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Build & QuoteCompact Excavator Attachments
Compact (Mini) Excavator Buyer’s Guide: Part 5 of 6
Explore a variety of compact excavator attachments that can turn your machine into a do-it-all, multipurpose tool.
Transform Your Compact Excavator with Attachments.
Excavator attachments play a vital role in enhancing the versatility of compact (mini) excavators, allowing operators to perform a wide variety of tasks with just one machine. With the appropriate attachment, your compact excavator can become a powerful multipurpose machine capable of tackling various tasks across different industries.
How to Choose the Right Compact Excavator Attachment
Selecting the appropriate attachment for your compact excavator requires careful consideration of several factors.
- Determine the specific application: Identify the task you want to perform and choose an attachment designed for that purpose.
- Consider the size and weight of the attachment: Ensure the attachment is compatible with your compact excavator's size and weight limitations.
- Check compatibility with the compact excavator: Verify the attachment can be easily connected to and operated by your compact excavator.
- Consider the durability and strength of the attachment: Opt for high-quality, robust attachments that can withstand the demands of your specific tasks.
- Determine the maintenance requirements of the attachment: Choose attachments that are easy to maintain and have readily available spare parts.
- Consider the usability of the attachment: Select attachments that are user-friendly and easy to operate.
Types of Excavator Coupler Systems
Attachment systems like couplers are used to connect various attachments to an excavator, enabling operators to switch between tasks seamlessly. Bobcat offers several styles of couplers:
Pin-On System
Standard on select compact and large excavators, this attachment system secures attachments directly to the machine's arm via pins – without the use of a coupler. This is a great option for operators who use a single attachment for extended periods.
Mechanical X-Change Coupler
The Bobcat-exclusive Mechanical X-Change coupler is standard on many Bobcat compact excavators, from the E26 through the E60. The pin-and-hook design easily guides the attachment into position and requires the operator to exit the cab to secure a single pin, making it more efficient than the manual pin-on system.
Learn More: Mechanical X-Change
Hydraulic X-Change Coupler
The Hydraulic X-Change coupler is an enhanced version of the Bobcat Mechanical X-Change coupler that enables quick and effortless attachment changes without tools. This mounting system eliminates the need to manually align attachment pins during hook-up. Operators can quickly change non-hydraulic attachments without leaving their seat.
Learn More: Hydraulic X-Change
Hydraulic Pin-Grabber Coupler
The Hydraulic pin-grabber couplers is a familiar, easy-to-use quick coupler that streamlines attachment changes and supports the reversal of the bucket. Operators can quickly change non-hydraulic attachments without leaving the cab. This system is available as an option on the Bobcat E26 through the E245.
Learn More: Hydraulic Pin-Grabber
Mechanical Pin-Grabber Coupler
Available as an option on smaller Bobcat compact excavator models, mechanical pin-grabber couplers provide an economical, robust and reliable connection between the compact excavator and the attachment. This style of quick coupler utilizes a dedicated release tool for quick unlock-and-release functionality, reducing the manual effort required.
Learn more: Mechanical Pin-Grabber
Hydraulic Tilt Coupler
Hydraulic tilt couplers offer greater attachment rotation for leading job-site productivity. Operators can quickly adjust the bucket or attachment angle rather than repositioning the excavator, saving operator time and effort. Available on the E88 and the E145, hydraulic tilt couplers can rotate any bucket or other attachment 134 degrees, or as much as 180 degrees, depending on the coupler model.
Learn More: Hydraulic Tilt Coupler
Learn about each Bobcat excavator attachment system with a more detailed description and explanation at: Bobcat Excavator Attachment Systems & Couplers
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Find A DealerTypes of Excavator Attachments
There are numerous attachments available for compact excavators, each designed for specific applications.
Buckets
4
Bucket Overview and Types
Buckets are the most common and essential attachments for compact excavators, designed for a variety of tasks and applications. They come in various types, including general purpose, heavy duty, trenching, ditching, skeleton, clamshell, grading and rock buckets.
