Choosing the Best Attachments for Your Excavator

There are dozens of options for excavator attachments. Some are pretty straightforward, but others are more open-ended and could be used in various ways. Depending on your industry, you might have particular needs for an attachment.

You’ll also find that attachments can go by many names, which change based on region and job site.

So here are some standard excavator attachments, what we call them, and how we’ve seen them used.

Couplers

Couplers for excavators, also known as quick couplers, quick connects, or quick hitches, are mechanical or hydraulic devices that attach excavator attachments quickly. They make it easier to connect and disconnect different attachments, such as buckets, hammers, and other tools, to what’s sometimes referred to as the excavator's arm or the stick.

Check out this overview of hydraulic couplers:

Mechanical Couplers: Mechanical couplers are manually operated and use pins or latches to secure the attachment to the excavator. The operator manually inserts the pins or engages the latches to lock the attachment in place. The operator must manually disengage the pins or latches to release the attachment. Based on the size of the machine, it can take more than one person to disengage the pins. If it’s an especially large machine, a sledgehammer might be involved to get the pin out. So on larger machines, we’d suggested a hydraulic coupler to make things more efficient.

Hydraulic Couplers: Hydraulic couplers use hydraulic cylinders to connect and disconnect attachments from the excavator. The operator can control the coupler from the cab, engaging or disengaging the attachment without leaving the operator's seat.

Shop Couplers

Buckets

Bucket attachments for excavators are among the most common and essential tools used in construction, excavation, and earthmoving projects. Buckets come in various sizes and designs for specific tasks and applications. They’re attached to the excavator's stick and can dig, scoop, and move various materials, such as soil, gravel, sand, and rocks.

Standard Excavator Bucket: Standard buckets, also known as general-purpose buckets or digging buckets, are the most common type. They come in various sizes, are easily identified with their large teeth, and are suitable for general digging, loading, and material handling tasks.

Heavy Duty Bucket: Heavy-duty buckets, or heavy-duty digging buckets, are designed with reinforced structures and thicker steel to withstand more robust digging and loading conditions. They’re ideal for handling denser and tougher materials and terrain.

Rock Bucket: Rock buckets have special features, such as additional wear plates and stronger teeth, to provide extra durability when digging in rocky terrain.

Ditch-Cleaning Bucket: Ditch-cleaning buckets, ditching buckets, grading buckets, or mud buckets have a unique wide and shallow design, often resembling an elongated scoop. It's engineered for efficient excavation and shaping of ditches, trenches, and waterways. The bucket's profile allows it to move quickly and shape larger volumes of soil, making it particularly useful for tasks that involve creating or maintaining drainage systems, channels, and similar linear excavations.

Skeleton or Grapple Bucket: Skeleton or grapple buckets have openings or spaces between the tines, allowing fine materials like soil to fall through while retaining larger debris like rocks and logs. There are different types of grapples (i.e. root, rock, rake, etc.) depending on what you need it for.

Tilt Bucket: Tilt buckets have a tilting mechanism that allows the bucket to tilt left and right, providing enhanced flexibility for shaping slopes, grading, and ditch cleaning. You’ll find them with a straight edge.

Padding or Screening Bucket: These sort and separate materials on-site, allowing the operator to retain valuable material while removing debris and unwanted particles during excavation and material handling tasks.

Trapezoid bucket: A trapezoid bucket gets its name from its unique trapezoidal shape. These buckets dig and grade materials while maximizing the bucket's capacity. The sloping sides of the bucket allow for better material retention and smoother cutting through the ground during excavation tasks. These are sometimes called V-shaped buckets or V-ditch buckets and used in ditching, trenching, and pipeline work.

Using the right bucket is important for efficiency. If you’re using a bucket that’s not quite right, it could take longer (and cost more money).

Shop Buckets

Hammers

Hammers for excavators, also known as hydraulic breakers or rock breakers, are powerful attachments designed to break through hard materials such as rock and concrete. They’re used in construction, demolition, quarrying, and mining to break up tough materials so they can be moved more efficiently.

Hammers for excavators operate based on a hydraulic system. The attachment connects to the excavator's hydraulic system, which provides the necessary power to use the hammer. The hydraulic system drives a piston inside the cylinder, which creates powerful forces to break concrete, rock, and other hard materials.

Pressurized hydraulic oil is directed to the piston when the operator activates the hammer, causing it to move up and down rapidly. The movement of the piston generates intense impact energy that moves to the chisel or tool bit at the front of the hammer. The chisel strikes the surface repeatedly at high speed and heavy force, breaking the material into smaller pieces.

Shop Hammers

Thumbs (Long and Short)

Excavator thumbs are mechanical or hydraulic attachments mounted to the bucket. They provide better grip and control when handling objects like rocks, tree stumps, or irregularly shaped items. If a bucket is the palm and fingers of a hand, the thumb is…the thumb.

