Guide to Excavator Concrete Pouring Buckets
Pouring concrete on a jobsite isn’t always as simple as it sounds. Tight spaces, uneven ground or areas that a concrete truck can’t reach can quickly slow down your project. That’s where an excavator bucket for pouring concrete comes in handy. A concrete pouring bucket is specialised attachment that turns your excavator into a pouring machine, letting you move and pour materials exactly where you need them. Whether you’re working on footings, slabs or filling trenches, a concrete pouring bucket helps you reduce waste and get cleaner, more accurate pours. In this guide, we’ll cover most compatible materials, bucket lifespan and the stand out features of Rhinox concrete pouring buckets to help you find the right one for your machine.
What is an Excavator Concrete Pouring Bucket?
An excavator concrete pouring bucket is a specialized excavator attachment designed to transport and accurately pour material, like concrete. A concrete bucket is ideal for pouring in tight, complex or boggy areas of a site where a concrete truck can’t easily access. Concrete pouring buckets are designed to fit directly onto the arm of your excavator, turning it into a versatile tool and cost-effective solution for pouring concrete on construction and groundworks sites.
What are the advantages of using a concrete bucket?
A concrete pouring bucket offers a range of benefits that make it an essential and versatile excavator attachment for construction and groundwork sites. From improving accuracy and reducing waste to cutting costs and lead times.
1. Increases Pouring Accuracy
One of the main benefits of using an excavator concrete bucket is the accuracy of pouring. Concrete buckets are designed to efficiently transfer concrete from the concrete truck to your desired location - whether that's a foundation trench, a concrete slab or another specific area on-site. This level of control makes sure the concrete is placed exactly where it’s needed, minimising spillage and helping maintain a professional finish. The accuracy provided by an excavator concrete pouring bucket is particularly valuable on projects with tight tolerances or hard-to-reach areas where traditional pouring methods, like a concrete pump, might struggle.
2. Use with Multiple Materials
You might be wondering, "Can I use a concrete pouring bucket for materials other than concrete?". While concrete pouring buckets are primarily designed for concrete, they are surprisingly versatile. They can efficiently handle a variety of loose materials such as gravel, sand, woodchips or other pourable aggregates. This makes them ideal not just for pouring concrete, but also for distributing materials across a larger site, like on a large play park, driveway or yard.
3. Reduces Concrete Waste
Concrete waste happens frequently because there’s often a lag in controlling the flow from a concrete truck or pump. Using a concrete pouring bucket helps minimise overspill and material loss by allowing you to instantly start, stop and control the flow speed of your concrete while pouring. This not only helps prevent overpouring but also delivers a cleaner, more professional finish without the hassle of a large post-pour clean-up. For projects that demand accuracy, a concrete pouring bucket is a true game-changer.
4. Improves On-Site Operations
Using a concrete pouring bucket on your excavator allows you to work efficiently in areas that concrete trucks can’t access, such as tight spaces, uneven terrain or boggy sites. Rather than struggling to manoeuvre a concrete truck, your excavator can simply travel between the truck and the pour site, transporting and pouring the concrete exactly where needed. It also keeps your excavator productive, instead of sitting idle while waiting for other operations. When paired with a concrete pouring bucket, your excavator becomes a key tool in the pouring process, maximising both machine and operator efficiency.
5. Cost-Effective Solution & Shorter Lead Times
Compared to more complex concrete systems like concrete pumps, excavator concrete pouring buckets are a cost-effective solution to pouring concrete. For small to medium sized projects, an excavator concrete bucket eliminates the need to rent expensive equipment, which often comes with a long lead time. Once you have a concrete bucket, it’s ready to use on-site whenever you need it, offering both convenience and long-term value. This combination of affordability and readiness makes an excavator concrete pouring bucket a practical choice for a wide range of construction projects.
What is the lifespan of a concrete bucket?
