What is an Excavator Skeleton Bucket?

Alternative names: Riddle Bucket, Shaker Bucket, Screening Bucket

You may hear these names being used on a jobsite, but what is a Skeleton / Riddle Bucket? They are basically an excavator bucket with slots in the back to help sort rocks, stones and tree roots from the dirt. This bucket also gets the name Shaker Bucket from the action needed to make the bucket separate the materials. The Skeleton Bucket has been designed with a slotted back, also know as tines, to let any fine materials like dirt and small aggregates through. This helps separate larger materials, like bricks, sticks or pipes so that it can be easily disposed of, recycled or reused. Which reduces the price of expensive muck-away.

How To: Use a Skeleton Bucket

Now that you know what they are, you are probably wondering "How does a Skeleton Bucket actually work?" or "How would I use one on my excavator?". The first step would be to fit the bucket to your excavator as you normally would - either by standard pin mounting to the excavator arm or by Pin Grabber Coupler.

Once your bucket is securely attached, use the bucket as you usually would to scoop a pile of dirt. When your bucket is full, simply move the crowd control side-to-side, in a quick movement to shake the bucket. As you shake the bucket, the fine dirt and small aggregates should fall through the tines of the bucket leaving any larger objects like bricks behind, inside the bucket. When you are satisfied with the separation, tip the remaining materials into a separate pile or into the back of a truck or dumper so that they can be removed for disposal / recycling.

Will a Skeleton Bucket fit my Excavator?

Now you know how they work, you might want to know whether this bucket will fit your machine. These buckets can be used on all size of excavator. Here at Rhinox, we manufacture the Skeleton Bucket for 1k - 9k lbs Compact Excavators. Our Skeleton Buckets vary in width (24 - 30 inch wide), depending on the machine that it is manufactured for.

The Rhinox Skeleton Bucket is made with Bolt-on Teeth as Standard to help penetrate the tough, solid dirt but we can also add a Bolt-on Blade if required - this is sometimes done when a jobsite doesn't allow buckets to be used with Teeth. If you would prefer a blade, contact us via tel: +1 267 861 0812 or email: sales@rhinox-group.us to arrange this option.

Learn more about our Skeleton Buckets: