I bought a Ditch Witch !!!!

[Dirthog]

the teeth should not be that much they just drive in the cup they have a spring pice on them that looks like a roil pin. The only trouble would be if they ran it with out and ruined the holders. never saw any that were marked for just clay we have two different types at work the only difference is the carbide tip is round or has a slight point on it

[john_bud]

No direct experience, but the mulchers have posted issues with the oil cooled duetz overheating and failing. Just a thought to keep in mind. May never happen as you won't get that dusty, but....

[ScottAR]

I wouldn't worry too much about the Deutz in this app. They're used as irrigation power units around here all over. Just keep the grills clean and the oil changed regularly.
They typically last a LONG time if maintained. I've heard of units with 30,000+ hrs on them with only regular maintence and minor repair.

I speculate the grills/fins get covered by debris and dust in a mulcher and the thing overheats.

[Renze]

No direct experience, but the mulchers have posted issues with the oil cooled duetz overheating and failing. Just a thought to keep in mind. May never happen as you won't get that dusty, but....

The air cooled Deutz series were the 912 and 913 series... these were simple and cheap to rebuild, and lasted a lifetime... They were built from 1964 ?? untill TIER 1 era, however Deutz kept selling the 712 and 812 as well during the early '70s.
The current generation of Deutz oil cooled engines (1011, 1012, 2012) are like Chinese mopeds: they are underbuilt disposables and prone to premature failure.

Keep some clean oil in that Deutz and it'll run forever...

[tommu56]

Eddie good buy it'll com in handy laying the electric and waterlines in the rv park it will disturb less soil than your back hoe doing the same job.

tommu

[Rhino59]

Eddie:

Good buy on that trencher! But I think your DW dealer is gouging you if he's charging you that much for teeth. The dirt cups (the curvey 1/4" thich ones that are worn out in your photos) should be $5 or $6 max. Even a rock tooth is only around $10 or so.

Since you bought it at auction, here's what you need to do:
Change engine oil / filter
Change hyd. oil / filter
Change air filter
Clean out around oil cooler on engine
Check out the bearing on the end roller of the boom - if it's got play in it - replace it while you can, if the bearing wears long enough you will have to replace both it and the roller. Very costly.
Replace the worn out dirt cups on your chain. Your chain itself looks to have some life left in it - the sprocket is in bad shape, but there's no sense in replacign the drive sprocket until you replace the chain. Don't be surprised if you have to replace it within 100 hours.

Good luck!

[Kernopelli]

Right on! With your line of work and personal needs you'll see an excellent return on investment. I have to trump you on the bang-per-buck bargain though, I got my J20 ( much smaller but sure beats a tile spade) for $150. It was a local guy doing a no reserve ebay auction, he did an awful job listing it and apparently no one saw it. I picked it up for his opening bid price, the down side was I had to put new points and condenser in it before I could start using it .

[3RRL]

Yeah, great find Eddie,
I almost bought a used one but really wasn't sure how much I would need up at my place. It's not like you where you probably use it all the time in your business. I have a backhoe and use that for the few ditches I've needed. One other thing is it would be hard for me to position the Ditch Witch even if I wanted to use it. My property is so sloped and steep in some places.
I hope you put it to good use and it gives you many years of trouble free performance.

[Kernopelli]

I wouldn't worry too much about the Deutz in this app. They're used as irrigation power units around here all over. Just keep the grills clean and the oil changed regularly.
They typically last a LONG time if maintained. I've heard of units with 30,000+ hrs on them with only regular maintence and minor repair.

I speculate the grills/fins get covered by debris and dust in a mulcher and the thing overheats.

Actually, I looked at four gen sets today that are being auctioned locally. They had deutz diesels and were all between 8,xxx and 13,xxx hours and still running strong.

[flusher]

Wow Good find. I borrowed one just like it when I was building my house. I dug 1200 ft of trench in less than 4 hours. It had the same silly safety switches. It really made me mad that everytime I stood up to look back at the trench the thing shut down.

An excellent find.

It took me 8 hours to dig about 1100 ft of trench 24-30 inches deep with a Ditch Witch 1330 walkbehind rental. Nearly did me in. That heavy beast is a bear to line up at the start of a trench run since it's steering is so primitive.

I'll definitely find one of those riding DWs next time I have a lot of trenching work.