Ditch digger

[3RRL]

Nice job on that Patric.
So you use it to cut roots as well then?
That would work better than tilting my boxblade and cutting with one edge since the load is centered on yours. However, with the boxblade I don't have to straddle as you do.
How much weight do you need to put on to make it cut better?

[Paddy]

Rob,

About 4 buckets of gravel/dirt works. I need to use my rear remotes so I can tilt and turn. The larger swale cutter was designed to make a gental ditch that could over grow with grass and still be cut with a mower. If I tried to do that with my yard box, I would have to be on both sides of the ditch, i.e. the angle down side of the box blade set of tractor wheels in the ditch. I live in the woods and in many places the trees are a bit close.

When I make the ditch/swale, the first step is the break up the soil with the deep ditch digger. Then I follow up with the wide ditch digger to shape it. Both rotate from the grader blade bace.

Both are welded 3/16 plate with plenty of bracing on the back. Neither have bent or broke, maybe that why they are so dang heavy!

Patrick T

[sandman2234]

As a continuing effort to make my sister in laws road better, I dug one side of the ditch with a middlebuster I acquired and repaired. I like it, but I really need a ripper to break all the roots and rocks. (rocks are part of the junk added to the roadway, not natural like some of you guys have)
I have a piece of metal to make a ripper out of, but it isn't long enough to go full length, so I thought about building it to fit the 2" bar that the middlebuster is mounted on. However, I don't want to have to remove it everytime I need to go from ripper to middlebuster and back. Not being in farming country, I don't have a boneyard to go plunder thru, so I need to know what that 2" bar and it's mounts for the 3 point hitch are called so I don't sound completely stupid when I get on the phone and start calling around. Being a solid bar, I can only imagine what shipping will cost on that.
Anybody know what applications these square bars are used so I can start looking there first?


David from jax

On another note, it only took them one day to destroy the ditch I dug, by driving close to it, since I made that part so nice and smooth. I guess I am going to have to also buy a post hole digger and put posts up to keep them out of the ditch.
David

[Renze]

Originally Posted by sandman2234

On another note, it only took them one day to destroy the ditch I dug, by driving close to it, since I made that part so nice and smooth. I guess I am going to have to also buy a post hole digger and put posts up to keep them out of the ditch.

Posts alongside, are the biggest pain in the @rse maintaining a proper slope of the road towards the ditch.... best way is to slope the road directly into the ditch, in other words: slope ditch side, on the roadside, about 30ｰ so people can drive into it without destroying it, and because this prevents formation of ridges alongside the road, that prevent the water to flow into the ditch instead of pond at the road edge.

[sandman2234]

The sand in the ditch is a smoother ride than the hard packed surface on the upper side, so they drive in the ditch, which causes my Mother in law's hill to be eroded away (next to the ditch) which is what i was trying to stop by digging a ditch channel. Had no clue they would drive next to the channel, thereby causing it to collaspe and fill in.
David from jax

[JoeL4330]

I've been working a similar problem, how to ditch the side from the roadbed ...finally decided to upgrade my rear blade to an 8' tilt/angle/offset ...chose Land Pride RBT35 Series Rear Blades which will give me 30" of offset and another 6" beyond my wide turfs (which are 7', edge to edge) ...if you note one of the accessories, they provide "cushion valves" for the hydraulic angle and offset, to achieve what other posts in this thread sought to achieve with "float". Between the length, offset, tilt on the blade and tilt on my 3pt, this should do what I want.

It hasn't arrived yet, but I can give you feedback when it does. Admittedly, it is a pricey solution. I finally bit because this is a lighter/cheaper alternative to more substantial rear blades that are cat II and would challenge my tractor. I also opted for their single gauge-wheel, also hydraulic. This meant that to hydraulically control every function--top n tilt, angle, offset, tilt, gauge-wheel height-- I would need 6 rear remotes and, of course, I have only 3. My solution was to also buy the mechanical alternatives that can be pinned instead of the hydraulic cylinders. Again, a pricey solution.

Incidentally, my hope for the single gauge wheel is for snow so that I don't remove all the gravel.

[Renze]

Originally Posted by sandman2234

The sand in the ditch is a smoother ride than the hard packed surface on the upper side...

Hmm... Then the ditch is not the actual problem, but the poor road condition which causes traffic to avoid the center of the road.

[sandman2234]

That is correct, and I really don't want to spend the money to buy the materials that it would take to make it right, so they would stay out of the ditches. Since I don't use the road, and none of the people on it seem to really care about it's condition, the main thing I am trying to do is keep them away from the shoulder, which is where they go when the sand washes away. The shoulder is about 2' higher than that side of the road, and they are eroding it, supplying more sand, but eating away at my Mother in laws yard. I laid a couple of short lengths of telephone pole (5') next to the ditch and they ended up in the woods on the other side of the road. Somebody doesn't want me to stop them from driving on the smooth sand, and I can either forget it or figure out a way to cure the problem.
I think I will just leave it for now, and head for Tn, as I should have left a couple hours ago.
David from jax