Most of the attachments we mention in this article will come from independent manufacturers, but the leading producers of machines also have a vast array of attachments available. Most of them may not be considered “specialty,” but all of them turn a single machine into a multiple-task worker. One of the most frequently mentioned plaudits for attachments in recent years has been that they enable a contractor to use one machine (and one employee) for several tasks at the job site. When you invest in a new machine, always ask about the attachments available. Your favorite manufacturer has plenty to offer!

Ask Link-Belt, Komatsu, Kobelco, Liebherr, Volvo, Caterpillar, Daewoo, John Deere, Bobcat, Takeuchi, or any other industry leader what they have and what they recommend for your model. Some of those have more 100 attachments to offer. Most of us are not really specialist contractors, but attachments can enable us to take on profitable projects we might have ignored otherwise, and we can use our same employees and machines to complete them. Contractors who have expanded successfully will tell you that some of their success has been due to their disproving that a loader just loads and carries, or that an excavator just digs.

One aspect of attachments that some contractors find helpful is that many of them have names. Instead of asking for the MXT-TY-55431-T or the PYT-RAMB-352 you will be seeking details about a Claw or a Cracker or a PowerGrip. The names (apart from showing the great imaginations of their inventors) often tell you what the attachment actually does. Allied-Gator’s Claw Bucket turns a loader with an ordinary bucket into a machine for tearing, grabbing, sifting, and sorting materials. This bucket attachment is strong enough to withstand the tractive force of the loader, and once clamped shut, the Claw will not be pried open. Allied-Gator offers a proprietary two-pin installation and removal system that makes any switch quick and easy at the job site. The Cracker (officially the MT Series Multi-Tool Cracker/Crusher) comes from the same manufacturer and uses a “power link and guide system” that promises superior power for cracking and crushing. There is 360-degree rotation of this attachment, and it is available in 11 sizes for carriers from 5,000 pounds. A shear attachment could partner the Cracker; it too offers the full-circle rotation and damage-free cylinder appointment.

Those attachments are complete in themselves, like everyday hydraulic breakers. The PowerTilt attachment from Helac has achieved success by being a link between a standard carrier and standard attachments to give productive versatility. It gives the operator of a backhoe or excavator the advantages of a 180-degree side-to-side swing, so the bucket can be positioned even as unusually as perpendicular to the stick. The need to do this is not so unusual, as anybody who has worked with ditches will testify. The PowerTilt—it’s like an extra joint, isn’t it?—can be supplied with two different built-in couplers. The standard is a hook-style mechanical quick coupler intended for use with OEM pin-on buckets; the optional universal coupler is for those quick-hitch-style buckets. How would such a specialty attachment improve productivity? “When you use this, you’ll find you have to reposition your machine less frequently, because the extra dexterity allows you to do more work from one position,” explains Tom Krause with Helac. “We think a good comparison would be to think of the backhoe dipper and boom as your own arm. Imagine the problems you’d have doing even simple tasks if you couldn’t turn your wrist.”

Buckets!
In the same family as the PowerTilt just mentioned is Helac’s PowerGrip, a four-in-one bucket that has been used successfully for grading and trenching and as a grapple, clamshell bucket, and hydraulic thumb. All those actions with the one attachment.

PHOTO: KENCO

Triple Tine mechanical grapple

Buckets come in an intriguing variety of shapes and sizes. One manufacturer (IMAC) gives us a good description of applications for some of the configurations. The General Purpose (or Trenching) Standard Duty bucket for excavators is excellent for soils where you don’t expect abrasion or shock loading. Sometimes owners add teeth and corner bits to these, to improve penetration and extend wear life. They are usually available in standard or high-capacity models, with different widths. The same buckets in a heavy-duty format are stronger and give more resistance to wear. “If your excavator has only one tool, this is it,” says Brian Wilson of IMAC. The customer would specify width to match trenches being dug. Beyond the heavy-duty buckets are the Extreme Service models. They are sometimes called Road Building or Pipe Lining buckets and have a stronger basic structure with extra wear materials (such as liners or hard surfacing). For cleaning up loose material, you would get an extra-wide bucket that can handle granular materials. They rarely have teeth, but they do sometimes have bolt-on cutting edges. You can get heavy-duty models of this kind of bucket, too.

We counted more than 80 different kinds of attachments and buckets from Werk-Brau, and that’s not counting all the sizes available! What is your busiest machine? A backhoe? Werk-Brau has buckets for backhoes, described as standard, heavy-duty, extra-heavy-duty, and severe-duty (and all those with Werk-Brau’s Spring Loaded Quick Coupler configuration, too). If you are looking for a special bucket or attachment for your backhoe, could it be a “V” ditch-forming bucket, standard or heavy-duty pavement removal buckets, frost and rock rippers, excavating rakes, ditch cleaning and grade buckets, a hydraulic tilting grade bucket, or a trenching bucket? “The universal heavy-duty backhoe bucket is specifically designed [a phrase that describes many of Werk-Brau’s products] for digging in moderate to heavy soil conditions, such as tough clay mixed with rock,” notes Greg Smith, chief engineer. “It is not designed for digging in solid rock. Before buying any attachment, ask the experts at the company which style and size is best for your application.”

If the ground were always easily scooped and rocks never rested where you want to dig, excavating might be simpler. For excavators and backhoes over 11,000 pounds, Leading Edge Attachments offers the SHARC Multi-Ripper bucket of AR400 steel. This specialty attachment works rather like a trencher, but it uses the rolling action of the backhoe to rip. The rip teeth are staggered (with no two teeth aligned with each other, for maximum force behind the one that is ripping) and fracture the substrate in sequential order. The bucket scoops up the material after ripping so there is little material left in the trench. Leading Edge says this is a definite advantage over other ripper buckets. Further, the bucket is wider than the excavator sticks, enabling the operator to rip deeply while still being able to rip the sides of the trench. It has been most successful in rocky or frosty ground. (Oh, that SHARC stands for SHanks on an ARC, describing the staggered shanks.) Some contractors, longtime users of hydraulic hammers for applications in frozen ground or fragmented rock, have reported that the SHARC is four times faster.

Among specialized attachments from Rockland we found a Ditch Cleaning Bucket and a Super Sort bucket for excavators. The ditch-cleaning model speaks for itself. It has a wide, shallow design to make the removal of ditch sediment easy, and you can also get drain holes and bolt-on edges of your choice. Our reaction to the Super Sort bucket (“What will they think of next?”) probably shows why we didn’t invent it. It will sort any size material while you dig. You just dig, separate, and dump. You can put the sorted material in one pile and residue in another. Material left in the bucket is dumped first; then the material in the separator is dumped by hydraulic retraction.

Clams, Lobsters, and Orange Peel
The PowerClam is a clamshell from IMAC that uses the tool cylinder to provide a “powered wrist function.” This type of bucket can turn, grip, pull, and curl. Free-hanging clamshells (on the end of the excavator’s stick) usually bale loose materials from down below. Various extensions are available for the PowerClam, depending on the depth you intend to reach. A trapezoidal bucket (with sloped sides and a flat cutting edge) will give a specified trench width and sidewall slope. They have been popular for deep, wide trenches where a narrow bottom is required (such as those for pipe where the narrower the pipe bedding, the less it costs). Similar to the trapezoidal configuration is the Vee Bottom bucket. The shape of the cutting edge lets the point of the V concentrate on difficult materials (like frosted ground or shale), and as the cut deepens, more teeth come into play. The Vee bucket has straight sides, and the cutting edge is that V shape. It is clear that the shape of a bucket matters; if it’s the right shape, it will do the job more quickly and accurately. The dozens of different shapes and configurations of buckets are the results of input from excavator operators and owners. You can be sure that there has been somebody somewhere who had the same challenge as you will have on that next job, and you can be equally certain that there is a bucket designed to solve that exact problem.

