Anybody use a 3ft BH bucket

[shaley]

Any comments on using a 3ft bucket on a Woods 9000 BH. Seems like a lot of bucket for a little machine. The dealer says it holds only as much as the 2 ft.
I need 3 ft septic trenches about 24" deep in sandy-loam loamy-sand. Should I rent a big BH. The elev. needs to be +- 1" on trench btm. and if I get a rental just think how goofy I'll be until I get the feel for the machine.
What to do.

 

[john_bud]

Well, I use a 36" bucket, but it's on an old Ford BH and it holds about 8+ cuft. I went from a 12-14" bucket with no teeth to the 36" with teeth. If you have to get it for your 9000, make sure it has teeth. You should be OK with it being in soft loamy soils - as long as there are no big roots.

The final elevation needs to be +/- 1". Can't you just get close and adjust with the gravel fill ? I don't have septic experience, and this is a real question!

jb

 

[DK35vince]

I often use a 36" bucket on a Rhino 85 backhoe. It would dig in sandy loam type soil OK. The Woods 9000 is a bigger hoe, so it should have no problem.

 

[texbaylea]

On your septic trench you over dig then set up a grade board the length of the trench and backfill with gravel to the grade. Use 1" x 2" battens, short lengths for support stakes and long lengths to set the grade. You can pull the grade boards when you have established and struck the grade.

Vernon

 

[Dirthog]

Do not over dig and level the trench with stone the object in having a flat and fairly level trench is so the waste water does not pool in one spot if you try that here in Pa. they will not pass it and give your permit.

 

[shaley]

Thanks for the replies guys. I may go look at a 3ft bucket. Just some info. VA. wont let you overdig either. In fact, their is no gravel anymore. We use plastic chambers. The trench grade has to be precision but can be 50% shorter with this product.

 

[MarkV]

We used the chambered system called “infiltrator” and they were very exact on the levelness of the trench. The contractor used a laser when digging and the inspector also used it when checking the system before backfill.

The last backhoe bucket I bought was a 12” for a small backhoe and cost $450. I would suspect that a 36” bucket would be considerably more. For a one time project I would think digging close to finish grade with what you have and hiring a couple of labors for a day to do the clean up would be cheaper.

By the way, it has been a few years but I recall our trenches having to be 3’ deep by 3’ wide.

MarkV

 

[shaley]

Dealer says $1000. We have 32 lots. My dealer can barely answer my questions. He doesn't know the capacity but he says it is the same as a 24".
He called it a cemetery bucket. Cemetery buckets are not suppose to be for general trenching but I don't know why.

 

[MarkV]

Steve, I misunderstood and thought you were doing one septic system for yourself. With 32 of them to do then the investment in a bucket does not seem too much. It just depends on your soil conditions as to how effective it will be. With the clay down here in Dixie that wide of bucket would not work for me.

Why don’t you e-mail Woods and see what their opinion of how your backhoe and that bucket combination will work. I believe others have found Woods to be responsive to e-mail.

MarkV

 

[8226hamer]

We use a 36" bucket on our B-21 Kubotas for digging graves. They dig as well as a 12" bucket. We just bought a new B-26 Kubota and found out afterwards that they no longer make 36" buckets for the quick hitch system that the B-26 uses. We had an old B-21 36" bucket converted to work.