Buying Guide - Excavator Thumbs

Excavator Thumbs : Versatile, rugged, dependable.

When you equip you excavator with an excavating thumb, you upgrade the performance of your bucket-equipped machine from material handling to digging. Gentec’s excavator thumbs are well-suited for using in a variety of industries andtask, such as site preparation and clean up, forestry, land clearing and residential demolition. During digging, the thumb and bucket are working together to grab, pick and sort a vast array of materials. The thumb works with the bucket to help retain the load, regardless of the material.

We provide you with a buying guide that will not only show you the different types of thumbs you can find, but also, what to look for prior to purchasing a thumb.

If you are looking to purchase an excavator thumb, please visit our Excavator Thumb page to find the perfect thumb for the job you need to be done.

Manual Excavator Thumb

The manual excavator thumb requires the operator to manually adjust thumb location; it is welded to the stick via a base plate and one size fits all. This type of thumb eliminates the need for hydraulics static working position. An alignment system allows the operator to position the rigid link thumb from inside the cab, by using the bucket curl motion.

Our recommendation: EXCAVATOR THUMB 8"X24" (MT824)

The utility hydraulic thumb is controlled and positioned from inside the cabin. Only one thumb works well with a wide range of bucket, machine, and coupler combinations, making them perfect for mixed fleets. Hydraulic excavator thumbs are narrow in width for good visibility. They are also well-suited for light to medium duty tasks like handling brush, rocks and construction debris.

Our recommendation: HYDRAULIC EXCAVATOR THUMB 8"X24" (HT824)

Weld-On Hydraulic Thumb

A weld-on hydraulic thumb features versatile, hydraulic thumb positioning and low-profile thumb storage for optimal visibility. This type of heavy-duty thumb provides hydraulic action for polyvalent thumb positioning, has grease zerks recessed for protection from the elements. Weld-on hydraulic thumbs can lock back bracket for hydraulic cylinder safety and larger bolt diameter for thumb pin retention.

Our recommendation: HYDRAULIC EXCAVATOR THUMB 14"X62" (HT1462)

Weld-On Stiff-Arm Thumb

A weld-on stiff-arm thumb features thumb adjustment for specific placement and multiple positions for optimal performance. It provides you with a heavy-duty, sturdy steel construction for strength and longer wear life and with low profile thumb storage for better visibility. Most of weld-on stiff-arm thumbs will install on any model excavator within the same class size. This can make you save the cost of customization from the manufacturing process and provides you with a quality excavating thumb at an affordable price. Weld-on stiff-arm thumb also has rigid-link connection between the thumb body and stick. Finally, it is manually adjustable to different working angles and no hydraulics are required for this thumb.