PHOTO: LEADING EDGE

SHARC Multi-Ripper

How does a Pavement Lobster grab you? It’s an excavator bucket from Rockland Manufacturing that grabs the pavement, getting under the surface and lifting whole slabs out easily. It’s not as heavy as you’d expect, either, being made of alloy steel. Rockland was a pioneer in the development of thumbs for excavators. For backhoes, the Rockland Smart Thumb gives quick, positive, hydraulic action, and without the extra expense of stick plumbing or another control valve. What do thumbs do? In the olden days (I remember them well!) it could take one or two extra workers to hook and unhook chains for material handling. Sometimes the excavators were parked while a loader did the handling. Now, with thumbs, excavators don’t need that second machine. Nor do they need the awkward chains and extra workers. “Thumb weight is critical,” Rockland reminds us. “If your thumb is too heavy, you’ll affect your digging performance. If it’s too light, it just won’t stand up to the use.”

The weight of the load provides the gripping power for Kenco’s Triple Tine mechanical grapple, so you don’t need hydraulics to power it. This attachment has three points of contact to lift irregular-shaped objects safely, with a broad range of size capability. The patented actuator allows for hands-free operation in the lifting, moving, and setting of your loads. So far, models available can handle capacities from 3,000 to 20,000 pounds.

PHOTO: ALLIED-GATOR

Claw Bucket

Young Corp. in Seattle, WA, specializes in manufacturing booms and custom machine modifications for construction equipment, but the one that may be most applicable is the Orange Peel Grapple. There are two models of the Orange Peel Grapple, one with four tines, the other with five. The larger model is for big material handling situations, with machines of 175,000 pounds or more. One of the key advantages of the four-tine attachment is its ability to rotate 360 degrees; this high-torque rotation is continuous and bidirectional, so you can position the grapple and load. All bearing bolts are accessible from the top of the grapple. One of the problems faced by those using grapples is the onslaught of dirt; you expect it because it is usually dirty work. The four-tine model has sealed pin joints that retain grease and keep the dirt out. It also offers replaceable, abrasion-resistant tips and hydraulic cylinders with heavy cylinder walls, oversized rods, heavy rod shrouds, and hydraulic cushions for shock absorption. It has been by attention to such (practical, on-the-job) details that independent manufacturers of attachments have succeeded so well in a competitive sector.

Compaction With the Carrier You Already Have
Hydraulic breakers are probably the best known of the Allied Construction Products range of attachments—now linked with world-famous Rammer models—but there is one type that is quite specialized. The Ho-Pac was born in 1965, and it is used for compacting trenches and driving sheets. In its 40 years of success, the Ho-Pac has improved considerably, especially in the force it provides. Today’s Model 500 offers 3,940 pounds of force (540 pounds more than its predecessor); the Model 1000 offers 8,000 pounds (1,660 pounds more than its predecessor). Two other Ho-Pac compacting attachments, the 1600 and 2300, give 16,000 pounds and 24,000 pounds respectively. As mentioned above, you must have enough power in your excavator to work these attachments. When you are considering a Ho-Pac, you should ask yourself which machine you wish to use, and how you want to attach it to the carrier (by quick-attach or pin-on). Does your machine have an auxiliary hydraulic circuit? Are there other products that will be attached? If you work these out and tell your dealer for Allied Construction Products what you need, you can expect expert and straightforward recommendations. There are four mounting configurations available: swivel, flat top, direct pin-on, and VMS (Variable Mounting System).

In a similar vein, BSP offers a Rapid Impact Compactor (RIC). It’s something like a piling hammer. The foot (almost 5 feet across) stays in contact with the ground while a weight descends about 5 feet at the rate of 40 to 60 blows per minute. That speed makes up the energy difference between the RIC and that of dropping a heavy weight from a crane’s jib. And there is no flying debris! This compaction method with this specialized attachment has been successful at construction sites (with compaction depths usually in the 1- to 5-yard range) where the ground is not ready for building, where there is granular fill, silt, fine sand, and old landfill ground filled with rubble, wood, and brick.

Demolition—But Not Just Buildings
Sometimes the demolition required is the ground itself. It could be an asphalt roadway or trees to clear the path for right-of-way work and maintenance. The Timber Ax from Loftness/US Attachments explains itself. Don’t you love products whose names tell you what they do? This attachment for a skid-steer loader can cut and mulch unwanted brush and trees. It has reverse rotation. That means that the knives are rotating upward on the front side of the rotor, using rigid, sharpened blades together with an adjustable shear bar. This reverse rotation lifts the material off the ground (reducing horsepower requirements and minimizing knife wear) where similar attachments using rotors that rotate forward with fixed or swinging hammers can drive uncut material into the ground. The Loftness design makes excellent use of hydraulic power. The Timber Ax leaves a clean job site by mowing grass and weeds while mulching brush and trees more finely than conventional rotary cutters or shredders. This attachment can cut trees up to 6 inches in diameter—with a reserve capacity that will handle even bigger ones.

