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How can I protect my Excavator Bucket Edge?
If you're trying to find an answer to the question above, then you know that digging in rough terrain can damage the edge of your excavator bucket. There are a couple of scenarios where people can wear their bucket edge and you will probably fall into one of these categories. Read below to see which category fits you best...
Scenario 1: You are using your bucket without Teeth or a Blade
Many people use their excavator bucket with an exposed lip plate - this means they are using it without fixing teeth or a blade to the bucket edge. This is either because they don't know the benefits of using a protective edge OR they cannot justify fitting a protective edge to their bucket. Does this sound familiar to you?
Most excavator buckets will come with teeth as standard but there are a lot of people that do not want the teeth on their bucket for a specific job, so they remove them and use the bucket with a bare edge. In this situation we would ALWAYS recommend fitting a Reversible Bolt on Blade. This is a piece of hardened steel, that is bolted to the front of your bucket to provide an extra layer of steel. This adds additional durability and resistance and stops the lip plate wearing and becoming deformed, misshapen or no longer level.
Fitting a Bolt on Blade dramatically increases the life of your bucket as you are protecting the edge with an additional layer of hardened steel. As well as reinforcing the edge, you are able to easily replace the worn or damaged cutting edge when required, rather than having to replace your entire bucket at a much higher price.
A lot of Bolt on Blades are reversible which means that when you have worn down one side, you are able to remove it, spin it round and reattach it - ready to be used again. This obviously means you are getting twice the use out of one blade before needing to replace it.
This sounds good right? It does come at an extra cost - this can turn some people away from the idea. But in the long run it can actually SAVE you money as you're not replacing the entire bucket. See an example of how much money you could be saving below:
6,000 lbs Ditch Cleaning Bucket
(48 inches)
Bucket Avg. $1,832
Blade Avg. $107
17 x $107 = $1,819
You can purchase 17 Reversible Blades for less than the price of 1 bucket.
Remembering that each reversible blade can also be used twice!
Scenario 2: You haven't replaced you Teeth or Blade when they have become worn or broken
You may have already fitted teeth or a blade to your bucket but you're still dealing with your bucket edge wearing. This is probably because you have not replaced them before they have worn beyond suitable use. Protective edge options will wear over time, this means that you will have to keep an eye on them and replace or reverse them when they have been worn.
On Blades, you know when to replace or reverse the blade when the blade becomes worn back, in-line with the edge of your bucket lip plate. If you continue to wear back the blade beyond this point it will begin to wear down your bucket edge too. If worn too far, you will wear beyond the bolt holes on your lip plate and you will not be able to refit a blade or teeth in the future, unless a new lip plate is fitted. As well as wearing the beyond the bolt holes, it also makes it more difficult to level surfaces as the lip plate loses its flat, level appearance usually needed to finish off a surface.