Common types of compact excavator buckets include:
General Purpose Buckets
As the name suggests, are versatile attachments designed for a wide range of tasks, including digging, loading and backfilling. These buckets are ideal for handling various materials, such as soil, sand, gravel, and clay, making them suitable for most construction and landscaping applications.
Heavy-Duty Buckets
Are designed for more demanding tasks, such as handling abrasive materials or digging in rocky or hard ground. These buckets feature reinforced construction, thicker plates, and wear-resistant materials, ensuring durability and longevity in challenging conditions.
Trenching Buckets
Are designed for digging narrow, deep trenches for utilities, pipelines, or drainage systems. These buckets typically have a narrow profile and a flat cutting edge, enabling precise and efficient excavation with minimal soil disturbance.
Grading Buckets
Also known as tilting buckets, are designed for precision grading and leveling tasks. These buckets feature a unique tilting mechanism that allows the operator to adjust the bucket's angle, ensuring an even and smooth finish.
Rock Buckets
Are designed for handling and sorting large rocks, boulders and other heavy materials. These buckets typically feature reinforced construction, wear-resistant materials, and tines or fingers that allow smaller materials to pass through while retaining larger rocks.
Ditching Buckets
Are designed for grading, leveling, and creating shallow ditches for drainage or waterways. They feature a wide, shallow profile and a smooth cutting edge, ensuring an even finish and precise grading.
Skeleton Buckets
Also known as shaker or sorting buckets, are designed for separating rocks, debris and other unwanted materials from soil or gravel. These buckets feature a skeletal frame with gaps, allowing smaller particles to pass through while retaining larger materials.
Clamshell Buckets
Are designed for handling loose materials, such as sand, gravel, and waste, in vertical or overhead applications. These buckets feature a hinged two-piece design that opens and closes like a clam, allowing for efficient loading, unloading, and transporting of materials.
Grading Buckets
The pin-on grading bucket has a smooth lip that works great for finish grading, cleaning ditches, backfilling and leveling with your compact excavator. Its long bottom and low back maximize visibility and capacity.
Available buckets include:
- 32-inch grading bucket
- 39-inch grading bucket, no teeth
- 48-inch bucket, tilt
- 54-inch grading bucket
Trenching Pin-On Buckets
Trenching pin-on buckets dig narrow, deep trenches while maintaining excellent breakout forces and fast cycle times.
Available buckets include:
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Pin-on trenching bucket
- 9-inch
- 12-inch
- 16-inch
- 18-inch
- 20-inch
- 26-inch
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418 pin-on trenching bucket
- 8-inch
- 12-inch
- 16-inch
Trenching X-Change Buckets
Like their pin-on cousins, the X-Change trenching buckets are trenching workhorses that maintain breakout force and fast cycle times.
With the exclusive Bobcat X-Change™ system, you can quickly change attachments to save time when you need to use a variety of tools in one day.
Available models include:
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Grading buckets
- Class 4: 36-, 48- and 60-inch buckets
- Class 6: 60-inch pin-on bucket
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Smooth buckets
- Class 2: 16- and 24-inch buckets
- Class 3: 12-, 16-, 18-, 20-, 24- and 30-inch buckets
- Class 4: 12-, 24- and 30-inch buckets
- Class 5: 18-, 24-, 26- and 30-inch buckets
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Teeth buckets
- Class 2: 16-, 20- and 24-inch buckets
- Class 3: 12-, 16-, 18-, 20-, 24-, 30- and 36-inch buckets
- Class 4: 12-, 18-, 24-, 30- and 36-inch buckets
- Class 5: 18-, 24-, 30- and 36-inch buckets
- Class 6: 18-, 24- and 36-inch buckets
Augers
Augers are versatile and powerful attachments used for drilling holes in various types of soil and material for posts, piers, poles and trees with your compact excavator. A variety of tooth and bit options help you customize your digging performance for the conditions you work in the most. There are several types of augers designed for use with compact excavators, varying in size, design and functionality.