Thumbs are handy when working with irregularly shaped objects, loose materials, or when you need precise control during excavation and material handling.

Long thumbs are hydraulic-powered attachments that are used when the machine is equipped with a quick coupler. They’re typically mounted to the excavator's stick and can be adjusted and positioned using a hydraulic cylinder. Long thumbs are versatile and are needed if the machine has a quick coupler so the thumb tine will reach the bucket.

Shop Long Thumbs

Short thumbs can be mechanical or hydraulic and are used on machines without a quick coupler. Mechanical thumbs or rigid thumbs, have a base plate welded to the excavator’s stick and are non-hydraulic attachments fixed in position. Hydraulic thumbs are typically mounted to the excavator's stick or arm and can be adjusted and positioned using a hydraulic cylinder.

Shop Short Thumbs

Root Rakes

Root rakes, also known as rakes or land-clearing rakes, are tools designed to efficiently clear, gather, and move vegetation, rocks, debris, and other materials. These attachments are used in land clearing, forestry, site preparation, and landscaping projects where vegetation or rocks need to be removed or managed.

Tines or Teeth: Rake attachments have multiple sturdy tines or teeth spaced across a wide bar. Depending on the specific application, these tines, such as straight, curved, or serrated, can vary in design.

Open Design: Rake attachments typically have an open structure that allows debris to be collected and retained while allowing fine materials like soil to fall through.

Hydraulic Control: Rake attachments use the hydraulic power of the bucket cylinder to allow the operator to adjust the angle and position of the rake, providing control during operation.

Shop Rakes

Rippers

Rippers for excavators, also known as excavator rippers or frost rippers, break up hard or compacted materials in earthmoving, excavation, and land development projects. They’re beneficial when dealing with tough materials like rock, frozen ground, asphalt, or hard clay that standard digging buckets may struggle to penetrate.

Single or Multiple Tines: Rippers can have single or multiple tines (or teeth) arranged in a shank-like structure. The number and design of the tines depend on the specific use and the level of force required.

Heavy-Duty Construction: Rippers are built with reinforced and durable materials to withstand the impact and force exerted during ripping operations.

Pointed Tips: The tines of rippers typically have pointed or chisel-like tips to penetrate hard materials easily.

Hydraulic Control (Optional): Some rippers can be equipped with hydraulic cylinders for adjustable penetration depth, allowing the operator to control the ripping force based on the material's hardness.

Shop Rippers

Ditch-Cleaning Buckets

Ditch-cleaning buckets for excavators excavate, shape, and clean ditches, channels, and waterways. These buckets have a unique shape and features that make them ideal for efficient and precise ditching operations. You’ll find them in construction, road maintenance, landscaping, and water management projects.

Curved Design: Ditch-cleaning buckets have a curved shape that matches the contours of ditches and channels, ensuring efficient material removal and shaping.

Extended Width: These buckets are typically wider than standard buckets, providing a larger capacity for removing more material with each pass.

High Back and Heel: Ditch cleaning buckets have a higher back and heel than standard buckets, allowing them to retain material better during excavation and reducing spillage.

Longer Bottom: The bottom of the bucket is longer, helping to smooth out and shape the ditch as the excavator moves along the length of the channel.

Drainage Holes: Some ditch cleaning buckets have drainage holes to allow excess water to flow out, preventing added weight during the operation. These are often referred to as mud buckets.

Reinforced Cutting Edge: The bucket's cutting edge is often reinforced with wear-resistant materials to withstand the abrasive nature of ditch materials.

Shop Ditch-Cleaning Buckets

Mulchers

Mulchers for excavators, also known as excavator-mounted forestry mulchers or mulching heads, clear vegetation, undergrowth, and small trees in forestry and land-clearing applications. These attachments are used in projects where large areas need to be cleared of dense vegetation and trees to make way for development or to maintain land for agricultural or environmental purposes.

Mulchers for excavators have a heavy-duty rotating drum with cutting teeth or hammers that shred and mulch vegetation. The attachment connects to the excavator's hydraulic system, which powers the drum and allows the operator to control its movements.

To use the mulcher, the excavator operator positions the attachment over the vegetation to be cleared. The rotating drum's cutting teeth or hammers reach the vegetation, cutting and grinding it into small pieces. As the drum spins, it continues to shred the foliage, leaving a layer of mulch on the ground.

Shop Mulchers

Cold Planers

Cold planers, also known as cold milling machines or asphalt milling machines, remove layers of old asphalt or concrete surfaces from roads, parking lots, and other paved areas.

Cold planers connect to the excavator's stick using a coupler or quick connect. With the planer over the surface, the operator activates the cold planer to start the milling.

