Minidigger vs concrete - Excavating advice

[remegaz]

Hi all, I'm a newbie so please go easy. My problem is that I have 300 sq m of 8-12 inch thick rock hard concrete to excavate. I have hired a 1.5t minidigger with 3 different buckets and a pecker.
I'm having a nightmare, its taken me all day to remove 5 tonnes. I don't think I'm a total clown regarding the driving of the beast.???
I use the pecker at about 12-18" intervals and then use the big bucket to scoop( should I use a smaller bucket?). I'm only getting 1 or 2 lumps at a time.
Also is it best practice to hire a dumper aswell as admittedly it takes some time driving to my rubbish pile with my meagre load.
Any advice to speed up the process would be extremely welcome. Cheers.

[Stuarty]

Start at an edge, concrete breaks easier there than in the middle. A dumper would be advisable, i reckon a 1 ton dumper should do you. I take it you have a 1 foot bucket with teeth, 2 foot bucket with teeth and a wide bucket thats smooth ( ditching bucket ). The 2 foot bucket with teeth works best for me.

Perseverance is what it takes.

[Dave_L]

A pecker on a 1.5t machine is never really man enough (12" thickness 'crete?) in my experience.

Dumper is a definate advantage though.

[lutonlagerlout]

hire a 3 tonner with a pecker ,like a knife through butter,or even better a hymac and just rip the lot out
it will cost more in the short term but will speed the job up no end
cheers LLL

[Stuarty]

ever used an auger on a 1.5 t machine? 5 foot deep holes for old telegraph poles for posts. Bloody nightmare so it was heh

[remegaz]

Thanks everyone for the advice, how quick! Progress has been much quicker today, I'm using the 2ft bucket like Stuarty advised and I've also got myself a dumper. Fortunately it looks like its not all mega thick (only about 50m2). I'll crack on again in the morning. Thanks again for the rapid response.