How to dig a trench

[GreensvilleJay]

'sand pit' is to allow the slack cable to 'flex' with ground freezing and thawing.
They ( the 'engineers') figured out that was better than running in conduit elbows and both ends AFTER some wires were yanked OUT of the meterbases.....

 

[D2Cat]

One thing I did not see mentioned is preserving the topsoil (although not in this case). By digging up just the top soil and setting it to one side of the trench and setting the subsoil on the other side of the trench you can keep plants growing in topsoil into the future. If your topsoil is 18" deep dig down about 18" to get the topsoil off then remove the subsoil. When the color changes you are past the topsoil. This preserves your organic matter If your topsoil is 12 feet deep there is no concern about cross contamination.

I cut trenches with a trencher and cuts (without spacers) a 5-6" slot. Topsoil is not a concern, since any rock is not returned to the ditch. With a narrow trench, if top soil is 15" deep and the trench is 3' when the crumbs are mixed together when backfilling grass will grow fine.

 

[top gnome]

One thing I did not see mentioned is preserving the topsoil (although not in this case). By digging up just the top soil and setting it to one side of the trench and setting the subsoil on the other side of the trench you can keep plants growing in topsoil into the future. If your topsoil is 18" deep dig down about 18" to get the topsoil off then remove the subsoil. When the color changes you are past the topsoil. This preserves your organic matter If your topsoil is 12 feet deep there is no concern about cross contamination.

great idea my top soil is full of rock. So I use a screen and run the spoil over the screen top soil in one pile and rock in another

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

I may have missed it on the 64 pages above so this maybe a repeat but on the BX if in NEUTRAL after you lift the out riggers just off the ground and reach around and do same with front bucket you can easily push the tractor forward with the boom control and a litter dipper stick help. When in gear or if parking brake on not so easy.

 

[fried1765]

I may have missed it on the 64 pages above so this maybe a repeat but on the BX if in NEUTRAL after you lift the out riggers just off the ground and reach around and do same with front bucket you can easily push the tractor forward with the boom control and a litter dipper stick help. When in gear or if parking brake on not so easy.

That's the way I ben doin it for the past 38 years!

 

[UnEasyRider]

I'm hoping you put the wire in conduit...just in case......

the 'soil' is 'funny' here..
I have GREAT 'dirt'...zero stones or rocks...
Guy 1/4 mile south east away has pits of coarse sand
His neighbour, literally 1000' west, ROCKS, boulders, stones,

pretty sure that's where one of the glaciers 'made a delivery'.....

I am in the process of getting bids for new electrical service and at first I thought well direct burial cable means direct burial... no conduit. Well I got schooled by one electrician and he said he wouldn't do the job without pipe. Most electricians here do it Without! I learned, and I am piping mine.

 

[UnEasyRider]

I do not have a backhoe; I did/do not have enough uses to justify buying one. For those that need/want a backhoe enough to spend the money, you made the right decision for you.

I did need to dig an approximately 180 foot trench for some direct bury electrical wire. I rented a treaded trencher; it was a Vermeer unit that costs about $30K. I rented it from a place about 30 minutes away. I was able to pick up the trencher (it came with a trailer), use it and return it in less than 4 hours. I paid less that $160 including the insurance for my half day rental. The trench was very clean and easy to cover.

If I had owned a backhoe, I still would have rented the trencher.

Even tho I needed a shallow trench about 900' long for water pipe I knew that would be one of the few times I would use it. Not to mention I am new and the learning curve to operate it correctly wasn't in my timeframe. Wound up renting a ditch witch which was perfect for what I needed.

 

[BC2]

In a pinch, I wonder if you could do a shallow trench just using a middle buster off the 3pt and move even faster than a rented trencher. For small light duty excavating and picking up logs & boulders, anybody have any experience with the Titan front hoe ( e.g. Item No. 123101 ) and thumb on a LA805 skid steer mount? If so, what's the max bucket size you recommend (8", 10, 12, 14 or bigger) for typical 35-45hp tractor? You can't do side to side, but you don't have to turn around at all except to see if you are going to back into something. Limited to 6' deep, need front hydraulics, have to use tractor steering to dump if you want to dump to the side, so it doesn't replace a proper backhoe if you really need a backhoe, but I could see utility for burn pits, moving large landscaping rock, limited length trenching, burying pruning twigs instead of burning, moving large deadfall and cut logs, excavating around small trees to push over instead of cut, etc. I would think it might have a tiny bit more utility than a grapple but would not be as capable/efficient as a real grapple either.