Who makes the best Quick Connect for an Excavator

[roddyo]

Back filling an extremely large hole. It's scary fast.

 

[ZAXIS]

SWEET!! I'll have to give her a try. It won't be this week, but give me a week or two and I will let you know how it went. Thanks, ZAXIS

By the way, what part of Arkansas are you from??

 

[Turbo21835]

Spinin that bucket around is extremely helpfull in pipe work. It makes digging under footings or existing utilities a breeze. Locate the utility. Dig up to it and on the other side of it. Sping the bucket around and dig the remaining dirt out from under it.

 

[ZAXIS]

Turbo, that sounds like a good idea-it seems like we are always digging around something. Thanks, ZAXIS

 

[AtlasRob]

Spinin that bucket around is extremely helpfull in pipe work. It makes digging under footings or existing utilities a breeze. Locate the utility. Dig up to it and on the other side of it. Sping the bucket around and dig the remaining dirt out from under it.

Have to agree 100%. Also do it to get under kerb lines. Also do it with a narrow bucket to get under the concrete base of kerbs, slabs etc. BUT, be aware in doing so you are putting extra stress on the locking ram and tounge as you are trying to pull the front of the bucket out of the back pin grabber.
Having said that I have loaded railway track grabbed in the jaw, and pulled crash barrier posts out with it. Both Miller and Geith, have never had a problem.

 

[Turbo21835]

AtlasRob, you just reminded me of a good trick with spining the bucket around. I worked on road widenings. We would have to pull concrete curb away from the road. Its usually hard to start without damaging the pavement, Even harder is if the curb is a radius. Spin the bucket around, put the teeth under the curb, and role the bucket up. Usually it pops The curb up without any damage to the pavement. Once the first piece is out you can switch the bucket back around and pull the rest out no problem.

 

[roddyo]

Squaw City. Or Pocahontas if you prefer.:usa

 

[ZAXIS]

roddyo, that's not too far from me. Are yall still under water over there?? I personally prefer squaws myself. ZAXIS

 

[Reuben]

Thanks for the reply. I really like Geith products, I use their buckets. If it was a toss up i would go with the Geith but JRB sounds really good. Have you ever used your buckets on backwards with the Geith.

Our 60" bucket is on backwards as a write this.It will be on that way all day tomorrow also. When you need it on backwards it works great. We also turn the 60" around when we are cleaning ditchs. It works great as you are not pulling debris toward the road. Just scoop against the bank spin around and dump it over the bank on the other side.

 

[roddyo]

The water depends on how much more it rains. We have on road still closed. I work at the car auction during tax time.

 

[AtlasRob]

reversed

AtlasRob, you just reminded me of a good trick with spining the bucket around. I worked on road widenings. We would have to pull concrete curb away from the road. Its usually hard to start without damaging the pavement, Even harder is if the curb is a radius. Spin the bucket around, put the teeth under the curb, and role the bucket up. Usually it pops The curb up without any damage to the pavement. Once the first piece is out you can switch the bucket back around and pull the rest out no problem.

Sounds like we both had the same trainer that is exactly what I was trying to say.:notworthy
You can see in one of the previous pics I posted where I am placing concrete into a wall shutter with the bucket reversed. I gain at least 2 metres in reach like this, the other way around the bucket would be empty before I got half way there.

 

[laketreefarm]

Claq coupler

We just mounted two French made Claq pin grabber style couplers (very poplar in Europe) on two of our machines. Is available as manual or hydraulic system. We chose manual for the price. Bucket mount plates will weld onto any bucket or attachment. Lotsa leftover buckets are on the market cheap and with a Claq plate will fit any Claq coupler of the same size. Fits machines up to 11 tons. We have added a fork and a treespade to our excavator attachments with great success. Very simple system with a spring loaded plate that grabs a locking horn after it pivots onto the pins. See pic. Imported by Rockland we're selling the system in KY,TN and Va.

 

[AtlasRob]

We just mounted two French made Claq pin grabber style couplers (very poplar in Europe) on two of our machines. ............... Very simple system with a spring loaded plate that grabs a locking horn after it pivots onto the pins.

They are quite popular in UK on some makes of mini digger common in the self drive hire market, which is a catergory of plant driver that need as much help as possible in changing a bucket
The problem with them is you cant reverse the bucket, but in the self drive market thats probably not a bad thing

 

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

I really like our Miller quick coupler. It is hydraulic and is a real time saver.

On that note does anyone use their pin grabber to quickly reverse their bucket on the stick for back filling? It's probably one of the handiest features we've found with a pin-grabber vs. wedge or bar lock system.

Haven't backfilled, but do use it to lift piles of trees to get the starting paper in and under quickly.

Warren

 

[DarrylMueller]

Get a slide lock wedge type pin grabber. It grabbs the bucket tight so it wont be lose like some other couplers that don't wedge. Plus you can reverse the bucket. I have JRB
in use for 15 years very good, go with hydraulic that is the best since it's great for bucket and ripper digging, footing with key ways, back fill bucket to compaction wheel etc. Stay clear of anything spring loaded. Also have a North West had to add a reinforcement but it is now in use 8 years that is also slide lock wedge type.

 

[MRCAT1]

Some one mentioned the Wedge lock Hitch from New Zealand, they are a good unit but get the one with 2 oil lines to it, not the one with 3 lines as most machines have the 2 lines from new but you have to have the third added which is a bit of a pain and its only because of our stupid saftey laws here.The other good one is a JB hitch, been around for years and pretty robust. Regards Brandon

 

[AtlasRob]

I really like our Miller quick coupler. It is hydraulic and is a real time saver.
Haven't backfilled, but do use it to lift piles of trees to get the starting paper in and under quickly.
Warren

I am not jumping on you !..... I have done the exact same thing myself.

