Bucket Check-Up

Nov. 1, 2001
Simply taking a few moments to inspect a bucket ensures a more productive and economical outcome. Proper maintenance and detection of a problem in its

Simply taking a few moments to inspect a bucket ensures a more productive and economical outcome. Proper maintenance and detection of a problem in its earliest form lessens the chance for repair and hence saves money. Also, a bucket that is well maintained is much more efficient at digging and breaks out much more easily, which reduces costs in fuel consumption. Additionally, this lessens the wear and tear on the engine and hydraulic system — components that can be expensive to replace. Below are some simple common sense checks. All it takes is a good pair of eyes.

  • Check all around the mounting hinges for cracks. A problem here can often escalate rapidly and cause costly catastrophic failures. If you spot any signs of cracking, get them fixed.
  • Check the front leading edges and corners of the bucket. Are they getting thin? Are there signs of cracks here? If so, consider getting the corners re-plated and thickened to extend the service life of the bucket. A failure at the corner during heavy digging can result in the bucket edge being torn out and bent to an extent where it has to be replaced entirely.
  • Check the wear bars under the bucket floor. Are they thinning? How much life is there left in them? Pay particular attention to the heel of the bucket. That tends to attract greater wear. Early replacement of wear bars in this area will extend the life of the bucket floor considerably. Neglecting the wear bars means the replacement of the entire bucket floor instead of just a couple of strips.
  • Check the bucket edge for signs of distress. Is it still serviceable? If you are using a wheel loader with reversible edges, do they need rotating yet?
  • Check the bucket tips. Are they worn? Do they need rotating? Rotation of the tips will greatly increase their life and save you money. Rotate all of the tips on your bucket regularly. The corner tips will always wear more rapidly, so move them to the center and replace them with the center tips. Also, on many styles of tip consider turning them over and using them upside down. The lower edge of a tip always wears faster, so by turning over you allow them to wear more evenly as well as last far longer.
  • Check if you have lost a tip. Continued use of a bucket without a full set of tips will cause wear to the adapter nose. This will result in poor contact when a new tip is installed and increase the likelihood that the same tip will be lost again. If you lose a tip, replace it immediately.
  • Use the right bucket tips for the application. The choice of bucket tip is wide to suit a range of applications. We regularly advise customers buying new buckets from us on correct tip selection to suit application, be it penetration tips for effective rock digging or abrasive type tips for coal loading.
  • Grease the bucket. Don't forget to get a squirt of the good stuff into your bucket pin locations. It is the cheapest form of maintenance but the most cost-effective every time, and it is often forgotten or left until morning.

Andy Hair is with Northerntrack Construction & Demolition Attachments, Leeds, England.

Got Tips?

If you have maintenance tips to pass along to RER readers, please contact Brandey Smith, managing editor at [email protected] or 913/967-7458.