A standard excavator ships with one general-purpose (GP) bucket and a single auxiliary hydraulic line. Everything else — rock buckets, hydraulic breakers, rippers, hydraulic thumbs, grapples, quick couplers, tilt rotators, and long-reach boom kits — is configured at order or added in the field. Getting the configuration right at order is 30-40% cheaper than retrofitting later.
The five attachments every machine should ship with
- Standard GP bucket — Already standard. Confirm capacity matches operating weight: ~0.04 m³ per tonne of operating weight.
- Rock or HD bucket — Order at point of sale. Costs ~15% extra at order, ~40% extra retrofitted. Essential for any operation touching aggregate or weathered rock.
- Hydraulic quick coupler — Doubles operator productivity by allowing attachment swaps from the cab. ROI in under 12 months on any machine that uses 2+ attachments.
- Hydraulic thumb — Lets the operator grasp logs, debris, and irregular material. Essential for demolition cleanup and forestry.
- Ripper tooth — Single-tooth ripper for hard-soil or weathered-rock ripping. Cheap and high-impact for mining-feeder and quarry duty.
Specialist attachments by application
Mining
- Hydraulic breakers (Atlas Copco, Furukawa)
- HD rock buckets (2.5+ m³ on heavy class)
- Reinforced ripper teeth
Demolition
- Hydraulic shears (cuts structural steel)
- Hydraulic pulverisers (concrete crushing)
- Multi-finger grapples (debris handling)
Dredging
- Long-reach boom kit (17-25m)
- Dragline configuration (specialty)
- Specialty 'V' buckets for canal profiling
Forestry / land clearing
- Forestry guarding (cab + engine protection)
- Mulcher attachment (heads ~$30k+)
- Grapple saw