Choosing the Right Excavator Attachments for Your Needs

Attachments help you expand the capabilities of your machine and handle a much wider variety of tasks, but only if you use the correct ones. With the right excavator attachment, you can take on demolition jobs, material handling, mulching, grading, compacting, and much more. In this article, we talk about how to choose the best excavator attachments for your specific needs and requirements.

Know the different types of excavator attachments

There is a huge variety of attachment options to choose from. Here are some of the most popular types:

Excavator buckets – The most commonly used excavator attachments are buckets. They allow your machine to dig, carry material, and perform grading, leveling, and backfilling tasks. There are many different excavator buckets available, including digging, rock, grading, ditch cleaning, trenching, and others.

Multiprocessors – Using multiprocessors gives you a set of powerful jaws that cut and break apart hard material on demolition jobs.

Excavator grapples – These attachments help you grab and place scrap, wood, brush, piping, and more. Grapples turn your machine into a material handler on jobs of all shapes and sizes.

Hydraulic breakers – Also known as hammers, hydraulic breakers smash solid material like concrete, rock, and even steel into smaller pieces, helping demolish structures on demolition jobs.

Excavator shears – Equipping your machine with excavator shears allows you to cut and shred structural steel, rebar, scrap metals, and other construction materials.

Excavator thumbs – When paired with excavator buckets, excavator thumbs give operators precise control for loading and moving debris, rock, and other loose material.

In addition to these commonly used excavator attachments, there is a wide variety of others types, including plate compactors, pulverizers, trenchers, and more.

Understand your machine’s specifications

It doesn’t matter if you’re using hydraulic breakers, grapples, multiprocessors, or another excavator attachment, they all rely on your equipment’s hydraulic circuit. Excavators will typically be described as “high flow” or “standard flow”, but these labels can be different from one manufacturer to the next. Generally speaking, high flow circuits exceed 26 gallons per minute of hydraulic flow, while standard flow circuits provide 22 gallons per minute. Make sure the excavator attachment you use doesn’t push your machine’s hydraulic system beyond its recommended limits.

Find out if it’s compatible

Once you determine the type of excavator attachment you need and ensure it’s within the hydraulic capabilities of your machine, next you have to see if it’s compatible with your mounting system. The majority of excavator attachments have a universal mount, but there may be variations based on your specific make and model.

Try out the attachment

Before buying an excavator attachment, we suggest scheduling a demo. By allowing your operators to test it out first, you will know how simple they are to install, how easy they are to maneuver, and how well they handle the projects you need them to handle.

Contact our team

There are many different excavator attachments available, so we recommend talking with our equipment experts before making a decision. We’ll need to understand what your usual jobs include and which type of excavator you are using. Then, we’ll assist you with determining the correct size and type of attachments that will work best.

Meet with our team to find the best excavator attachments for you.