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Digging and ditching

Ditching bucket

Yellow wheeled excavator at the edge of a canal, arm stretched out, a wide bucket resting on the bank; the machine is reflected in the water.
Wheeled excavator at the edge of a ditch, wide bucket at work on the bank.
Suited to ditch maintenance; limit:
without teeth, it does not break into compact ground.
Photo:
Jan van der Wolf, Pexels licence, via Pexels, lettering removed.

Wide, smooth and toothless, the ditching bucket does not dig:
it profiles.
It is the tool for finishing, for the even bank and the clean ditch.

Other names for this tool: ditch bucket, finishing bucket, smooth bucket, grading bucket, cleaning bucket, ditch cleaner.
In the tilting version:
tilting bucket, tiltable bucket, hydraulic grading bucket.

The essentials
Family
Digging and ditching
Classes (t)
0.6 to 40 t
Coupler
All, by plate
Power source
Fixed version: none; swivelling version: hydraulic — flow and pressure: we calculate it with you for your machine

The ditch cleaning case →

01 Use

What it is for

On the left, wide and smooth, it cleans out the ditch in one pass and leaves a finished surface. On the right, with no teeth, it does not attack compact ground and does not open a trench. Computer-generated image.
wide and smooth, it cleans out the ditch in one pass and leaves a finished surface with no teeth, it does not attack compact ground and does not open a trench
Left: wide and smooth, it cleans out the ditch in one pass and leaves a finished surface.
Right: with no teeth, it does not attack compact ground and does not open a trench.
What sets it apart:
where a toothed bucket leaves marks, it leaves a finished surface — its width is its advantage.
Computer-generated image.
Rusty excavator bucket with a straight edge and no teeth, resting on gravel, its mounting ears visible.
A smooth-edged bucket, without teeth:
it leaves a finished surface.
Its width is what gives it its output.
Photo:
Anna.Massini, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, resized.

Its straight edge and smooth bottom scrape without catching.
It takes up a bank, cleans a ditch, spreads a formation layer, dresses a profile.
Where a toothed bucket leaves marks, it leaves a finished surface.

Its width is its advantage:
it covers in one pass what an earthmoving bucket does in three.
Over a length of ditch, the difference in time is considerable.

It does not replace an earthmoving bucket. With no teeth and with a great width, it does not attack compact ground and does not open a trench.
The two tools are complementary, and that is why a quick coupler pays for itself quickly.

02 Key technical data

On which machine?

They exist for machines from 1 to 42 t.
For example, on a 10 to 20 t excavator, the weight is generally from 220 to 1 320 kg.
It fits the Morin coupler, modules 1 to 3.

What the tool does

Its wear-resistant steel has a hardness of 400 to 500 HB, with reversible blades or cutting edges.
For example, for a width of 1 800 mm: capacity from 250 to 1 340 l, weight from 230 to 1 240 kg.
Its tilt angle ranges from 45 to 90°, to be checked with you.
It also comes in a reinforced version, to be checked with you.

What is needed on the hydraulic side

The fixed version needs no hydraulic connection.
The swivelling version runs hydraulically.
Its flow and pressure: we calculate them with you for your machine.

Figures taken from 150 models on the market.
Your study sets the exact value for your machine.

All the measurements found for this equipment →

How to read these values →

03 Your study

Have your machine checked.

Give us your excavator model, the profile of the ditch and the length.
If you are hesitating between fixed and tilting, say so:
the calculation depends on the number of changes of slope per day.

What we need to answer you
  • Your machine Its make and its tonnage.
  • The auxiliary circuit Its flow in l/min, its pressure in bar, single- or double-acting.
  • The coupler in place Its system and its class.
  • The work The use, and the material.

Without these details, the study still begins: we will ask you for them.

Send my photos

or describe your need

Book an appointment with the specialist

Or call 01 84 16 55 49 · our lines are open 7 days a week, from 7h to 22h.

Written study within 3 working days, once the file is complete.

Mounts on

Mounts on, in the manufacturer example: Morin

Toothless ditching bucket with a smooth edge, at the side of an earth ditch
No teeth, a smooth edge over the whole width. That profile is what leaves a clean ditch bottom instead of ploughing it.
Synthetic image.
Cleaning out means taking away what has settled without touching the profile.
The bucket brings the silt up, the trench keeps its shape.
Synthetic video.
04 Choice

What determines the choice

The main question is not the width, it is the tilt:
fixed or hydraulic.

  • 01 — Fixed or tilting A fixed bucket works, but every change of slope means repositioning the machine.
    A tilting bucket sets the tilt from the cab, continuously.
    On the other hand it calls for an auxiliary line.
  • 02 — The width, chosen on the profile Not from the catalogue.
    Too wide, it means going back over a narrow ditch in two passes; too narrow, it leaves an irregular profile that will have to be done again.
  • 03 — The profile of the bottom A flat bottom for spreading, a V bottom for a drainage ditch — and that is then a trapezoidal bucket, a distinct tool.
  • 04 — The edge A replaceable bolted blade or an added edge.
    On frequent finishing work, it is the part that gets consumed.

The tilting bucket often makes a tiltrotator unnecessary. If the need for tilt concerns only one tool, the tilt built into the bucket costs far less than a tiltrotator — and does not change the equipment of the machine. See the tiltrotator.

05 Check

What is checked before ordering

  • The auxiliary line, if the bucket tilts And its flow:
    the tilt ram calls for little, but it does call for some.
  • The weight at the end of the arm A wide bucket is a lever arm.
    Cleaning out a bank is often done with the arm extended, and that is the worst case.
  • The reach needed Cleaning out from the bank of a basin or a wide ditch may call for a long dipper arm, not only a suitable bucket.
  • The interface Coupler type and size, or pin dimensions.
    The tool is supplied with the matching plate.
In the same family
Case studied
On the interface
To go further
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