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Skid Steer Concrete Mixer for Small Jobs Worth Buying

O

OliviaS

Member
I’ve been looking pretty hard at a skid steer concrete mixer attachment lately and I’m trying to separate the good ideas from the expensive gimmicks. What caught my attention is the scoop style mixer buckets that let you load the material, mix it in the bucket, then pour right where you need it. On paper that sounds perfect for smaller jobs where I don’t want to drag a trailer mixer around or shovel material all day. The other thing I like is that it looks like one operator can handle the whole job if the setup is right. I’m mostly thinking about fence posts, small pads, sidewalks, repairs, and occasional footings. Not full-scale commercial flatwork.What I’m trying to figure out is whether a skid steer cement mixer actually saves enough time to justify the cost. I’ve seen some self-loading bucket style units and some of the specs seem pretty decent, like around 0.3 cubic meter capacity, but I still can’t tell how that translates into real work once you account for mixing time, cleanup, and hydraulic flow. Some manufacturers also break the product line by machine size, which makes me think machine hydraulic output matters a lot more than people first assume.

This video is close to the kind of setup I’ve been watching:

Curious what you guys think. Are these things actually productive in the field, or do they sound better than they are?
 
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The biggest advantage is not really the mixing. Its the handling.If you’re doing small pours in a bunch of different spots, a skid steer concrete mixer lets you scoop, mix, move, and pour without needing separate equipment and without a guy standing there shoveling all day. That’s the real selling point.
 
I looked at one for a while and the thing that kept stopping me was cycle time. A lot of them sound productive until you realize you’re still only doing a partial yard at a time and waiting on each batch.If you’re pouring enough concrete that volume matters, a ready mix truck or trailer mixer starts making more sense.
 
I’ve used a self-loading skid steer cement mixer attachment on and off for smaller concrete jobs and I’d say the answer depends almost entirely on your type of work.

If your jobs are scattered, awkward, or hard to access, these things make a lot of sense. Fence lines, barn repairs, small footings, narrow walkways, patch work, curb repairs, remote pours where a truck can’t get close, that’s where they shine. The bucket itself becomes your loading tool, your mixer, your transport, and your pour tool.

If your jobs are repetitive and open, they can feel slow.

The other thing people don’t think about enough is consistency. When you’re loading sand, stone, and cement with the bucket itself, your mix quality depends on how consistent you are with each scoop. If you’re using bag mix, life is easier. If you are batching raw material from a pile, the operator matters more.

The product specs out there tell the same story. A lot of mixer buckets in this class are around 0.3 m³ storage capacity, which is useful for smaller concrete work but not a replacement for higher volume concrete production. That’s why a lot of manufacturers market them toward smaller pours and mobile repair work rather than large slab pours.
 
For me they make sense only if access is the problem. If access isn’t the problem, there are cheaper ways to make concrete.
 
Hydraulic flow matters more than most people realize.

A lot of buyers see a mixer bucket and assume “if my machine has aux hydraulics, it’ll run it.” Technically maybe yes, but that doesn’t mean it’ll run it well. The attachment might rotate, but slow rotation means longer mix times and slower discharge. That changes the whole value equation.

That’s one reason companies split their mixer products by machine class. For example, the Eterra Mix & Go line is offered in multiple sizes, including one for mini skids and larger units for standard skid steers and compact track loaders. That tells you right away that what feels acceptable on one machine may feel underpowered on another.

So before I’d ever buy one, I’d want to know:

what my machine’s actual auxiliary flow is
what pressure the mixer is designed around
what the expected batch time is with my machine, not just in a sales video

That’s where a lot of these purchases go wrong.
 
I’d also want to know how fast the paddles wear. The old thread on others forum had people already noticing paddle wear on used scoop mixers and questioning replacement cost. That’s one of those details nobody thinks about when the attachment is shiny and new.
 
I’ve run both a trailer mixer and a skid steer concrete mixer bucket, and they solve different problems. The trailer mixer is better when your material staging is organized and your pour location is close enough that wheelbarrows aren’t killing you. The mixer bucket is better when the site is awkward, muddy, spread out, or has multiple small placements. You lose some batch size, but you gain mobility. You also cut down on labor because one machine is doing the transport and pour.
Where the bucket style loses points is cleanup. If you let concrete set up inside one of these things, you’ll hate yourself later. With a normal mixer, cleanup is annoying. With a hydraulic attachment, neglected cleanup turns into wear, reduced mixing efficiency, and eventually repair bills.
 
For anyone trying to quantify this a little, there are commercial mixer bucket specs published online that give a decent baseline. One example lists a 0.3 m3 storage capacity, 840 lbs bucket weight, and an operating pressure range of 16–21 MPa, which at least gives you a sense of the size and hydraulic demand of this type of attachment. That’s not a universal spec for every brand, but it’s useful for comparison shopping.

That’s why I’d compare three things before buying: capacity, attachment weight, hydraulic requirements... Those numbers tell you a lot more than marketing photos do ;)
 
This is one of the better demo videos I found because it actually shows mixing and pouring instead of just a glamour shot.


It also makes it pretty obvious that the machine class matters. The manufacturer separates smaller units from larger ones instead of pretending one skid steer cement mixer works equally well on every loader. That alone tells you to take the universal fit mindset with a grain of salt.
 
I think the sweet spot is small contractors and property owners who already own the skid steer and only need concrete in batches.If you are buying the attachment and the machine just for concrete work, it’s a much harder sell.
 
I’m probably more negative on them than most. A skid steer concrete mixer is cool, but I think a lot of owners buy them because they like the idea of one machine doing everything. In real life, a dedicated mixer plus a bucket or forks often gets the job done cheaper.

Where these attachments make sense is when access is terrible or labor is limited. Outside of that, I think a lot of people convince themselves they’re more productive than they really are.
 
This is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for...Sounds like the attachment makes more sense for scattered small pours and awkward access than for straight-up production. That’s pretty much my use case, so I’m still interested, but I can also see why some guys would rather stick with a trailer mixer. I am going to pay a lot more attention now to hydraulic flow, batch size, and cleanup instead of just watching product videos and thinking they all look easy.
 
A skid steer concrete mixer or skid steer cement mixer can be a great tool, but the right answer depends on volume, access, machine hydraulic output, and how much labor you’re actually replacing. If anyone replies later, include your machine model and whether you’re using bag mix or batching from raw material piles.That seems to make a big difference in how people judge these attachments.
 
I actually went the DIY route before buying anything.Picked up an old drum mixer and just used the skid steer with forks to move it around the site. Not as fancy as a skid steer concrete mixer, but for the price difference it worked fine for what I needed.Only downside is you still need to handle the material separately and it’s not a one-man operation like the mixer bucket setups.

If you’re only doing occasional jobs, that setup might make more sense than dropping money on a dedicated attachment.
 
FelisH4m said:
I actually went the DIY route before buying anything.Picked up an old drum mixer and just used the skid steer with forks to move it around the site. Not as fancy as a skid steer concrete mixer, but for the price difference it worked fine for what I needed.Only downside is you still need to handle the material separately and it’s not a one-man operation like the mixer bucket setups.

If you’re only doing occasional jobs, that setup might make more sense than dropping money on a dedicated attachment.
Click to expand...
I bought one thinking it would save me a ton of time.
Used it a lot the first couple months, then less and less. Now it mostly sits unless I have a very specific job where access is tight.
It works, don’t get me wrong, but it’s one of those attachments that sounds more useful than it actually ends up being for day-to-day work.
If I could go back, I’d probably rent one first before buying.
 
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