The lifespan of a concrete pouring bucket comes down to how it's used, maintained and the material quality. High-quality buckets, like those from Rhinox, are built from durable steel and can last many years under normal working conditions. Regular inspection, proper handling and timely replacement of worn components can significantly extend your bucket’s life. During checks, make sure to clear out any concrete debris around your hangers and bucket pins, this will help prevent unnecessary wear. If you do notice any wear or damage to your bucket pins, it’s important to replace them promptly to avoid wear and keep your bucket operating smoothly.
How to keep concrete from sticking to a bucket?
To prevent concrete from sticking to your excavator pouring bucket, make sure to clean it thoroughly after every use. Rinse the bucket with water immediately after pouring to remove any leftover concrete before it hardens. If build-up has already occurred, applying a release agent can help loosen and remove it. Regular cleaning and maintenance not only keeps your bucket in top condition but also improves your efficiency with every pour. Hardened concrete adds unnecessary weight and reduces your bucket’s capacity, forcing your excavator to work harder and limiting the amount of material you can carry and pour.
Rhinox Concrete Pouring Buckets - Stand-out Features
Excavator Compatibility
Rhinox excavator concrete pouring buckets are available to suit many of the most popular excavator models in the industry. We manufacture concrete buckets to fit excavators from 5 to 25 tons, ensuring there’s a suitable option whether you operate a compact mini excavator or heavy-duty construction excavators.
Multi-Pin Pick-Up & In-Built Pin Storage
To help you get the most value from your investment, Rhinox concrete pouring buckets are designed with a versatile multi-pin pick-up system. This design means one attachment can be used across a range of excavator models, reducing the need for multiple buckets and keeping costs down. The 5 to 9 ton Rhinox concrete pouring bucket are supplied with 45mm, 50mm and 60mm dog bone pins, along with an extra 45mm pin and pin hole to suit most 5 ton mini excavators and JCB 3CX hydraulic quick hitches. Our 12 to 25 ton concrete bucket is fitted with 65mm and 80mm dog bone pins, compatible with most excavators in that weight class. Each Rhinox concrete pouring bucket also includes in-built pin storage, allowing unused pins to be safely stored when not in use. This flexibility makes Rhinox buckets ideal for both construction and excavator rental sectors, that run a variety of different models.
Dedicated Pick-ups
Rhinox concrete pouring buckets are also available to connect seamlessly with your S60 or S70 tilt rotate hitches, such as Engcon, Rototilt, Steelwrist and Kinshofer Nox. The S60 tilt rotate concrete bucket is designed with fixed bucket pins to suit your 12 to 15 ton tiltrotator excavator, while the S70 has fixed bucket pins to suit 20 to 25 ton tiltrotator excavator. These dedicated hangers feature weld-in pins to make connecting the concrete bucket to your excavator quickly and easily.
Bucket Capacities & Weight
Our concrete pouring buckets are built to handle a wide range of project sizes. Each Rhinox concrete bucket has been carefully designed to work in line with your excavator’s lifting capacity, ensuring the bucket’s volume and weight stay safely within limits. See the tables listed below to view the capacity for each Rhinox concrete bucket.
| Compatibility | Bucket Pin Sizes | Bucket Capacity | Bucket Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 to 9 ton Excavator | 45mm, 50mm & 60 mm | 0.35 m³ / 350 L | 257.6 kg |
| 12 to 25 ton Excavator | 65 mm & 80 mm | 1 m³ / 1,000 L | 403.8 kg |
| S60 Tiltrotator (12-15 ton) | Fixed Pins | 0.75 m³ / 750 L | 344 kg |
| S70 Tiltrotator (20-25 ton) | Fixed Pins | 0.75 m³ / 750 L | 383 kg |
Rounded Chute
The feature that makes the Rhinox concrete pouring bucket stand out is the rounded chute on the front of the bucket. With extensive research into concrete pouring efficiency, we found that a rounded chute is the best design for accurate pouring. Like pouring water from a jug, the curved chute guides the material exactly where you need it, which is particularly beneficial when pouring into narrow trenches, around pipes or into small containers. The rounded shape also prevents material from getting trapped in corners or joints, making it ideal for pouring other aggregates like pea shingle and woodchip.