Make sure you have "the pin in" before taking pictures that you put on the web
Been there, done it and got the KICKING :Banghead :drinkup

I agree very good hitch

 

[fArMeRkNoWsBeSt]

I am not jumping on you !..... I have done the exact same thing myself.

Make sure you have "the pin in" before taking pictures that you put on the web
Been there, done it and got the KICKING :Banghead :drinkup

I agree very good hitch

Rob Rob Rob Rob Rob, you just put your foot in your mouth. The safety pin IS in. HAHAAHA. :drinkup:drinkup:drinkup

Esco (Miller) has THREE holes to choose from for the safety pin. The pin is properly installed in the lower of the three. If you don't believe me I can blow up the spot and upload it.

Oh don't worry, I got the safety pin speech MANY times already. HAHA. I really do appreciate your concern though. Too many people die each year from buckets falling off to not put it in.

Thanks again Rob

Warren

 

[AtlasRob]

Rob Rob Rob Rob Rob, you just put your foot in your mouth. The safety pin IS in. HAHAAHA. :drinkup:drinkup:drinkup

Esco (Miller) has THREE holes to choose from for the safety pin. The pin is properly installed in the lower of the three. If you don't believe me I can blow up the spot and upload it.

Oh don't worry, I got the safety pin speech MANY times already. HAHA. I really do appreciate your concern though. Too many people die each year from buckets falling off to not put it in.

Thanks again Rob

Warren

ops Cant argue with that. :duh

Thanks for taking the comment the way it was intended :thumbsup

Certain people here in the UK have it in thier heads that the Semi automatic hitches ( that have a safety pin ) are unsafe and want to ban them.
Manufacturers have already agreed to cease manufacture and supply of new semi automatics, which was a knee jerk reaction in a lot of peoples opinion, mine included.

I attended a meeting last week to try and explain to a lot of suits
( no offence intended ) that the problem isnt the hitch its the guys not using them properly.
What concerns me is that the semi autos get completely banned and then 6 months later another guy gets killed ! That will happen unless the root cause of the problem is addressed, which in my opinion is the operators/drivers not fitting the bucket correctly and checking it is secure before putting it to work.
We can argue for ever about whether that is down to lack of training, work pressure, etc etc, but it is a problem that banning semi automatic hitches in my opinion wont cure.

Sorry for the speech.

Really glad you've found both the machine and the hitch an asset. I know it was a big step you made in getting both :drinkup

 

[Dirty Digger]

...Certain people here in the UK have it in thier heads that the Semi automatic hitches ( that have a safety pin ) are unsafe and want to ban them.
Manufacturers have already agreed to cease manufacture and supply of new semi automatics, which was a knee jerk reaction in a lot of peoples opinion, mine included.
I attended a meeting last week to try and explain to a lot of suits
( no offence intended ) that the problem isnt the hitch its the guys not using them properly.
What concerns me is that the semi autos get completely banned and then 6 months later another guy gets killed ! That will happen unless the root cause of the problem is addressed, which in my opinion is the operators/drivers not fitting the bucket correctly and checking it is secure before putting it to work.
We can argue for ever about whether that is down to lack of training, work pressure, etc etc, but it is a problem that banning semi automatic hitches in my opinion wont cure.

I'm sorry if my first posting on this forum is a bit of a rant, but I feel strongly that I ought to put the other side of the case for banning semi-automatic hitches in the UK. These circumstances may also hold true in other parts of the world.

Rob; May I start by saying that you are one of the good guys; a professional construction equipment operator who has gained the respect of everybody that you have come in contact with. However, we must all recognize that a significant proportion of operators in the UK are far less skillful than yourself, and work alongside site foreman who I wouldn't trust to run my Grandmother's candy store (I'm trying to write in American English, the Scottish expression is 'my Granny's sweetie shop').

Most of the work done in the UK construction industry utilizes rental machines in one form or another, sometimes on a short-term, self-drive basis. The point on the Health & Safety crackdown on semi-automatic hitches in the UK is that, if the construction equipment industry can not regulate itself to cater for the majority of its people, then we can expect the Government to impose such harsh regulations. As an aside, we all know that the licensing/training system for UK operators is a joke.

The deaths and serious accidents caused by the misuse of semi-automatic hitches doesn't make it worthwhile to continue down this path. The excuses of “I was just moving the bucket and didn't think it was necessary to put the pin in” or “it was raining hard and I thought the bucket was secured,” or the fact that we've all seen safety pins either missing, or made out of bits of discarded metal, doesn't hold water. But these have been the reasons given for deaths and serious accidents to our colleagues.

The whole issue of semi-automatic quick hitches is, in any case, just a temporary glitch in the continued development of construction equipment. Soon, such designs will be part of our history, not our future. For what it is worth, my opinion is as follows;

If there is no need to change the attachment on an excavator more than once or twice a week (or if the machine is only used occasionally) then the standard bucket pins will suffice. Start changing an attachment once or twice a day, then a quick-change mechanical coupler has serious advantages.

To answer the originator of this post; all the brands of mechanical quick-hitches mentioned in this thread work fine. The best way to decide which one is for you is to find a local dealer who you can trust. However, if your application is out of the ordinary – for instance using maximum breakout force – it is worth seeking-out a specialist in the field.

If the application involves frequent changes of attachment, then why not invest in a fully-automatic quick hitch system? The semi-automatic versions (requiring the operators to get out of the cab to activate a safety mechanism) are only on the market to offer a cheap alternative to modern fully-automatic designs that are the real way to maximize operator productivity and safety. Privately, the hitch manufacturers welcome this move, allowing them to focus on either simple mechanical solutions or sophisticated hydraulic automatic systems.

This is a unconventional way to say hello; I trust an alternative viewpoint (from a suit) is welcome.

DD