Most Common Auger Attachment Types:
Standard Auger Bits
These augers are ideal for drilling holes in soft-to-medium soils, such as clay, loam and sandy soils. They feature a basic flight and cutting head design suitable for most general-purpose drilling applications.
Rock Auger Bits
Designed for drilling in hard or rocky soils, rock augers feature heavy-duty cutting heads and flights to handle the increased resistance and abrasion encountered in these materials.
Tree Auger Bits
These augers have a specialized design for planting trees or large shrubs, with a tapered shape that creates a wider hole at the top and a narrower hole at the bottom. This design helps provide proper root development and stability for newly planted trees.
Combination Auger Bit
These augers are designed for use in various soil conditions, combining features of standard and rock augers to handle a range of materials, from soft soils to rocky or compacted ground.
Auger Attachments are widely used in various industries and applications, including:
Construction
Augers are commonly used for drilling holes for footings, piers and foundation supports, as well as for soil sampling and soil testing.
Landscaping
In landscaping projects, augers can be used for planting trees, installing fence posts and creating holes for irrigation systems.
Agriculture
Augers are used in agriculture for drilling holes for fence posts, planting trees and installing drainage systems.
Utility Installations
Augers are essential for creating holes for utility poles, conduit installation and underground utility lines.
Choose the right auger model to ensure the best reliability and durability on your jobsite.
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12PH and 14PH augers: for relatively easy digging in loose soil. Up to 24-inch diameter bits.
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20PH/25PH augers: for moderate to heavy digging, rocky soil and occasional tough digging. Up to 36-inch diameter bits.
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35PH/50PH augers: for hard, all-day digging through hardpan, frost or asphalt. Works well with large-diameter bits and hex drive applications.
Hydraulic Breakers
Turn your compact excavator into a powerful demolition machine that breaks through concrete, rock and asphalt with the hydraulic breaker attachment. Accurately and consistently dismantle interiors, flatwork or road surfaces in demolition, construction and quarrying environments.
Industry Uses & Applications of Hydraulic Breakers
They’re widely used in various industries and applications, including:
Demolition
Breakers are commonly used to demolish structures, break up concrete slabs and remove foundations.
Construction
In construction projects, breakers are often used to break up rock or concrete to create trenches for utilities or footings for new structures.
Quarrying
Breakers are used to break up large rocks and boulders in quarries to make them more manageable for crushing and processing.
Road maintenance
Breakers can be used to break up old asphalt, potholes and other damaged areas on roads and highways.
Trenching
Hydraulic breakers can be used to create trenches for utilities or drainage systems.
The hydraulic breaker attachment reduces noise and smooths operation while maintaining blows per minute. With a variety of breaker bits available, you can ensure the right results for your next project.
Available hydraulic breakers include:
- HB280
- HB680
- HB880
- HB980
- HB1180
- HB1380
- HB2380
Nitrogen Breakers
Pair the Bobcat nitrogen breaker with your compact excavator to turn concrete, rock and asphalt surfaces into rubble.
A long piston stroke delivers peak impact energy and reduces recoil, mitigating wear on your machine and minimizing required maintenance. A unique valve design decreases pressure fluctuations that put strain on your compact excavator’s hydraulic pumps.
Available models include:
- NB110
- NB140
- NB150
- NB160
- NB170
- NB180 with nail point
Grapples
Grapples are essential attachments for compact excavators, designed for handling and manipulating various materials, such as logs, rocks and debris. They come in a variety of designs and sizes to accommodate different materials and applications.
Some common types of grapples for compact excavators include:
Three-Tine Grapples
These grapples feature a three-tine design to lift and move brush, logs and other hard-to-manage materials with ease. The grapples can be used in many applications including land clearing, landscaping, demolition, construction and grounds maintenance. Use alone as a rake or with a hydraulic clamp for increased versatility.
Clamshell Grapples
These grapples feature two opposing scoop-like shells that open and close to grasp and contain materials. They are often used for handling loose granular materials, such as soil, gravel and sand.
