Burying drain tile

[Mosey]

I need to bury some 4 inch drain tile about a foot deep. I did about 30 feet last year with a shovel. I need to do about 300 feet this year and don’t really want to do that much by hand. I checked with a rental place and they have a walk behind for $100 for 4 hours, or $150 per day. They said it will dig a trench 5 1/2 inches wide at a rate of 2 feet per minute. Before I spend the $100 I though I’d check with ya’ll to verify that this is the best way to do it, or is there an attachment of some sort that I could use on my tractor? The rental place I called said all they have is the stand alone unit, but not anything that attaches to a tractor. Thanks.

[livincountry]

I just buried about 250 feet of 4" using a rented Ditch Witch. I did the shovel thing too and figured it was easier to part with $150 than to kill myself using a shovel & maddox. It did the job but the trench was barely over 4" wide. I may have run the trencher too fast...if that makes a difference? I returned the trencher before I checked the width of the trench so I spent more time "coercing" the drain tile into the trench that I spent running the trencher. How did I do it? I hosed down the trench and the that allowed the tile to slip in. A rookie mistake I would say, it won't happen the next time.

[Kodiak]

I had the same problem last year installing 425' of drainage. I went with 3" drain tile in a 4" trench. It falls right in, and passes all the water that my yard and roof drains can produce.

[dlabrie]

I plan on renting a ditch witch this summer. $99/4 hours. They said it would dig 3' deep X 3"wide, My question is, What happens when you hit large rocks, of which we have many?
David

[Kodiak]

Another solution to the drain tile is to wide for the trench. Just put 10 to 12 inches of 2" minus drain rock in the botom, Sort of a cheap french drain. Make sure you put a strip of geo textile fabric ( weed control fabric works well, and is cheaper ) over the top of the rock to keep it from silting up.

[chim]

<font color=blue>What happens when you hit large rocks, <font color=blue>

<font color=black>In my experience, with a small Ditch Witch, the chain will jump out of the ground. We've used different DW's at work over the years. The walk-behind models do well in rockless dirt. A rock the size of a softball will make it hop. Larger units, like the Case ride-on we own are a bit more tolerant. It somewhat depends on the size of the rock and how you hit it. Sometimes the DW will pick them up and chuck them out with the dirt. Others will jam between the chain and the side of the trench and stall the chain. We did a job at an airport replacing the runway lighting, burying 2" SCH40 PVC. One day the guy running the Case trenched over 600', but it was usually less. This includes dropping the pipe in and backfilling. We had another couple of guys install the pipe and tamp with an air-powered "pogo stick" type tamper..........chim<font color=black>

[TBone]

A 3ph middle buster on your tractor will make a good trench for 4" drain pipe. You shouldn't have any problem getting 12" deep. If the ground is real hard, have someone (big) stand on the plow for added weight and make multiple passes. I have trenched down as far as 16" with one.

(See the thread under Attachments: "USING A MIDDLE BUSTER TO BURY DRAIN TILE"

TBone

[MirrorlrorriM]

Ya the Three Point Hitch Middle Busters work great for making trenches, I haven't gone down too far with mine but I am sure it will dig as deep as 16" they are a great little tool you can ether buy at a local tractor supply place or online at northertool.com

[WVBill]

You can take the share off of them and replace with a smaller point share to make a shorter version of a sub-soiler too. As I did to make my pipe laying tool. (see the thread "Laying Pipe" and attached picture)