Adjustable Gate
Rhinox concrete pouring buckets also feature an adjustable gate that gives operators full control over the flow of material during a pour. The gate is designed with concave and convex edges, allowing you to adjust the flow rate. For jobs where maximum flow is required, the gate can also be fully removed. This flexibility helps prevent overspill, reduces waste and ensures a smooth, consistent pour.
Bucket Transportation HooksEfficiency and safety are top priorities on any construction site, which is why Rhinox concrete pouring buckets are designed with robust bucket transportation hooks. These bucket hooks allow you to move multiple buckets at once - whether across the site or when loading onto trailers. This prevents uneven stacking of buckets, minimising the chance of falling buckets or damage to equipment. With transportation hooks, moving and storing your Rhinox concrete pouring bucket is faster, safer and more efficient, keeping your site running smoothly. |
Why does the Rhinox Concrete Pouring Bucket have a chute?
As concrete pouring buckets grow in popularity on construction and groundworks sites, digger attachment manufacturers are continually developing designs to create the most efficient products for their customers. With over 30 years in the industry, our research found that a concrete bucket with a rounded chute is the best design, but why?
1. Increases Pouring Accuracy
When pouring, a concrete bucket chute funnels your material into one narrow passage, allowing you to accurately pour into small or complex areas with near centimetre precision - especially when paired with a chute gate.
Think of pouring water from a mug vs a jug. When pouring from a mug the liquid flows over the wide side of the mug, sometimes dribbling down the side and spilling water outside of where you intended to pour it. Compared to pouring from a jug with a spout, that channels the water into a smaller point, creating a narrower stream of water directly into where you intended.
The chute on a concrete pouring bucket works the same, funnelling your concrete into the desired location to create a thinner stream of material. Overall improving your directional accuracy and making it much easier to pour narrow foundations, fill small containers and manoeuvre the concrete around small pipes already laid in the ground.
2. Reduces Concrete Waste
As previously mentioned, pouring concrete from a bucket without a chute can cause a lot more mess than you'd first expect. The chute channels your material directly into the intended area, reducing the chance of overspill or waste. Whereas a concrete pouring bucket without a chute often results in concrete trailing down the side of the bucket, not only dripping on the floor creating waste, but also increasing the clean up required after pouring.
Helping to reduce waste further, we have designed our chute with a smooth, rounded appearance. This rounded profile prevents material from getting stuck in any corners or joins while pouring, ensuring that material isn't wasted and the bucket cleaning process is effortless. The chute on the Rhinox concrete pouring bucketis also raised 1 inch from the bottom of the bucket to prevent residual concrete or other materials from leaking out of the bucket when placed on the ground or when awaiting refill. In the world of construction, precision and efficiency is paramount. The chute on the Rhinox concrete pouring bucket is a testament to innovation and addressing the critical needs of the industry, but don't just take our word for it, listen to what a construction excavator operator has to say about the Rhinox concrete pouring bucket in the video below.
Where can I purchase an excavator concrete pouring bucket?
If you’re looking to buy a concrete pouring bucket, Rhinox makes it simple. Our full range of concrete pouring buckets, suitable for 5 to 25 ton excavators and compatible with popular hanger systems, is available directly through the Rhinox website. When you purchase a Rhinox bucket, you’re investing in a high-quality, durable attachment backed by a lifetime weld guarantee and a machine fitment guarantee for complete peace of mind. Plus, our friendly UK-based sales and support team is available Monday to Friday (07:30 to 16:30) to answer any questions and help you find the right bucket for your excavator. Browse our full range of Rhinox concrete pouring buckets today to find the perfect fit for your machine.
