That’s a great question! The truth is, there isn’t one universal size. In fact, excavator buckets come in a massive range of sizes, from a compact 8-inch-wide bucket to the workhorse 24-inch bucket, all the way to the 6,600-litre buckets of the Bagger 288 – the world’s largest mining excavator!
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For this piece, we’re going to look at the 24-inch bucket seen on excavators all over the world.
Whether they are digging out soil for sewer line repair, moving stone on a job site, or pulling pieces of the old road off the ground, the 24-inch bucket is one of the most versatile and useful tools of the excavator.
Depending on the type of 24-inch bucket you are using, it should be able to handle between 500 lbs 1000 lbs of material.
Buckets come in various styles, including various teeth, thicknesses, optional protective pieces, and other elements that affect the maximum weight a bucket can handle.
Explore our services to find the best options tailored to your needs.
For our examples, we are going to use a maximum weight of 750 lbs.
50 Full-sized Bowling Balls
With an average weight of 15 pounds taken into account, the average excavator bucket could, in theory, carry 50 bowling balls.
If you think you can fit 50 regulation 15-pound bowling balls into a 24-inch excavator bucket, give us a call.
Between 38 and 40 Hams
We aren’t talking about the tiny little half-hams you pick up at the supermarket. If that were the case, the bucket could hold North of 150.
We are talking about the 18-to-20-pound full hams that require steel-toed boots to move around.
Roughly 250 Human Brains
At an average weight of 3 pounds, the human brain is no match for a 2-foot excavator bucket. In fact, it could theoretically carry 250 of them, though there isn’t a situation where that should ever occur.
Roughly 380 Litres of Water
If we take an average capacity of 0.5 yds (cubed), we get a volume of 382.77 litres. 382 litres of water weigh roughly 842 pounds.
We did say we were considering a 2-foot bucket could handle an average of 750 pounds of weight, but let’s be honest, water doesn’t exactly sit still in a moving bucket and isn’t likely to all stay in there at a perfect 380 litres.
545 Basketballs
If you could fit them all (possibly if you deflated them), you could lift 545 basketballs with a 24-inch excavator bucket.
And while deflating them might make the most sense, leaving them inflated is bound to make things more interesting.
950 Cans of Soup
Almost 1000 cans of soup will fit in the average excavator bucket. That’s a lot of soup. You’ll likely need a much bigger kitchen if you’re working with that many chicken noodles.
For Interest’s Sake
Even more interesting is the Bagger 288 has 22 of these buckets operating on a wheel non-stop.
That means one full wheel’s worth can yield 320,936 pounds of water on a single rotation. Remember, it is an earthmover; we use water as an example.
For more information on our earthmoving capabilities, contact Mr. Trenchless.
Imagine the size!
