Top 5 Excavator Attachments for Landscapers

Landscaping can be an overwhelming field to venture into. Whether you are a novice or a professional, the array of tools, machines and attachments can be a minefield to explore and understand. The possibilities are endless. So, the Rhinox team have put together a list of what we believe are the top 5 attachments for landscapers:

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1. Excavator Digging Bucket

AKA: general purpose bucket, trenching bucket

The first attachment we recommend is a standard digging bucket. Every landscaper’s ‘must have’ attachment. The digging bucket fixes to the dipper arm and does exactly what it says on the tin…it digs. They are suitable for digging and trenching in order to move or remove soil and aggregate from the ground. They usually come in a variety of sizes to best fit the requirements of the job - the bigger the bucket, the wider the trench and the more material you are able to move per bucket load.

The digging bucket can be manufactured to have bolt-on blades or teeth, these bucket edges perform differently and have specific benefits. Bolt on blades are ideal for digging trenches with a flat bottom, great for laying pipes or creating ditches. The double-sided blade allows for it to be removed, rotated, and reattached when the facing side becomes dull through use. Bolt on teeth are best used for digging through tougher ground, helping to penetrate the surface much easier than a blade can. Bolt on teeth can also be remove and replaced when damaged or worn. As an all-rounder, it's hard to beat the general purpose, digging bucket, but for more specific tasks it pays to have the right tool for the job, so keep keep reading to understand our next top 5 attachments.

2. Ripper Teeth

AKA: ripper hook, ground hook

How do you dig or break up the ground if your digging bucket can’t get through it? ripper teeth are the tools for the job! They are designed to break through hard ground as well as dig up stubborn rocks, tree roots and old pipes buried underground.

The ripper tooth design concentrates the power of the machine onto the small endpoint of the attachment. This maximises the breakout force (penetration force) used on stubborn terrain helping to break through the rock, compact and clay. Imagine having someone stand on your foot in high heels rather than a flat trainer - this is essentially how the ripper tooth works. Using a standard digging bucket for this task would likely damage the bucket blade or teeth so utilising the ripper teeth prior to digging with a bucket would be more efficient and beneficial to the longevity of your equipment. Ripper teeth are also capable of breaking through frozen grounds in colder seasons and climates.

3. Micro Trenching Bucket

AKA: deep dig bucket, cable bucket, utility bucket

Probably the least obvious on this list is the micro trenching bucket. This product was initially developed to create small trenches for fibre optic broadband installations. But has been more recently used for landscaping tasks such as: running pipes through barns and field, small drainage trenches, irrigation and more. The narrower trenches save time on excavation and backfilling, but also saves money on repair of surfaces such as tarmac as the area to be restored is much smaller.

The micro trenching bucket is useful in many other sectors including nursery plantations and greenhouses, open farms, new housing developments, industrial units and washdown facilities, agriculture and animal husbandry, public open spaces, recreation and sports facilities, holiday campsites and mobile home developments. As an added bonus, the Rhinox micro trenching bucket is made with an innovative uni-tusk hardened tip which provides more strength and resistance to the bucket. The durability of the uni-tusk helps to prolong the life of the bucket enabling you to get more use for your money compared to others on the market. The tip is also able to be replaced if / when necessary.

4. Rake Riddle Bucket

AKA: general purpose rake, rake bucket

Chances are one of the first jobs you'll do when starting your landscaping project is rake and riddle the ground to clear any loose debris before starting work. Traditionally that meant having both a land rake and a riddle bucket. This is where the rake riddle bucket comes into its own...

As the name suggests, the rake riddle bucket is the combination of a land rake and riddle bucket in one. The rake style tines and riddle bucket style body create the perfect tool for landscape clearance – giving you the option to rake, riddle and clear material, such as: stones, rocks, and roots in one movement. It is also effective at clearing dykes and drains, pulling out weeds and other accumulated, unwanted material to help amend blockages. It also saves the cost of maintaining and utilising two separate buckets.

5. Mechanical Pin Grab Coupler

AKA: quick coupler, quick attach, pin grab hitch

If you have the right attachments, you'll be able to do your landscaping jobs more efficiently. But this also means you'll need to change your attachments more often. This takes time and can cause premature wear to your tools if not done carefully.

The mechanical pin grab coupler is the solution to this problem. Instead of manually driving pins in and out of your dipper end and attachments, the Rhinox coupler has a lever and latch system to quickly and easily change you attachments. Bucket changes can be as quick as taking a safety pin out and using a lever to open the latch, allowing your bucket to be un-hooked. This quick and virtually effortless mechanism reduces the time it takes to switch between attachments, allowing you to carry out a variety of necessary landscaping tasks in a shorter amount of time. Take a look at one in action here.

How are you landscaping?

We've complied this list based on our own knowledge and customer feedback, but we're always interested to hearing from you. What are your go-to attachments for landscaping? Would you agree with our suggestions or is there something we've overlooked? Let us know in the comments below.