Choosing the right bucket for your skid steer or tractor is essential for maximizing efficiency, durability, and overall performance. With various sizes, profiles, and weight capacities available, selecting the right bucket ensures you get the most out of your machine while minimizing wear and tear. This guide will help you understand how tractor and skid steer bucket size, capacity, and features affect your machine’s performance.
Rated Operating Capacity
Your machine's Rated Operating Capacity (ROC) determines how much weight your tractor or skid steer loader can safely lift and carry. This figure includes the bucket itself, making it an important factor when evaluating any bucket purchase or upgrade.
ROC details will be listed in your machine’s manual or available online. Each of our tractor and skid steer buckets includes the dry weight and heaped capacity to help you make accurate calculations before you shop.
Using the bucket capacity and weight, you can estimate a full load based on the type of material. See the reference table below for common materials like sand and snow:
Machine Horsepower
Heavier machines, especially those with more than 75 horsepower or equipped with tracks, benefit from using heavy-duty buckets. These machines put more strain on attachments, so durability and performance matter more. We recommend heavy-duty mounting configurations and floor reinforcements for better long-term use.
Buckets can have features like bolt-on cutting edges and reinforced floors to handle the greater stress and higher breakout forces that large skid steers and tractors generate.
Machine Overall Width
Ideally, the bucket should be as wide as or slightly wider than the outside width of your machine’s tires or tracks. This ensures optimal stability and efficiency when grading, digging, or moving material. A bucket that is too narrow may reduce efficiency and cause unnecessary stress on the machine, while a bucket that is too wide can negatively impact maneuverability and put excess strain on the hydraulics.
When measuring and choosing buckets, ensure they align with your machine’s frame. Compact models typically use buckets with dimensions between 48"-66", while larger machines may need 78"-84".
Bucket Profiles
Click Here to See all of our Skid Steer & Tractor Buckets
General-purpose buckets with low profiles that make it easier to get in and out of the machine without taking the buckets off.
One of the most popular buckets, the low-profile extended lip, offers the benefits of low-profile buckets while lengthening the lip to keep bucket capacity high.
It combines the benefits of a low-profile extended lip and is designed for higher horsepower machines.
It can be used for livestock feed, light snow removal, or general landscaping jobs
Ideal for general use with compact tractors & small skid loaders.
- High Capacity & Super Capacity Snow
Designed specifically for removing snow or other light materials.
Ideal for clearing land and moving large objects without taking soil with them.
Designed specifically to clean up material that accumulates under conveyors in quarries.
Example
Finding a bucket for a Bobcat T300 with an ROC of 3000 lbs, 81 HP, and an overall width of 78" to use predominantly for moving dry, loose earth (approx. 76 lbs / cubic feet):
- Since the machine is both tracked and over 75 HP, we know that we'll need the HD Mounting Package at a minimum.
- With an Overall Width of 78", we should look for a bucket between 78"and 84".
The 78" Berlon Heavy Duty Extended Lip Bucket weighs 891 lbs and has a heaped capacity of 25.5 cu. ft., so a full load of loose dirt should weigh around 2829 lbs, along with the bucket. This is just shy of the ROC for the T300, making it an efficient match for the machine's capability.
This bucket also matches the machine's width perfectly and comes standard with the HD Mounting Package, making it a great match for the machine.