Need to trench, water pipe laying.

   / Need to trench, water pipe laying. #1  

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Jun 20, 2005
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491
Location
Durham, NC
Tractor
Farmtrac 360 TLB
I've got a Farmtrac/LS 360 4x4 tractor with FEL and backhoe (16" bucket). I need to lay about 100 feet of black water pipe. I've got two sets of remotes with around 8GPM flow.
I'd really like to do the work myself, but I don't know what implement to buy/rent. Ideally I'd like to rent an implement such as a 3pt trencher, but I've been told my geared tractor won't go slow enough to use it correctly.

Suggestions are welcome on what tool to use, or to just rent a trencher for a weekend and lay the pipe.
 
   / Need to trench, water pipe laying. #2  
You have a backhoe. I bet you can dig that 100' faster with the backhoe than you can rent and return a trencher.

How deep are you installing the pipe?
 
   / Need to trench, water pipe laying.
  • Thread Starter
#3  
You have a backhoe. I bet you can dig that 100' faster with the backhoe than you can rent and return a trencher.

How deep are you installing the pipe?

The bucket is 16" wide, thats way too much for a little 1" pipe. I need to go across a gravel road also and I hate to dig it up that much. I'm going 12" with the pipe.
 
   / Need to trench, water pipe laying. #4  
Use a sub-soiler on your 3ph. It'll cut down 12" unless you have big rocks. You will likely have to remove some of the dirt by hand where you start because it falls back into the little trench. Just dig out a little where you start and have someone feed the pipe as you trench. If it's only 100' that shouldn't be too hard. Came back to say that I have only done this with PVC but the black roll pipe should work as well.
 
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   / Need to trench, water pipe laying. #5  
I just installed 660' of 2" water line 20"+ deep. I had previously installed 2" electrical conduit 3' deep on the other side of the driveway so I knew where it would be tough.

I hired a large ride on ditch witch with an operator for the first 500'. The operator was a friend of a friend and did it for $250. It would have cost as much and taken much longer to rent a similar ditch witch. My Dad and I placed the water pipe in the trench as soon as the ditch with was finished. The trench was about 4" wide. In some places dirt had fallen in and had to be dug out with a special narrow shovel the operator had loaned us. It was difficult to get the pipe and keep the pipe at the bottom. I had to let the city inspector inspect before I could bury the line. When it was time to bury I ended up walking the line and bedding the pipe in with loose dirt before backfilling with my B21.

Where I knew it would be tough digging I dug the trench with the 12" bucket on my B21. Installing the pipe in the backhoe trenched area was quick and easy. I was able to add bedding material with the FEL.

After backfilling some of the ditch witch trenched areas have washed out despite being back filled with the B21 FEL. The backhoe trenched areas have not had a problem.

I am not sure if I would use a ditch witch again. I have used the backhoe to trench short runs for 3/4" pipe. It is so much more fun than a shovel or mattock.
 
   / Need to trench, water pipe laying. #6  
The bucket is 16" wide, thats way too much for a little 1" pipe. I need to go across a gravel road also and I hate to dig it up that much. I'm going 12" with the pipe.

I dig 24" wide trenches all the time to put in 1 1/2"-3" pipe. Cross my roads, fields, no big deal, we have tractors to back fill with. I sure would not go and rent something for only 100' if I already had something sitting there that would do the job easily. :confused3:
 
   / Need to trench, water pipe laying. #7  
You can always use the BH to dig the trench all but under the road. Then "jet" under the road. It is not hard with 1" pipe.

To jet the pipe, you need an adapter to 3/4" pipe to hose-bib (the are about $5 in HD) and a 3/4X1" male adapter (yes, they make them.)

Connect the hose to the hose-bib adapter and the male adapter to a piece of PVC pipe. Connect the hose to the PVC. Turn the hose on full blast and, keeping the pipe straight in the ditch, push the pipe under the road.

If you want to use the black pipe, connect it to the now run PVC and pull the black pipe through the hole you have made by pulling it with the PVC.
 
   / Need to trench, water pipe laying. #8  
If you are using metal pipe don't know you can do what friend of mine would do: he buried a lot of pvc pipe with subsoiler. He would run the pipe around the subsoiler and pulled it into the trench and through the trench all in one trip. Now we don't have rocky soil. If you are using metal pipe you might could do the same with taking a cap and drilling hole in it for chain to connect to the subsoiler. But subsoiler is best tool with least possible distrubance. If you can not do that then place and tack weld a piece of angel iron on front of the suboiler shank to make the trench wider than the shank only will.

Have not seen one in action but have seen subsoiler with a tube welded on the side to feed pipe from the front as it is being pulled to place the pipe in place. They use something along that for buring such as phone lines.
 
   / Need to trench, water pipe laying. #9  
I use my subsoiler for running lots of little pipes.

I drill 2 holes in the pipe, tie it to the bottom of the subsoiler blade, tape it off, and away I go. Glue your pipe together in 100' sections and it goes pretty fast. The last line I ran was a 1.5", and I had no trouble pulling in 150' in about 10 minutes.
 
   / Need to trench, water pipe laying. #10  
i agree with the others.. you got a back hoe.. for a lil job.. I'd use it for sure..

soundguy
 
 
 
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