Demolition Grapples
Designed specifically for demolition work, these grapples have heavy-duty, high-strength steel construction and are used to handle large debris, concrete and other materials from demolished structures.
Log Grapples
These grapples are designed for handling logs, branches and other forestry materials. They typically have a more extended, narrow design and curved tines to provide a secure grip on logs.
Scrap Grapples
Featuring wide, flat tines, scrap grapples are ideal for handling large volumes of scrap metal, recycling materials and other bulky items.
Pallet Fork Grapples
Combining the functionality of pallet forks with a grapple attachment, these grapples are designed for securely handling palletized materials.
Industry Uses & Applications for Grapples
Grapples are widely used in various industries and applications, including:
Construction
Grapples are commonly used in construction for handling materials such as debris, concrete and steel beams.
Demolition
In demolition projects, grapples are essential for handling and sorting debris and materials from demolished structures.
Landscaping
Grapples can be used in landscaping for handling rocks, logs and other materials used in landscape design and maintenance.
Forestry
Log grapples are commonly used in forestry operations for handling and moving logs and branches.
Recycling and Waste Management
Grapples are used for handling and sorting materials in recycling facilities and waste management operations.
Rippers
Rippers are essential attachments for compact excavators, providing the power and precision needed to break up hard or compacted materials in a variety of applications. They are particularly useful for excavation, trenching and other earthmoving tasks involving soil, rocks, asphalt and frozen ground. Rippers are available in different sizes and types, such as single-shank and multi-shank rippers.
Some common types of rippers for compact excavators include:
Single-Shank Rippers
These rippers feature a single heavy-duty tooth, or shank, designed to penetrate and break up hard materials. They are ideal for small-to-medium-size excavation projects where precision is required.
Multi-Shank Rippers
Equipped with multiple teeth or shanks, multi-shank rippers offer greater coverage and are more effective in breaking up large areas of compacted material. They are suitable for large-scale excavation and earthmoving tasks.
Frost Rippers
Designed specifically for breaking up frozen ground and ice, frost rippers have a specialized tooth shape and a reinforced shank to withstand the extreme conditions they encounter.
Industry Uses & Applications for Rippers
Rippers are versatile attachments with various applications, including:
Excavation
Rippers are often used in excavation projects to break up hard or compacted soil, making it easier to remove and transport.
Trenching
In trenching operations, rippers can be used to create narrow trenches for utilities, irrigation systems or drainage.
Road Construction and Repair
Rippers are useful for breaking up asphalt, compacted gravel or other hard surfaces during road construction or repair projects.
Land Clearing
Rippers can help break up and remove roots, rocks and other obstructions when clearing land for construction, agriculture or landscaping.
Mining
In mining operations, rippers can be used to break up hard rock or ore deposits for extraction.
Compactors
3
Compactors Overview
Compactors are versatile and essential attachments designed to compact soil, gravel, asphalt and other materials to create a solid and stable surface. They play a vital role in construction, roadwork, landscaping and other industries.
Some common types of compactors for compact excavators include:
Plate Compactors
These compactors feature a flat vibrating plate that applies direct pressure to the surface, providing even and consistent compaction. Plate compactors are ideal for compacting granular soils, gravel and asphalt.
Tamping Compactors
Tamping compactors use a series of downward strikes or impacts to compact the material, making them ideal for compacting cohesive soils, such as clay and silt.
Packer Wheels
Their compact design allows for operation in small areas without any hydraulic connections. Safely compact backfilled trenches with powerful force while eliminating the need for someone to work in the trench.
Compactors have various applications in different industries, including:
Construction
Compactors are used to prepare building sites by compacting the soil, creating a stable foundation for construction projects.
Roadwork
Compactors are used to compact the base layer and asphalt during road construction and repair, ensuring a smooth and durable surface.
Landscaping
Compactors are essential for creating stable and even surfaces for patios, walkways and other landscaping features.
Utilities and pipeline installation: Compactors are used to compact the soil around buried utilities and pipelines, providing stability and support.
Waste Management
Compactors can be used to compact waste materials in landfills, maximizing the available space.