The cold planer has a rotating cutting drum with teeth. It mills the asphalt or concrete surface, breaking it into small pieces. These pieces are moved by the planer's conveyor system to a collection area or dump truck for disposal.

The depth of the milling cut can be adjusted using hydraulic controls, allowing the operator to remove the desired thickness of the surface layer.

Shop Cold Planers

Brush Mowers

Brush mowers, or excavator-mounted brush cutters, cut and clear dense vegetation, thick brush, and small trees. These attachments are used in land clearing, forestry, right-of-way maintenance, and vegetation management projects. They allow excavators to handle vegetation in areas where traditional mowers or land-clearing equipment might not be practical.

Brush mowers for excavators consist of heavy-duty blades, much like a lawn mower. The attachment connects to the excavator's hydraulic system, which provides the power needed to rotate the blades and control its movements.

To operate the brush mower, the excavator operator positions the attachment near the vegetation to be cleared. The blades are activated, and the blades rapidly spin and engage with the foliage, cutting and mulching the brush into small pieces. The operator can maneuver the excavator to cut vegetation at different angles and clear the area as needed.

Shop Brush Mowers

Concrete Pulverizers

Pulverizers, sometimes called concrete crushers, are powerful attachments that break down and crush concrete structures and other hard materials. They’re used in construction, demolition, and recycling applications. The primary purpose of a pulverizer is to reduce large concrete chunks into smaller, more manageable debris, allowing for easier disposal, recycling, or reuse.

Concrete pulverizers for excavators typically consist of a heavy-duty fixed jaw and a movable jaw or two opposing jaws. The fixed jaw is mounted on the excavator arm or stick, while the movable jaw is attached to the excavator's hydraulic system. The jaws exert significant force and pressure on the concrete or other material to crush it.

Shop Pulverizers

Other Types of Attachments

Like we said, you can add dozens of different attachments to your excavator for ease and efficiency. Here are some of the other attachments you can add to your excavator.

Snowplows and snowblowers can be mounted on excavators for snow removal and winter maintenance tasks.

Magnet attachments can pick up and move metal objects, making them useful in recycling yards and construction sites.

Compactor attachments can compact soil, gravel, or other loose materials to create a stable surface. They’re used in road construction and landscaping projects to improve the stability and load-bearing capacity of the compacted surface.

Also known as hydraulic or demolition shears, shears cut through and demolish various materials, including metal structures, concrete, rebar, and other tough materials. You can find them in demolition, recycling, and construction projects requiring precise cutting and dismantling.

Tiltrotators are sophisticated hydraulic attachments designed to enhance the versatility and efficiency of the excavator's digging and material handling capabilities. A tiltrotator combines two essential functions: tilt and rotation. It allows the bucket or attachment to rotate (spin around its axis) and tilt (pivot up and down) with hydraulic control, providing the excavator with unmatched flexibility and precision in various tasks.

Stump grinders remove tree stumps and their root systems from the ground. These attachments are all stars in landscaping, forestry, and land-clearing projects. Stump grinders offer an efficient and effective way to eliminate tree stumps, allowing for smoother site preparation and preventing potential hazards caused by leftover stumps.

Grapples grip and handle various materials such as logs, rocks, demolition debris, and scrap metal. Excavator grapples are used in forestry, construction, demolition, and waste-handling to improve material handling efficiency and productivity. The grapple type can vary, with options like fixed, rotating, and hydraulic grapples.

Multiprocessors for excavators are versatile attachments designed to perform multiple demolition tasks with a single tool. They’re used in the demolition and recycling industries to efficiently process and sort different materials. A multiprocessor typically consists of interchangeable jaws or crusher arms, allowing the excavator operator to quickly switch between various functions without changing the entire attachment.

Excavator forks or material handling forks lift, carry and transport various materials and objects on construction and industrial job sites. These forks attach to the excavator's boom or quick coupler, transforming the machine into a versatile material handling tool.

Augers for excavators are specialized attachments designed for drilling holes in the ground. They consist of a rotating helical screw-like drill bit, commonly known as an auger, attached to the end of the excavator's stick. The excavator's hydraulic system powers the auger's rotation, allowing it to dig into the soil, rock, or other materials.

Excavator post drivers install posts or poles into the ground quickly and efficiently. You’ll see them in construction, fencing, agriculture, and where the installation of posts is required. Post drivers for excavators streamline the process of driving posts, reducing manual labor and improving productivity.

Concrete grinders grind and smooth concrete surfaces. They’re used in construction and renovation projects to prepare concrete surfaces for polishing, coatings, or resurfacing. Concrete grinders for excavators provide a highly efficient and versatile concrete surface preparation and finishing solution.

Shop All Attachments