Quickhitches.....

[john345me]

the blooy bucket pins are heavy to lift bet they dont think about that when they go on about safty end up doing your back in

[samk706]

ye you hear H&S going on about lifting properly then they make you go back to having to lift heavy pins whenever you need a bucket change

ive seen it alot where drivers have changed buckets every 5 mins because of needing a different bucket for a different part of the job they are doing

sam

[Julian]

I don't know anything about quickhitches, but I have a story that's worth telling and remembering.

A few decades ago I lived in the town of Nantwich which was undergoing major work to renew the sewers - tunneling underneath a river using airlocks and pressurisation etc. I remember watching a chap on a (about 15 ton) 360 excavator changing a bucket in the old fashioned way, he was belting a pin in with a sledge hammer. Unfortunately a tiny sliver of metal from the pin went flying as he hammered it and went right into his eye, to the best of my knowledge the chap went permanently blind in the eye.

I'd say it would be wise to stand behind the hammer if you do have to resort to using it and hopefully remain out of the firing line.

Julian.

[samk706]

that sounds like a good bit of advise, worth listening to

[d4c24a]

unless something is bent twisted or badly out of line there is no need to use a hammer at all to get pins in

i don't have the luxury of a quick hitch ,as the case has its own crappy setup where you have to put the main pin in and out by hand
and can only use dedicated buckets

[diggerjones]

yes julian, i remember that sewer job our bus was always late because of all the divisions. think there was a few mishaps on that job. think someone died in a manhole if i remember rightly.

[Julian]

yes julian, i remember that sewer job our bus was always late because of all the divisions. think there was a few mishaps on that job. think someone died in a manhole if i remember rightly.

Yes, that rings a bell, someone did die I think. I also remember watching the river Weaver flood a workings and semi submerge a digger because a large pipe that was supposed to take the flow wasn't anything like big enough following a cloudburst.

I also chatted regularly to a couple of very friendly Irish navvies. (do we still have Irish navvies in the UK?) One day I watched them working down a deep trench - to speed things up they only stuck steel pilings in about every 6 feet or so and I remember one jumping for his life as a ton of clay tumbled down nearly on top of him. I don't suppose the H&S would allow similar shenanigans today

Jim Barrie was one of the contractors with 8 wheelers and diggers, I don't suppose he's still alive today?

Julian.

[spod]

Im not trying to get everyone yawning but from my early inexperienced replacement of buckets I was finally shown how to do it and it works. A major mistake of replacing bucket pins is due to trying to line up bucket while still on the ground which is uneven,no need forget sledgehammers extend bucket crowd linkeage fully pick up bucket with a suitable bar let it hang, gently manouvre controls to align main pin doesnt matter how big the bucket if machine is greased regularly a little bit of waggling itll slide in. Remove bar let the bucket hang on the main pin adjust the crowd again till the pin slides in replace lock pins SIMPLES. I know its slower but at least you now youve done it and done it properly

[diggerjones]

julian;
i worked for j.barrie in the ninties driving diggers and trucks. he now lives in tenerreife, he comes back now and again, i think the chap that drowned was in a manhole with a rope round him nocking a hole in a live culvert when the water came in and flooded the manhole the the other boys pulled on the rope. the rope had got caught on one of the steps so the more they pulled the more he went down.

[diggersean]

Im not trying to get everyone yawning but from my early inexperienced replacement of buckets I was finally shown how to do it and it works. A major mistake of replacing bucket pins is due to trying to line up bucket while still on the ground which is uneven,no need forget sledgehammers extend bucket crowd linkeage fully pick up bucket with a suitable bar let it hang, gently manouvre controls to align main pin doesnt matter how big the bucket if machine is greased regularly a little bit of waggling itll slide in. Remove bar let the bucket hang on the main pin adjust the crowd again till the pin slides in replace lock pins SIMPLES. I know its slower but at least you now youve done it and done it properly

That's exactly the best way to change bucket pins manually and a way that many experienced operators will have changed many a bucket over the years.

But the problem is that your suitable bar will be deemed unsuitable by Health and Safety, so you are carrying out a dangerous procedure. The only thing that should be picking up a bucket or any other attachment is the correct bucket pin. Don't shoot the messenger, but that's the way it is now.

I've also worked on sites where you now have to change your buckets in a dedicated fenced off bucket changing area. All buckets must be stored in the fenced off area, usually four Heras fence panals forming a square. If you need to work on another part of the site, then another bucket changing area has to be made and any buckets you need must be stored and changed in that area