Plate Compactors
Use the force of your compact excavator to compact trenches, footings and slab areas with the Bobcat plate compactor.
With the ability to create more compaction force than a hand-operated compactor, this tough attachment provides faster results and increases operator comfort by reducing the need for manual compaction in the trench.
It’s essential for effective and efficient compaction in hard-to-reach areas, like trenches or on slopes. It also pairs well with Bobcat hand-operated plate compactors for extra productivity.
Models include:
- PCF34 (3,400-pound dynamic force)
- PCF64 (6,400-pound dynamic force)
Packer Wheels
The packer wheel attachment can compact backfilled trenches with powerful force and labor-saving efficiency. It reduces the need for conventional compaction equipment and eliminates the need for a person working in the trench.
Its compact design allows for operation in small areas. No auxiliary hydraulics required.
Trenchers
Your compact excavator can cut trenches for utility and irrigation systems and power and water lines with the Bobcat trencher. Work close to buildings, walls, fences and other objects, and tackle all soil conditions.
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Light-to-medium trenching jobs: Handle 2-to-3-foot dig depths with the LT112, LT113 and LT213.
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Medium-to-heavy-duty trenching jobs: Ideal for utility installation, the LT313 delivers a 3-to-4-foot depth, and the LT414 delivers a 4-to-5-foot dig depth.
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Heavy-duty trenching jobs: Reach 3-to-5-foot dig depths with the LT405.
Drum Mulchers
The Bobcat drum mulcher is the ideal attachment for clearing trees and heavy brush with your compact excavator – along roadsides, riverbanks and other hard-to-reach areas.
Available for 4-to-8-ton compact excavators, this attachment mulches overgrowth and trees up to 5 inches thick. Axial piston hydraulic motors optimize rotor speed and torque for maximum productivity.
Available models include:
- 28-inch drum mulcher
- 36-inch drum mulcher
- 50-inch drum mulcher
Flail Mowers
Attack difficult brush and sapling clearing projects with your compact excavator. The Bobcat® flail mower can easily shred vegetation on almost any terrain, including hillsides, roadways, trails, riverbanks and utility right-of-way. Use it to clear ditches, control overgrowth or prepare land for construction.
With its powerful rotor brake, the attachment stops in seven seconds or less – saving valuable time after hydraulics are deactivated. Heavy-duty flanges protect the drive train from dust and debris.
Available models include:
- 30-inch flail mower
- 40-inch flail mower
- Reinforced 40-inch flail mower
Hydra-Tilt Swing Accessory
Power through your workday with the flexibility and productivity of the Hydra-Tilt™ swing accessory. This convenient tool saves time on jobs by allowing you to tilt the bucket instead of moving the entire machine.
Use the Hydra-Tilt to angle your excavator bucket 30 degrees to the left or right for 60 degrees of total tilt. It's useful for digging around and under objects, such as culverts, tree roots, foundations and sewer lines, or creating slopes, grades and contours.
Additional Attachments
There are many other attachments available for Bobcat excavators, including grading blades, clamps, and the Pro Clamp™ system that enables you to get a wider grip for large objects or grade the trench.
There also are swing accessories, like PowerTilt and Hydra-Tilt, which enable you to angle your bucket or attachment for more maneuverability and capability. There are 20 unique attachments for Bobcat compact excavators.
Making an Informed Buying Decision
Compact excavator attachments significantly enhance the versatility and functionality of these machines. By carefully selecting the appropriate attachment, operators can transform their compact excavators into multipurpose tools capable of tackling countless tasks with precision and efficiency.
With coupler options that enable quick, seamless attachment changes, like the X-Change system, Hydraulic X-Change system, the hydraulic pin grabber, and the mechanical pin grabber, you can move from one job to the next in minutes.
A diverse range of attachments caters to different applications and project demands, including excavation, demolition, landscaping, forestry, mining, roadwork, utilities, and waste management. These attachments empower operators to maximize productivity and accomplish jobs with confidence and ease.
