cutting a trench without a backhoe?

[SidecarFlip]

Flip, when you rent a machine why do you have to backfill with a shovel... "backfill is easy with a shovel"? If you're going to rent a piece of equipment to get something done, why just do half of the job?

Even my old machine will do that. Has a 6 way backfill blade!

The one I've rented is a walk behind with no blade so I 'employ' my wife to rake the crumbs back it. They have a Ditch Witch as well but I've never rented it.

Maybe next time I will and try it out. They even deliver for me. We have mostly blow sand soil here so the crumbs are usually light.

Even the walk behind will trench almost as fast as I can walk.

 

[William1]

I could of hired out or rented a BH and gotten more work done faster but... I have to figure in the time it would take to get a rental machine here and back. Then be under pressure to get the job done as quickly as possible. Most rentals are pretty abused and rarely work smoothly, unless it a 'rent to own' where the dealer is hoping you'll buy.
I've had the solitary dead bush to dig up or hole the wife wants done. The drain grate that needed to be lifted out to get the lost puppy.
I guess too, if you have the cash sitting in the bank, does it make you smile more there or when you see it doing something?
A mini excavator would be nice to have but I'd not use it enough. So the little tractor, with the little BH is fine. I wish the FEL capacity was greater though for mulch and other stuff. I'll have to seriously consider some of those 'FEL extenders'.

 

[shiraz627]

For problems like that I use my Honda rototiller with the furrower attachment.

 

[Freeheeler]

You get enough snow in Knoxville to warrant a snowblower?

I love snow. My screen name is freeheeler because I ski on telemark bindings that are connected at the toe only (free of a heel binding). I love the Knoxville area, but we get NO snow to speak of. Around here the schools close if we get a thick frost

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

You get snow in Idaho? Thought Idaho was temperate?

This is a light snow morning.

We got 382" of snow that year, that's almost 32 feet of snow or 970 cm of snow.

A year before I moved here they got 26' in a 24 hour period, they had to use bulldozers to dig out.

Temperate my back side!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I love snow. My screen name is freeheeler because I ski on telemark bindings that are connected at the toe only (free of a heel binding). I love the Knoxville area, but we get NO snow to speak of. Around here the schools close if we get a thick frost

Ever been skijoring?
Skijoring for those that don't know, is being pulled on ski's by a horse, dogs, or vehicle.
Dogs or snowmobiles are best.
With the dogs it's quiet and fast!

Come winter, come on up and I'll hook you up to a husky or two, or better yet my wolves, talk about an E ticket ride!

 

[troverman]

I don't see why the original poster cannot dig a trench with his MX5100 and front end loader. Probably has a 6-foot wide bucket on it. Assuming the ground isn't rock hard, it will take some time, but I think you could do a pretty nice trench. I've dug trenches like this with my loaders. Heck, you could probably do it with a BX, let alone an MX.

 

[D2Cat]

Troverman, I agree, especially if he has a toothbar.

 

[troverman]

That's a bit more rugged bucket and teeth than what you'll get on a tractor, lol...but yes, the tooth bars definitely help to bite in. I did mine without, but the ground was reasonably soft and not too many rocks.

 

[botaskinner]

Here's a shot showing the trench I cut using my 4 foot wide bucket. It's for a 1-1/2" PVC water line that I ran under what was to become my new driveway. It's sitting inside a 3" PVC pipe.

I started the trench with my middle buster, then rocked the loader (with Piranha tooth bar) , front wheels a bit off the ground to cut the trench a bit deeper. this was clay soil that hadn't seen the light of day for 50 years.. so I took it slow and easy. I know it's a no-no but i didn't bend any hydraulic cylinders. Took about an afternoon to do the digging.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

If all you have is tractor with FEL, put larger tire on one front wheel, let out most of the other one. Now the bucket is sitting on an angle. Make a pass one way, then come back.. you'll make a shallow V trench. The more passes you make the deeper the trench. I saw an old farmer do this and was amazed how easy it was on the tractor and FAST !

 

[William1]

Ever been skijoring?
Skijoring for those that don't know, is being pulled on ski's by a horse, dogs, or vehicle.
Dogs or snowmobiles are best.
With the dogs it's quiet and fast!

Come winter, come on up and I'll hook you up to a husky or two, or better yet my wolves, talk about an E ticket ride!

