The machine's weight and capacity

Breakers and excavator-mounted compactors are listed in our 2026 rental rate guide by the weight of the excavator that carries them, and the rule is to take the one whose range your machine falls in. Our Kent FX55, for example, covers a 7,600 to 9,000 pound excavator, so it goes on our 8,990 pound Takeuchi TB240, and a heavier excavator takes a heavier breaker. A breaker that’s too big or too small for its machine wears out early and can fail without warning. Our guide to hydraulic breaker sizing has all eleven breakers and four compactor sizes, with the rental excavators that fit each one.

Grapple buckets and demolition tools are listed by excavator size instead. The size is the number in a Hitachi/Landcros or Link-Belt model name, so a 350 is a machine like our Hitachi/Landcros ZX350LC-7H, at 80,248 pounds, and an 80 is one like our Link-Belt 80X3, at 18,900. We rent grapple buckets in two sizes, one for 80 to 245 machines and one for 300 to 350, and our three Genesis demolition tools go on a 350. If you’re not sure what size your machine is, tell us the model and we’ll match the attachment to it.

On a skid steer, track loader, or wheel loader, the limit is the machine’s capacity, the most it can safely lift and carry. Our wheel loader forks are listed at 19,700 pounds. That is the forks’ own capacity, not the loader’s, and what the loader can lift on them is in its operator’s manual. Our guide to skid steer and track loader sizes lists the capacity of every skid steer and track loader we rent.

How it mounts

An excavator attachment pins to the end of the stick or hangs on a quick coupler. With pins, changing from a bucket to a breaker means knocking the pins out and driving them back in. A coupler grabs the attachment’s pins instead, so the change is quick. A hydraulic coupler locks and releases with a cylinder, and a mechanical one takes a bar or a pin to release.

Use only the attachments that the makers of the coupler and the machine approve, because an attachment outside their limits can come off. Some coupler makers don’t approve their couplers for breakers at all, so check before you hang one. Make sure the safety pin is in place before you lift, and once the attachment is locked on, shake the coupler hard to prove the connection. Our Best Practices article on quick coupler safety covers the pin check, the shake test, and how to take a coupler off safely.

A skid steer or track loader attachment latches onto the quick attach plate at the front of the loader arms, so there are no bucket pins to knock out. Tell us the machine the attachment is going on when you reserve, and we’ll make sure the two hook up.

Hydraulic flow

Buckets, forks, and a ripper tooth need no hydraulics. The machine lifts them, and that’s it. Everything that moves on its own, from a breaker to a thumb, runs off the machine’s auxiliary hydraulics, the extra circuit that feeds the hoses at the end of the arm. That circuit puts out a set flow, measured in gallons a minute, and every powered attachment needs a certain flow to run right. Some attachments need more than a standard circuit puts out, and those take a high flow machine. Both figures are on the spec sheets, and the attachment’s has to fall inside the machine’s.

If the attachment is going on your own machine, tell us the make and model, and we’ll match the attachment to its flow. On one of our machines, we send out the attachment that runs on it. Our three Genesis demolition tools are listed for a 350 size excavator with combination hydraulics, so if you’re putting one on a machine of yours, tell us the model and what hydraulic kit it has before you reserve.

What we sell

• Paladin. Attachments for excavators, wheel loaders, skid steers, backhoes, and tractors.
• FRD/Kent. Small, medium, and large hydraulic breakers, and excavator-mounted compactors.
• Geith. Quick couplers, excavator buckets, tilting buckets, ripper teeth, mechanical grapples, and hydraulic thumbs.
• Genesis. Concrete processors, grapples, and mobile shears.

We sell mulchers as well. Our parts and service departments support all four brands.

What we rent

For excavators, we rent eleven Kent breakers, four sizes of Kent compactor, grapple buckets in two sizes, and the three Genesis demolition tools. Our guide to excavator attachments says which one does which job. For skid steers and track loaders, we rent fourteen attachments, from an auger drive unit to a trencher, and our guide to loader attachments says what each one does. For wheel loaders with 2 to 4 cubic yard buckets, we rent forks. Rentals don’t include an operator. Our guide to how renting works covers hours, fuel, insurance, and returns.

Maintenance

Grease the pins, keep the hose ends out of the dirt, and never dig with a tooth missing. Our Best Practices article on attachment maintenance has the inspection list for breakers, buckets, and teeth.

What to tell us when you reserve

Tell us the make and model of the machine the attachment is going on, what you’ll be doing with it, and whether the machine has a coupler. If it’s your own machine, add its weight and its hydraulic flow if you know them, or give us the model and we’ll look them up. With that, we can tell you what fits.