Excavator bucket

YotaOnRocks

YotaOnRocks

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2007
Location
Madison
Paging @jeepinmatt and anybody else that might know. Buying a mini ex and don't know much about them. Wanting to buy a smaller bucket to go with the big one it has and not sure what buckets will work. The bucket and thumb both have TEC on them but my Google Fu has let me down on finding the manufacturer. Here is a pic of the current set up.
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What brand is the machine? They are usually model specific. USA attachments in king nc is where I bought my thumb for my mini, excellent to deal with!
 
Looks like maybe a kx080?

I've never heard of TEC in my excavator dealings, but that coupler looks like a standard shape.
 
TEC is a Komatsu dealer in the Alabama and Georgia area. Sometimes dealer names are welded on. It may have a plate riveted on with the manufacture and all the bucket specs. If not you can order through a KUBOTA Dealer, sometimes they will have one in stock somewhere and get it right away. Werk Brau (WB) used to make Kubota buckets but now Kubota is doing it in house through Landpride I think. It might be easiest and cheapest to go to USA Attachments and get them to build you one. I purchased some mini buckets from them years ago and had good luck.I also have some Construction Attachments buckets for my mini made in Lenoir, NC and they are very heavy duty. Since you have a quick coupler, any bucket made for that machine size with the same coupler should work.
 
1tonchev said:
TEC is a Komatsu dealer in the Alabama and Georgia area. Sometimes dealer names are welded on. It may have a plate riveted on with the manufacture and all the bucket specs. If not you can order through a KUBOTA Dealer, sometimes they will have one in stock somewhere and get it right away. Werk Brau (WB) used to make Kubota buckets but now Kubota is doing it in house through Landpride I think. It might be easiest and cheapest to go to USA Attachments and get them to build you one. I purchased some mini buckets from them years ago and had good luck.I also have some Construction Attachments buckets for my mini made in Lenoir, NC and they are very heavy duty. Since you have a quick coupler, any bucket made for that machine size with the same coupler should work.
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Was hoping to buy used and didn't know how to tell what style coupler I have and/or what will work with it. There is also a lot of slop in the current coupler set up that I need to fix.
 
Also the hose going to the thumb is leaking at what appears to be some kind of swivel hydraulic fitting. Any reason I can't just hook the hose straight to the hardline on the boom?
 
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Any bucket for a KX161 with a Kubota Quick coupler should work, not sure if the KX057 and U45 use the same coupler or not. Would have to measure to be sure. You can connect the hose to the hardline. They may have had a disconnect on there for another attachment.
 
You've already found people who know more than me :D

@braxton357 knows Kubota excavators pretty well also.

Looks like a fairly common style of snap in quick change, but thats all I got. And any quick change system is going to be sloppier than a pin on because of the added interface points or decreased pin contact area. Usually worth the trade off though. Mine has a TAG quick change and it gets the job done, but the slop bugs me.
 
That's a good machine. Only the u45 and 161 share buckets but they shouldn't be hard to find. I use US attachments out of King NC for buckets and thumbs and they are great, call them on the phone they'll make you a good deal. When you're searching you probably already know but what you have is the quick attach, a "pin on" is standard old gotta beat the pins out style. You can always buy weld on 161 quick attach ears if you find a really good deal on some bucket and weld them on yourself but the geometry might not be perfect.
 
braxton357 said:
That's a good machine. Only the u45 and 161 share buckets but they shouldn't be hard to find. I use US attachments out of King NC for buckets and thumbs and they are great, call them on the phone they'll make you a good deal. When you're searching you probably already know but what you have is the quick attach, a "pin on" is standard old gotta beat the pins out style. You can always buy weld on 161 quick attach ears if you find a really good deal on some bucket and weld them on yourself but the geometry might not be perfect.
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My buddy told me I could have the bucket that came on his new bobcat 32 but it has a tag system and wasn't sure if I would have to modify the bucket to fit mine.
 
YotaOnRocks said:
My buddy told me I could have the bucket that came on his new bobcat 32 but it has a tag system and wasn't sure if I would have to modify the bucket to fit mine.
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More info on that TAG bucket, we might could work something out ;)
 
Got another excavator question. My ignition key doesn't work any of the access panel locks or the hood/back cover lock. Some of the small access panels look new but the hood and under seat panel look original. Discoverd this issue while trying to access the fuse panel under the seat.

Is this typically a different key? How might one go about trying to get keys for them? I see no numbers on the face of the lock.
 
YotaOnRocks said:
Paging @jeepinmatt and anybody else that might know. Buying a mini ex and don't know much about them. Wanting to buy a smaller bucket to go with the big one it has and not sure what buckets will work. The bucket and thumb both have TEC on them but my Google Fu has let me down on finding the manufacturer. Here is a pic of the current set up.
View attachment 323064
Click to expand...

