Should I Fit A Quick Hitch To My Mini Digger?

Should I fit a Quick Hitch to my Mini Digger?


Quick Hitches are an extremely popular attachment, that a huge proportion of plant hire and excavator operators will use and prefer. There are many reasons for and against using a Quick Hitch on your Mini Digger or Excavator, including efficiency, safety and cost. In this post we will sum up the 6 most obvious reasons why you may or may not want to fit a Quick Hitch to your machine. Keep reading to see if a Quick Hitch is the right choice for you.

Don't want to read? Watch the video below instead.

When to use a Quick Hitch:


You change Attachments regularly - Speeds up changes

Are you changing between attachments regularly? If 'Yes', then fitting a Quick Hitch is probably the answer for you! Changing attachments over and over again without a Hitch can be very tiring, can cause injuries and means it can take a lot longer than it needs to. The Quick Hitch is designed to significantly speed up your bucket and attachment changes. Instead of smacking bucket pins in and out, you just need to remove the captive safety pin and push down on a lever to open a latch and release the bucket pin. This can speed up your changes from 10 minutes to 15 seconds - obviously reducing the amount of downtime and increasing the amount of time you have to work on your projects.

Reduces Manual Handling

Buckets and attachments for a Mini Excavator don't tend to be very big or heavy so it is physically possible for them to be man-handled into place to be fitted to your machine. But, it has been proven that most construction injuries are due to manual handling and have happened when lifting things not much over 25 kg - which isn't very much when a standard 36" Grading Bucket weighs around 45 kg. So, fitting a Quick Coupler reduces the need to push and pull attachments into place while trying to smacking bucket pins in and out, making your jobs much safer for you and your team.

Stops damage to Pins / Bushes / Tipping Links

It's no secret to any excavator operator that has to change buckets and attachments manually that, driving the pins in and out of the bucket will cause damage to your pins, bushes and bucket links. It's also no surprise that having to replace these components when worn or damaged can cost almost as much as fitting a Quick Coupler. So fitting a Hitch will reduce the wear on your equipment and save you money on frequent replacement parts.


When not to use a Quick Hitch:


The Cost - Too Expensive

Manual Quick Hitches / Mechanical Pin Grabber Couplers aren't cheap - many people think they are too expensive and may not be worth the price. Many of the Hitches on the market range between £400 - £800. This price can be justified, or not justified, by many people based off of its performance and how they use their excavator. Keep reading to help you decide whether this investment is right for you.

Only using 1 Attachment

If you're only using one attachment over and over, we would usually recommend that you don't need to fit a Quick Coupler to your Excavator because the cost would not out-way the benefit of using one. You will not need to speed up your attachment changes as you don't need to change attachments - and seeing as though this is the primary benefit of using a Hitch, it wouldn't be worth it.

Repetitive Harsh Jobs

A Quick Hitch is made of strong steel but is still considered to be a more fragile piece of machinery. So, if you regularly use hard wearing attachments like a Breaker or a Skeleton Bucket on your machine, we advise you not to use a Hitch, as it can cause wear or damage to your hitch. In this situation, we would recommend directly mounting your attachments to the end of your Excavator Arm. Many manufacturers, including Rhinox, do not offer warranty on Couplers if they have been used with these sorts of attachments. For more examples of when your Hitch warranty would be deemed void. Read more on Hitch warranty.

Reduces Breakout Force

Breakout Force is the amount of force put though the Excavator Arm into the attachment and then into the ground. Attaching a Hitch to your Excavator Arm will add extra length to the end of the arm and this can slightly reduce breakout force. In many cases, this will not have a significant effect and the reduction in Breakout Force is negligible and doesn't impact the jobs you're carrying out. But, if strength is important to you, this is something you should consider.

Want to know more about the Rhinox Manual Quick Hitch, watch the videos below.

Related Posts

Our Machine Fitment Guarantee (Video)
Our Machine Fitment Guarantee (Video)
Our Machine Fitment Guarantee Here at Rhinox we can guarantee that our mini digger, excavator and telehandler buc...
Read More
Types of Excavator Bucket Pins & Best Uses
Types of Excavator Bucket Pins & Best Uses
Types of Excavator Bucket Pins & Best Uses Selecting the right type of pins for your digger buckets and attachme...
Read More
Our 3CX Backhoe VS Standard Shell (Video)
Our 3CX Backhoe VS Standard Shell (Video)
Our 3CX Backhoe VS Standard Shell What are the differences between the Rhinox backhoe shell and the standard 5 to...
Read More

Leave a comment

Comments have to be approved before showing up