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Cement Mixer Bucket Attachments (Eterra, Wolverine)?

roachven7

Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2016
Messages
19
Location
Northwoods, MN
Occupation
Homesteader
I’m planning to pour a 40’x72’ slab in a location a cement truck will not come to. I’ve been looking into buying a skid steer concrete mixer bucket similar to this

https://www.skidsteersolutions.com/mix-and-go-mini-skid-steer-cement-mixer-eterra/

Anyone used one of these or the larger model of the same brand? Any opinions about them? Is the larger bucket really worth the extra cost?

Also seems like there are also a whole lot of Wolverine brand cement mixer units brand new on various online auction sites, but I can’t find much about them on the internet

https://www.rbauction.com/wolverine...egory=12956100325&manufacturer_name=WOLVERINE

Has anyone used one of these and can they speak to the quality etc?

There’s an auction coming up near me with two of these units that could go for fairly cheap.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts
 

Labparamour

Senior Member
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Sep 6, 2013
Messages
732
Location
Washington
That’s gonna be a lot of work!

I did a 6’x 12’x 6” slab for shop entry.
I have a 3pt mixer that’s about a 6cu ft capacity.
Working solo and using sack mix it was a workout- between mixing, spreading and trying to finish as I went...:(

How close can a mixer get?

For huge pours they’ll use dump trucks.
There are also “u-cart” batch plants that have 1 cu/yd dump trailers for home owners.
Could a couple small dump trailers cycle between the mixer and the slab?
 

roachven7

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Joined
Dec 6, 2016
Messages
19
Location
Northwoods, MN
Occupation
Homesteader
The pour is 2 miles up an extremely rutted old logging trail. I was told it would be approximately 60 yards of concrete in about 6 trucks coming from a plant 80 miles away. I might be able to convince the first truck to come up the trail, but I doubt they would make a second trip. I plan to fix the logging trail, but I need the slab and garage ASAP. I have a 6 yard dump truck and there's a gravel pit about 10 miles away. I talked to a friend who plans to help me and who has poured several slabs around my area. He said he thinks with 5 guys we could pour most of the slab in a day. I know it's ambitious and I'm not getting my hopes up on that timeline.

Anyhow, anyone else used one of these attachments?
 

Delmer

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Jan 3, 2013
Messages
8,865
Location
WI
What's your friend smoking? has he used one of these mixers? Sounds like you want to do it yourself, but I don't agree with the logic. If you want to pour a slab like that with any kind of quality, fix the trail and call the trucks, the drivers know what they're doing, the trucks are all six wheel drive around here, they go over slopes the shouldn't, bridges they shouldn't, soft spots they shouldn't. Obviously do it when it's dry, but unless it's the side of a mountain without the width for safety, I don't see where they would have any problem getting up a trail you can get up with a dumptruck, or skidsteer.

Around here, the cement retail will be over half the cost of the delivered mixed concrete. I've poured lots of concrete mixed by hand, but only for slow projects where I couldn't use a minimum load, you need six loads.
 

highwayghost

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Nov 1, 2019
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Pittsburgh, PA
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Emissions Analyst
If you want to pour a slab like that with any kind of quality,
Agreed.... You will get a better, more consistent quality with the premix. If the road is going to be your access anyway, do the work to fix the road instead of mixing concrete. Remember the nearly $5k investment in the mixer you want? After fixed, ask the concrete company to look at the road and see if it's good enough. They will want your business, and give you suggestions. Smaller loads may be an option. And a large enough machine on site to help if stuck. The driver will dump the load if needed. I drove a tri-axle log truck in upstate PA years ago. Standard road truck w/tag axle, not AWD. Often being pushed in and out with a dozer. I would think three full loads a day would keep a small crew busy enough.
 
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roachven7

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Joined
Dec 6, 2016
Messages
19
Location
Northwoods, MN
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Homesteader
Thanks all for the input, y'all have got me thinking I should definitely talk with the premix company further.

It's true that I like doing things myself, but I realize this is a huge project and I don't want to be stupid about it. I'm gonna need to hire help no matter what anyhow (which I'm not used to doing). I don't believe my friend has ever used one of these attachments, I think he mostly likes the idea of me having one so he can rent it from me. I also did question the financial reality of the situation, like would I actually save any money hauling gravel and mixing it myself? Seems like maybe not. We did manage to convince the well drill rig to drive up here when it was dry (they didn't like it though). I've got a D6 in case anything gets stuck on the road.

I definitely want to pour a quality slab as this is a pretty huge investment for me and I want to do it right so it lasts. I plan to use the garage for equipment maintenance among other things. I will probably end up hiring a structural engineer to run the numbers for me, but I'm thinking 6 inch slab reinforced with rebar grid every 16" with 12"x12" footer on top of well compacted well drained gravely soil and 4 inches compacted 3/4 gravel and 250 pink foam. Any thoughts on how a slab built to those rough specs would do with a loaded 6 yard single axle dump truck with a plow (40,000lbs GVW)?

Anyone have any thoughts on the concrete mix ration and slump?

Sorry I guess I sorta changed the topic here, maybe I should have posted a new thread?

Thanks all.
 

highwayghost

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Emissions Analyst
Sounds like a solid plan to me. Call the local concrete companies. They are the experts and should be able to answer your questions. Concrete is what they do!! They have seen hundreds of jobs and know what works and what are fails. Last time I had a truck come here, my help showed up late. The driver jumped right in and helped. I gave him a $100 tip. Maybe some extra $ will get them to do the 2 miles:p
 
Last edited:

Delmer

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It all depends on the base, you have a D6 and a dump truck so you should be able to get this done well by the time it dries out enough to get trucks up your road. The test for the base being compacted is to drive over it with a fully loaded dump truck and see if it leaves ruts you can see. Ideally you'd do this for the base you strip down to, and every 4-6" you add. Moisture might be critical for getting good compaction.

That should have no problems with a loaded concrete truck driving over it when you're done. I've never heard of using an engineer for a shop floor on decent grade, gravelly soil is probably close to ideal.

And you won't save money doing it yourself if you have to pay for half the labor. You MIGHT do it cheaper, but the quality won't be nearly as good.

You do know the other details about pouring concrete? expansion joints/cuts, cover it with water as long as possible etc.
 

roachven7

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Dec 6, 2016
Messages
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Location
Northwoods, MN
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Homesteader
Thanks everyone for the input, any more input and opinions welcome and appreciated.

I will try to remember to eventually post some pics when I get the project started.
 

Labparamour

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Sep 6, 2013
Messages
732
Location
Washington
I’d love to have one of those. Saw this old critter on display in Spokane.

If hand mixing, set forms so you can do reasonable sections- especially in case there’s a glitch and you have to stop batching.

Like others have said- probably best to fix road and let mixers drive in.51AF2FE5-A80E-4E2D-9A4D-E3858E6A3E04.jpeg
 

Welder Dave

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Oct 11, 2014
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Canada
I would think your 6 yard gravel truck is a single axle. If your road holds it a tandem should be no problem. Fix the road with your D6 and then pack it with your gravel truck with progressively more weight in it.
 
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