Trencher

[Taylortractornut]

Well I finally got done with my version of Sandmans trencher. I made mine a bit different as it had started out as a stump grinder wheel from a 3/8ths transfer pattern out of a sawmill edger wheel. I added planer blade teeth from the chipmill. I had a 1to 1 box off a cotton piccker spindle drive. I made alot of mistakes on this one as I didnt have the tractor in the shop to get all my clearances. Every thing including the pto shaft was salvaged at a total cost of 30 dollars for the rods to weld it with. I had to try it out this morning before breakfast and found I needed to add some more teeth. Since I dont have a plasma cutter to cut more teeth out from the blades I uses som olt tiller teeth off a sears tiller. They peel off the material from the advancing wall and the blades chuck it out. I hope to have a few pics tomorrow.

 

[3RRL]

Taylor,
Post some pictures for us. I'd really like to see your ideas.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I hope to have access to another digital camera this weekend, mine died I may have to take a few pics and scan them the old way lol. it works good though dug an 8 inch deep trench7 inches wide and 80 feet long in about 3 minutes.

 

[sandman2234]

I'm still waiting on the pictures!
David from jax

 

[Taylortractornut]

I finally got around to getting my pics taken they arent really good the camera didnt focus. I plant to get some action shots later this evening. I have taken the chipper teeth off because when I got into clay they didnt cut and just acted ugly. I used the teeth I took off for hard liners to cap off excavator teeth. I have a few more tiller teeth on some junk tillers I will use to make it cut better. right now it does good Ive trenched over 2500 feet with it. and this comming spring will use it alot to lay drip lines for my greenhouse and tomato patches.

 

[GE222]

Slick Tool!

I have a few questions.

How are you adjusting the depth? I was wondering if a shoe would be needed to set the depth, or are you using the 3-point, or simply letting the gear box ride along the ground.

When it is running, I was also curious about hitting obstacles such as rocks and small roots.

Does it remove the spoils from the trench?

It looks like it would be much faster than a regular trencher.

 

[Taylortractornut]

The soil is thrown out of the trench, it hits the top and rolls out the side in a windrow. It does trow a bout an inch back into the trench. I have a crumber bar that goes o nthe back and has a spring on the hinge to hould it in the trench. It holds all the crumbs and as they build up they get thrown out by the wheel. Ill have some inuse pics later. sine the teeth have worn down alot it only cuts 8 inches. I was in alot of sand with cchips of sand rock and it really wore them down. I have 3 more tiller heads to ct make blades with Ill hard surface them. The larger the tip diameter the less RPM s youll need. We dont have big rocks here and it will throw out most sand rocks. I cut most any thing with it in the soil. It had a slip clutch wi a spring and a set of clutch teeth but to run it the rotation im using it in I had to tack it shut.

 

[Taylortractornut]

Heres a few action shots of my trencher My wife took a few mud clods to the head, but hung in there for TBN. The fist one I was in soggy clay trenchin a slot for adding compost to the row to help with winter drainage. Then theres a tail shot and then a shot in some well drained topsoil in another garden I was just plying in to show the piling action. I picked up another tiller head I will add a few more teeth on it a little later. I need to find the crummer bar or build another one. its throwing about an inch of material back into the hole but its easy to remove with a shovel but a crummer bar will hold it and let it build up iand the wheel will take care of it.

 

[Taylortractornut]

The tail shots

 

[Hiltz]

Hey Taylor, This is off topic but I use to fish around Iuka. Coleman state park, Yellow Creek, State line boat dock. Spent alot of weekends and summers there in the early and mid 70's. Havent been there in probably 30 years. My brother who lives in Jackson Tn tells me I wouldnt recognize the area. Became a real vacation area and has been ruined by overpopulation. It use to be really quite and a beautiful place. I enjoy your builds on this site. Looking forward to your future posts............