How to Measure Your Bucket Mount Dimensions on a Mini Excavator

Having difficulty figuring out the sizing of your machine's mounting point? Not sure if a bucket or attachment is going to fit properly? Fear not. We've made a quick little guide to show you exactly how to measure up your machine.

Mount Style

There are several different ways that buckets and other attachments are mounted on a mini excavator:

Pin On: Every mini excavator can receive a bucket directly in its pin mount. This involves two mounting pins: the first goes through the bucket ear, through the hole at the end of the boom, and finally through the other bucket ear. The second goes through the bucket ears and the hole attached to the swivel connected to the bucket cylinder.
Pin on Bucket
Quick Hitch: A quick hitch, or a quick connect, is a device that allows you to change buckets and attachments without pinning them directly onto the machine. In this setup, the quick hitch is pinned onto the machine as described above. There are generally 2 different types of quick hitch: a pin grabber and a wedge style.
1. Pin Grabber: A pin grabber works on buckets that have pins. This means that any bucket that you can pin onto X machine will also be able to mount to a pin grabber hitch, mounted onto X machine. To summarize, pin-on and pin-grabber mounts require the same measurements. Below is a photo of a pin-grabber, the top portion is what mounts to the machines pin mounts, the bottom bit is what opens and closes, in this case by a bolt, to grab the pins on the bucket.
  
  Pin Grabber Quick Hitch
2. Wedge Style: A wedge-style quick hitch does not use pins to mount the attachment to the hitch. Instead, it uses pins that are mounted to the machines pin on mounts and protrude an inch or so out each side. The best way to tell if you have a wedge style is if your bucket has notched ears. There are many different configurations of wedge style but they all follow the same principal. Below is a photo of one of the more common wedge mount hitches for a Kubota U17;
  Wedge Style Quick Hitch for Kubota U17

Ok...So How Do I Measure?

To measure, all you need is a calliper. Make sure you take your measurements in millimetres.

Pin Mount/Pin Grabber

Unmount a bucket or attachment that you already have for the machine.
Measure the distance, in millimetres, between the inside of each bucket ear. This is the most important measurement.
Measure the diameter of the pinhole.
Measure the distance between the center of each pin hole.
That's all. You've now got all the measurements you need!

Wedge Style

Measuring for a wedge-style hitch is even easier. All you need to do is measure the distance between the inside of each ear, as shown above in step 2, on any bucket or attachment that fits your machine. Make sure you measure in millimetres, and note your make and model. If your wedge-style hitch did not come with the machine, you will also want to note its make and model.

Conclusion

And thats all you need to know to measure up your machine for a new attachment! Please note that ANY machine can have a bucket pinned onto it, but if you have a wedge-style hitch, it would be preferable for you to use that as you won't have to pin on and off any buckets when changing attachments.