Looks like a good machine. I'm looking for a bucket/loader myself. Did u get it at auction?
 
YotaOnRocks said:
Got another excavator question. My ignition key doesn't work any of the access panel locks or the hood/back cover lock. Some of the small access panels look new but the hood and under seat panel look original. Discoverd this issue while trying to access the fuse panel under the seat.

Is this typically a different key? How might one go about trying to get keys for them? I see no numbers on the face of the lock.
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Will it go in the hole? Shoot some WD40 in there and try it again once it has time to soak in. Typically they are the same key, but if the cylinder hasn't been cycled in years and is just collecting dust, then it may seem to not work.
 
YotaOnRocks said:
Got another excavator question. My ignition key doesn't work any of the access panel locks or the hood/back cover lock. Some of the small access panels look new but the hood and under seat panel look original. Discoverd this issue while trying to access the fuse panel under the seat.

Is this typically a different key? How might one go about trying to get keys for them? I see no numbers on the face of the lock.
Click to expand...

It's just rusted up.
 
jeepinmatt said:
Will it go in the hole? Shoot some WD40 in there and try it again once it has time to soak in. Typically they are the same key, but if the cylinder hasn't been cycled in years and is just collecting dust, then it may seem to not work.
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Yes it goes in the hole on all the cylinders. I'll try some lube and see where it gets me.
 
Ok so got another question. While adjusting track tension after replacing the rollers I discovered the machine won't lift/hold itself up. I had to push down with the boom and lift the rear and then use the blade to pick it off the ground, the boom arm wouldn't lift it if I did the blade first. Is this normal?

Then after doing that it would only hold for a very short period before the boom let the machine back down. The blade seemed to hold its position. I have noticed a very small leak from the main boom cylinder when it sits.

I'm excavator stupid so maybe these are normal or non important issues but I thought i would ask here and see if i should be fixing these things and if so where I should start. Thanks
 
YotaOnRocks said:
Ok so got another question. While adjusting track tension after replacing the rollers I discovered the machine won't lift/hold itself up. I had to push down with the boom and lift the rear and then use the blade to pick it off the ground, the boom arm wouldn't lift it if I did the blade first. Is this normal?

Then after doing that it would only hold for a very short period before the boom let the machine back down. The blade seemed to hold its position. I have noticed a very small leak from the main boom cylinder when it sits.

I'm excavator stupid so maybe these are normal or non important issues but I thought i would ask here and see if i should be fixing these things and if so where I should start. Thanks
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Mine will pick itself up fairly easily, even with the blade down first. But that also depends on the weight distribution of the machine and how much hydraulic power it has. Also, whether the boom and jib are extended or up close. I would think yours should have no issue with it though.

It's not unusual for them to leak down. Could be the cylinder or the control valve, but thats pretty normal on machines with more than a few hundred hours on them (AKA all my old junk does that). But when you say "very short period" are we talking 5 seconds or 5 minutes? 5 seconds is pretty severe, a few minutes is no biggie.

Given these two things, its sounds like your boom cylinder has a pretty worn seal and is allowing fluid to pass by, especially if it is leaking down in the neighborhood of seconds, not minutes.
 
jeepinmatt said:
Mine will pick itself up fairly easily, even with the blade down first. But that also depends on the weight distribution of the machine and how much hydraulic power it has. Also, whether the boom and jib are extended or up close. I would think yours should have no issue with it though.

It's not unusual for them to leak down. Could be the cylinder or the control valve, but thats pretty normal on machines with more than a few hundred hours on them (AKA all my old junk does that). But when you say "very short period" are we talking 5 seconds or 5 minutes? 5 seconds is pretty severe, a few minutes is no biggie.

Given these two things, its sounds like your boom cylinder has a pretty worn seal and is allowing fluid to pass by, especially if it is leaking down in the neighborhood of seconds, not minutes.
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It starts dropping within 30 seconds
 
jeepinmatt said:
Mine will pick itself up fairly easily, even with the blade down first. But that also depends on the weight distribution of the machine and how much hydraulic power it has. Also, whether the boom and jib are extended or up close. I would think yours should have no issue with it though.

It's not unusual for them to leak down. Could be the cylinder or the control valve, but thats pretty normal on machines with more than a few hundred hours on them (AKA all my old junk does that). But when you say "very short period" are we talking 5 seconds or 5 minutes? 5 seconds is pretty severe, a few minutes is no biggie.

Given these two things, its sounds like your boom cylinder has a pretty worn seal and is allowing fluid to pass by, especially if it is leaking down in the neighborhood of seconds, not minutes.
Click to expand...

I was thinking that maybe since the cylinder is leaking externally that an internal seal might be leaking some causing it to loose pressure and not be able to lift the machines weight
 
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