As a kid in NH, we did a thing called 'skirtching' (spelling may be wrong). It was a way to get around town without hitchhiking. You'd wait at a stop light or stop sign. When a vehicle pulled up, you'd crouch down and hold on to the bumper, sliding with your boots over the frozen road, letting go at your corner or destination. You had to make sure you were not behind the exhaust and if you came to a bare pavement patch, you'd go tumbling.
It still amazes me I am alive today.

 

[RCW]

Honestly for a narrow trench a subsoiler could work as a couple others said.

It may not suit your purpose, but D2Cat and I were both saying recently how we've had good luck for at least a temporary basis cutting off and redirecting water flow.

A couple parallel passes can widen it up, for what it's worth...

A decent subsoiler is a couple hundred dollars...

Not arguing one way or another... I've just had good luck.


Sent from my QTASUN1 using Tapatalk

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

If all you have is tractor with FEL, put larger tire on one front wheel, let out most of the other one.

Are you going to help pay his bill for the broken front differential or axles?

That's a sure way to break something on a kubota!

 

[troverman]

Here's a shot showing the trench I cut using my 4 foot wide bucket. It's for a 1-1/2" PVC water line that I ran under what was to become my new driveway. It's sitting inside a 3" PVC pipe.

I started the trench with my middle buster, then rocked the loader (with Piranha tooth bar) , front wheels a bit off the ground to cut the trench a bit deeper. this was clay soil that hadn't seen the light of day for 50 years.. so I took it slow and easy. I know it's a no-no but i didn't bend any hydraulic cylinders. Took about an afternoon to do the digging.

That's a real nice neat trench, botaskinner. Good work.

Are you going to help pay his bill for the broken front differential or axles?

That's a sure way to break something on a kubota!

If you put a large and a small tire on the front, leaving the rears alone, and didn't use 4x4...nothing should break. Of course, digging a trench, you'd likely be in 4x4 unless you had a very large tractor.

Even so, with different size tires and 4x4 in use, the front diff on a Kubota is open...so power would flow to the path of least resistance...which would be the normal small front tire. I suspect nothing would probably break, but it sure is a chance I wouldn't take.

 

[boz1989]

If all you have is tractor with FEL, put larger tire on one front wheel, let out most of the other one. Now the bucket is sitting on an angle. Make a pass one way, then come back.. you'll make a shallow V trench. The more passes you make the deeper the trench. I saw an old farmer do this and was amazed how easy it was on the tractor and FAST !

On most tractors, the front axle pivots, so doing what you said would prove nothing. You would have to do this on the back tires.
IMHO, this would be more work than other methods.

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[Cathy Liebchen]

So i got a MX5100 with a bucket/FEL.

I am needing to cut a little trench to drain off some water from a low spot i created digging out some dirt so my newly installed fence gate would swing clear. Its a 8' wide gate. Now I got a little pond right in front of the gate. The ground runs down towards the gate.
I was thinking of cutting a trench from the low spot /pond I created and put a pipe or some kind of that black corrugated pipe in the trench so it has some fall to it to take the water away. No back hoe and for 10K I'm not buying one to cut one trench.
Anyone ever use there bucket to do this? Ground is real soft right now with all the rain we're getting. Any thoughts/tips/tricks or just a dumb Idea. Son in law has a little back hoe but no trailer to transport it yet anyway. He's too far to drive it over on the road. Any Idea's? besides move the gate? Really don't want to do that, Meaning the wife wants it where its at of course.

large gravel bed

 

[Freeheeler]

Ever been skijoring?
Skijoring for those that don't know, is being pulled on ski's by a horse, dogs, or vehicle.
Dogs or snowmobiles are best.
With the dogs it's quiet and fast!

Come winter, come on up and I'll hook you up to a husky or two, or better yet my wolves, talk about an E ticket ride!

Snowmobiles and snowcats yes. Wolves, no, but that sounds like an awesome way to spend a day.

 

[botaskinner]

@ Troverman,
Thanks for the compliment! I dug the trench from one side after the gravel was dumped .
It would have taken less time if I could have worked it from both sides...

 

[Blondie70]

I would use a cheap sidebuster or middlebuster. I have done it before and it's easy.....just a little cleaning out and you are good to go.