either that or in loose material you can punch down and ramrod the links into the trench, maybe. Seems like it'd wear the links badly, though. That sounds like a bad idea to me.

 

[Mike_V]

I sure hope you aren't going to be digging in clay or wet ground as a bucket that small will have a lot of trouble with cleaning while dumping.

Just sandy soil around here in the South of Florida. And ficus roots. I saw the 8" bucket but that is still pretty wide for a 2" PVC pipe.

 

[Mike_V]

the length of the horizontal pin that attaches the bucket links to the crowd is 6 3/4" which would seem to apply a practical width limitation of about 7"

That's a good point. I saw some narrow buckets on eBay that had an arm that looked like it was 2-3 feet long designed for a skid steer. That would solve the pin problem. Since I'm digging in soft, sandy soil, I don't think I'd miss the leverage of the normal bucket design. ...except for those stupid roots.

 

[escavader]

If you use the larger bucket ,you can have more seat time filling it back in Dont they make a trencher attachment you can install on a tractor.If its sandy,mabey you could attach something to your hoe.[4 inch wide spoon type thingy] that would trench.sorry im a dreamer.
ALAN

 

[MOPAULY]

I thought about a smaller bucket for my 24 as well, but the bottom line (to me) is that it's simply faster to use a trencher to do the job. Smaller bucket would be fun but more of a mess and more time consuming. As much as I like the tractor I don't always have all day to do a 1/2 day job.

Comcast recently came out to trench for new cable, the machine they use is so clean you couldn't even see where it cut the ground unless you really looked for it....did a really nice job.