“Our project for Black Hills Power and Light in South Dakota called for clearing a power line right of way, a little over 9 miles long and 60 feet wide,” says Bob Baker, owner of Baker Timber Products. Baker had bid the project assuming it would take a typical three-man crew with feller bunchers and skidders. But that equipment was tied up on another project. The contractor started the project with a Fecon FTX. “I figured we’d put a one-man crew to start with and bring in the heavy guns later as deadline approached.” The FTX is a small steel-tracked machine that can take multiple attachments, powered by the loader’s hydraulics. “We used a 14-inch bunching shear and a Fecon Bull Hog grinder,” explains Baker. “With the shear, the operator cut everything up to 12 inches, laying the timber down parallel to the power lines. That covered about 90% of the cutting. The rest was cut with a chainsaw. Then the same operator came in with the Bull Hog grinder and mulched the remaining materials.” What was expected to be a 30-day project for a three-person crew ended up being completed successfully by one person in 17 days.

The Genesis Cyclone Processor from Genesis Attachments (one of the Paladin group) has been successful in mine and tunnel work, but also in soil remediation and residential and commercial construction. It processes the concrete found in slabs, walls, footings, and bridge abutments. The Cyclone GC 550 is for excavators in the 70,000- to 100,000-pound range, and there is a larger model (GC 950) for larger excavators. You can remove and replace the pin-on carbide-tipped processing teeth, mounted to a 24-inch drum. The number and size of the teeth can be adjusted to directly control the size of the end product. A protective rock shield for onsite safety is standard.

Most manufacturers of large excavators can provide special booms, especially longer-than-usual versions for applications like demolition. If the longer boom and its attachment are stretching 20 feet or more than usual—upward or outward—the inclination to tip over would be like you holding a 25-foot steel pole out across a river. Manufacturers offer reinforcement to allow the adaptation and keep the machine stable. If you’re not sure about that provision, ask.

The first challenge, if you want to expand your equipment’s reach, is to make sure you have enough power and hydraulics to achieve that. Of equal importance is the challenge for the operator. If he’s doing demolition, he should know exactly where his attachment is. Hydraulic breakers are meant to break, and they should strike only what you want them to. Liebherr reminds us of another aspect of demolition work. It provides a cab with a protective shield against falling debris, and you can also request a cab that tilts up as much as 30 degrees to improve the operator’s view of the work envelope. Extending the boom is not just welding a bit more metal on a standard piece. Caterpillar’s Ultra High Demolition excavators (which can go to a working height of more than 120 feet) have a variable-gauge undercarriage for stability. Other features are acoustic warning devices that warn the operator if the long boom works outside its recommended working range. One of Volvo’s configurations is a two-piece adjustable boom for work in confined spaces.

A company that specializes in adaptations of standard machinery is Paul Wever Construction Equipment (PWCE). To this company, each application is a separate challenge. Its Extendavator adds an extra 8 to 50 feet, but it does not require an extra counterweight. Other products from PWCE give you an idea of what can be acquired from experts: an extendable paw and a third stick. One advantage of extra reach for your excavator is that you can collect dirt from a wider radius. The same manufacturer also offers an attachment that turns a backhoe into a crane, with a lifting capacity of 1,000 pounds. That could be practical for lifting and hoisting everyday materials like plywood, shingles, trusses, wall panels, shingles, and forms. PWCE also makes a Swamp Thing. Ask about it.

The list seems endless, and we have not included all the specialized attachments available. Our conclusion, after talking to manufacturers and contractors, is that you can probably find an attachment to do that special job that will expand your business and give you profitable results. It is quite possible that the attachment will not be made by a leading carrier manufacturer but by a company that specializes in attachments. Some of them have been making attachments for many years. They specialize, and they are good at what they do.