Backhoe Loaders Guide
Backhoe loaders are highly multipurpose pieces of heavy-duty agricultural or construction equipment. Commonly referred to as backhoes or JCBs, they possess two attachments, typically: (i) a loader bucket along the front axle and (ii) a backhoe along the rear axle.
The loader bucket is useful for moving and dumping material, whereas the backhoe (boom, excavation/loader arm & standard dipper bucket) is useful for excavating narrow trenches, and creating spoil piles to the side or loading material onto trucks. These attachments may be swapped according to the task at hand, for example: forks can be attached to lift and move materials on pallets, or a compactor can be attached to compact soil after backfilling trenches.
Because the backhoe loader design is top-heavy – due to the swinging weight of the backhoe digger attachment – it is easily prone to toppling over when lifting heavy material. Consequently, backhoe loaders possess stabilizers (or outriggers) that are positioned behind each wheel and can be raised or lowered via a hydraulic system.
When lowered to the ground, these stabilizers perform a number of key functions when digging: (i) add stability, (ii) reduce strain on wheels (by taking most of the weight), (iii) minimise jolts, (iv) secure the backhoe from slipping e.g. into ditch or trench.
Front backhoe attachments include: (i) general purpose buckets suitable for loading, carrying, dumping & performing general clean-up work, or (ii) multi-purpose buckets used for material re-handling, dozing, grading, leveling & dumping.
Rear backhoe attachments include: (i) Coral buckets for use with rocky coral materials, (ii) Ditch cleaning or grading buckets used for trenching, slope-cutting, grading & other finishing work, (iii) Heavy duty buckets for semi-rocky soil or other hard materials that must be broken & removed, (iv) Heavy duty rock buckets for hardwer rocky materials, (v) High capacity buckets for working in lower-density & light materials, (vi) Soil excavation buckets for a variety of conditions including heavy impact, & (vii) Standard duty buckets used for light duty excavation in soft soil or clay.
