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"The shorter the tip radius, the higher the force at the tooth tips," explains Horton. "Also, the fewer the number of teeth you have engaging the material, the more force you have on the tooth tips. With our multi-ripper bucket, we have one tooth hitting at a time. Plus, it's short, so when you roll the bucket, you can dig through frozen ground and rock."

Sizing the bucket also includes taking the width into account. Width can be of particular concern if you are digging trenches for utility lines. "You don't want to dig more than you have to," Horton states. "If you dig too much, you're wasting time and money."

Wide buckets can be used in soil that is easy to dig, but you will likely want a narrower bucket for harder soil conditions. That's because the stick and curl forces of a wider bucket are spread over a larger area, so there is less penetration per inch of bucket cutting edge.

When assessing bucket width, also be sure to check the width of the connection point. "You may have a particular size machine and not realize that the connection at the top of the bucket is wider than the bucket width you want to use," says Tony Freidhoff, engineer, Kenco.

Affect of couplers

Couplers give you the ability to change buckets based on the application at hand. "A coupler makes it faster and easier to change buckets," says Horton. "Once you make it faster and easier, you can pick the right bucket for the job."