Do More with General Construction Attachments

Whatever your construction challenge, Caterpillar has a heavy equipment attachment solution. Attachments can turn your Cat® machine into a multifunction piece of equipment. Just pin (or couple) them on and go.

Estimated read time: 6 minutes

With the right general construction attachment, you eliminate the cost and scheduling difficulties of using subcontractors. You have no need for slow or tedious workarounds. You can maximize uptime, reduce labor costs and bid on more jobs. 

Here are some examples of heavy equipment attachments you can use to grow your business and profits.

 

HYDRAULIC EXCAVATOR GENERAL CONSTRUCTION ATTACHMENTS

 

Buckets

Depending on the material you’re working in, you may want to go with a bucket for tougher applications:

  • General duty buckets: lighter materials like dirt, loam or gravel 

  • Heavy duty buckets: denser materials like hard-packed stone or clay 

  • Severe duty buckets: tough jobs like sandstone and gypsum

  • Extreme duty buckets: aggressive digging and loading jobs like limestone, hematite and iron ore 

Caterpillar also has specialty buckets for specific applications. Ditch cleaning or ditch cleaning tilt buckets are for cleaning, sloping, grading or other finishing work. Or use the clean-up bucket, which combines the straight edge and width options of a ditch cleaning bucket with the capacity and durability of a general duty bucket.

Compaction wheels 

There’s no need to put your workers in a trench with a slow, jumping-jack style compactor. A compaction wheel mounted on the same excavator that dug the trench will do this job faster and safer. Compaction wheels come in a variety of widths (12-36 inches or 30.5-91.5 cm). They also have a backfill plate to level out the material before compaction begins.

Compactors (vibratory plate)

These low-maintenance attachments produce 2,200 impacts per minute, so you know you’re getting solid, stable compactions. Whether working in a trench or on a slope, driving sheeting or posts, vibratory plate compactors will help you get the job done. And the optional bolt-on backfill blade pushes loose material into place — helping you work fast when backfilling trenches.

Couplers

Cat® couplers for excavators let you switch attachments easily without having to hammer out a pin.

  • Pin grabber coupler: Drop one attachment or bucket and pick up another in seconds. Get more information about the pin grabber.

  • Standard S-type and hydraulic connecting S-type (HCS) couplers: Standard S-type couplers are dedicated, pin-grabber style couplers that offer a consistently tight fit to the attachment.  The HCS series connects your machine’s hydraulics and electronics. It delivers high-flow capacity and low back pressure to reduce fuel burn and improve productivity.

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Compaction wheel

Excavator compaction wheel attachment
 

Hammers

Nothing improves productivity like a machine-mounted hammer. Big hammers can reduce whole bridges, buildings and highways to easily disposed or resold aggregate. Rock and hard soil in trenches or building sites can be demolished and removed. And small hammers can break up pipe or take out driveways, sidewalks and walls more efficiently and safer than any other method. Learn about choosing the right hammer for your application.

Mulchers

Mulchers are good when working in brush clearing, vegetation management, reclaiming untitled land, environmental maintenance, shredding pruned material and organic waste for biomass production.

Rakes 

Rakes can sweep debris without creating a massive spoils pile. They can also remove large chunks of demolition debris without damaging built surfaces such as asphalt or concrete.

You can use rakes to clean out debris-clogged drainage ditches. Or dig your rake teeth into the dirt and pull out shallow roots and rocks that could interfere with later operations while leaving valuable topsoil behind.  

Rakes can be paired with another rake or a bucket to be used as a makeshift grapple.

Rippers

Under the surface of any jobsite, you may encounter a variety of soils. A single-tooth ripper uses the weight and power of your excavator to break up this mix of soil types, extract roots and loosen rocks. Once you’ve churned the material, remove the ripper and compact the soil as needed.

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Rake

Excavator rake attachment

Thumbs

A simple thumb attachment to an excavator bucket takes your machine from digging to material handling. From picking up whole boulders and land clearing debris to carrying and loading logs, this is the one attachment every excavator should have. Read about the different types

Tiltrotators

Cat tiltrotators provide 40-degree left and right tilt and 360-degree rotation for your fixed attachments. It’s all operated through your excavator’s joysticks. See the tiltrotator in action.

 

MOTOR GRADER CONSTRUCTION ATTACHMENTS

 

Blades

The standard blade on a motor grader levels the last few inches of material. But with the addition of a taller straight blade, you can spread piles and remove debris more like a dozer and grade into corners where a traditional moldboard can’t reach. These are available in different heights and widths to tackle different conditions.

Lift group 

The front lift group provides a quick coupling mechanism for front mounted blades and plows. The lift group is available with manual or hydraulic attachment pins.

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Motor grader blade

Motor grader blade attachment

 

BULLDOZER CONSTRUCTION ATTACHMENTS

Expand your dozer’s usefulness with the addition of a specialty blade such as angle and cushion blades. See more about those options.

 

MEDIUM WHEEL LOADER CONSTRUCTION ATTACHMENTS

 

Buckets

A general purpose bucket is good for everything from stockpiling and rehandling to excavating and bank loading. And to use that general purpose bucket in tougher conditions, you may want the abrasion or heavy-duty version. More types include: 

  • Material handling and heavy-duty material handling buckets 

  • Coal buckets

  • Rock and heavy-duty quarry rock buckets 

  • Waste dozing buckets

  • Woodchip buckets 

Forks

Pallet forks have long been the standard for wheel loaders. But with the availability of auxiliary hydraulics systems, many other types of forks are simple to couple to your machine. And working efficiently in diverse applications is a sure-fire way to increase profits for your business. Read more about Cat forks here.

FusionTM quick coupler

The FusionTM quick coupler pulls the bucket or tool tight to the loading arms. Wedges lock the coupler to the tool and keep it secure. It can be used with buckets, blades, forks and other attachments. Read more about it.

Material handling arms

You don’t want to carry large objects too close to your loader’s cab. With their extendable booms, material handling arms let you safely lift, carry and place all types of materials — from pipe and prefabricated structures to landscaping materials and even whole trees.

 

WHAT’S NEXT?

Finding what you need when there are so many options can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. To focus on what best serves your needs, make a list of any difficult tasks you encounter on a job. 

There could be a special attachment for the task so you can put your crew back on productive footing. Your Cat dealer can help you find the right attachment to fit your machines. Explore more attachment options.

 

 

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