buying a trencher

   / buying a trencher #1  
D

dirt clod

Gold Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2006
Messages
332
Location
panama city and altha florida
Tractor
Kubota L3300, m5700, case 580se
I'm looking to buy a good used trencher for my small farm use. I'm putting in water lines for cattle troughs now and hopefully soon will be trenching power for shop. Renting has not worked out well as I have a full time job and need to use as I have time, weather permits and soil is dry enough. I'm looking at getting this... Ditch Witch V30 4 Wheel Drive .
I really know nothing about trenchers. It was owned by a city department and looks to have had good maintenance. The chains and sprocket show very little wear.

1) Is the v30 ditch witch a good machine?
2)Any idea when this was built? hadn't found much info on this machine
3) any problem areas I should look at on this machine?
 
   / buying a trencher #2  
Wish I could give you first hand advice on a V30 but I used to own an older but very similar looking Ditch Witch J20 and it was a solid old entry level machine. 20 HP Wisconsin THD engine, easy to use hydraulics and controls...pretty simple machine to operate and work on/maintain....which was really nothing more than greasing, occasional points/plugs, etc. All wear parts are still easy to get and not too expensive. My only "issue" was that it had limited ground clearance and was easier to get stuck in sloppy conditions because of that than I first suspected, other than that it was a reliable and handy machine.

I am going to guess that the one you posted is a mid/late 70's to early '80's model.
 
   / buying a trencher
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Looked at a j20. It was a little smaller with a 2 cylinder motor instead of the four cylinder on the v30. the controls are completely different though. The one I looked at was worn badly with no sign of maintenance being done. thx for the reply.
 
   / buying a trencher #4  
dirt clod said:
I'm looking to buy a good used trencher for my small farm use. I'm putting in water lines for cattle troughs now and hopefully soon will be trenching power for shop. Renting has not worked out well as I have a full time job and need to use as I have time, weather permits and soil is dry enough. I'm looking at getting this... Ditch Witch V30 4 Wheel Drive .
I really know nothing about trenchers. It was owned by a city department and looks to have had good maintenance. The chains and sprocket show very little wear.

1) Is the v30 ditch witch a good machine?
2)Any idea when this was built? hadn't found much info on this machine
3) any problem areas I should look at on this machine?
Click to expand...

I just sold a good used V40 with backhoe attachment for $6500. If I am remembering correct, that machine had a Ford diesel engine in it. The unit you are looking at looks to be in good condition. What are they asking for it? Ken Sweet
 
   / buying a trencher
  • Thread Starter
#5  
asking $3k. I can get it for 2500. no bucket just front blade and trencher. it was maintained by a city and everything looks good. The chains, rollers, sprockets all look to be recently replaced. It does have a Wisconsin motor, I'm sure parts will be harder to find and costly. My plan is to due all my trenching and then to resell. Should save me about $1k on rental costs if I don't have to put more money into machine than what I can resell for. I have 3000 foot of pipe to run for cattle troughs also need to run some water lines to garden at home and utilities for work shop. After blowing $300 on a rental and not getting anything done due to wet ground I think purchasing used and reselling after projects will be money ahead.:thumbsup:
 
   / buying a trencher
  • Thread Starter
#6  
in pics 2 and 3 the shaft for the trenching chain is made so that the bare shaft extends out to the left. There is a hole in the shaft so that something could be bolted to it. Just out of curiosity any idea what its for? Is it for adding on additional auger blades to move the extra material further from hole when using teeth for cutting wide trenches?:confused:
 
   / buying a trencher #7  
dirt clod said:
asking $3k. I can get it for 2500. no bucket just front blade and trencher. it was maintained by a city and everything looks good. The chains, rollers, sprockets all look to be recently replaced. It does have a Wisconsin motor, I'm sure parts will be harder to find and costly. My plan is to due all my trenching and then to resell. Should save me about $1k on rental costs if I don't have to put more money into machine than what I can resell for. I have 3000 foot of pipe to run for cattle troughs also need to run some water lines to garden at home and utilities for work shop. After blowing $300 on a rental and not getting anything done due to wet ground I think purchasing used and reselling after projects will be money ahead.:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

I dont see how you can go wrong at the 2500. Resell should be no problem. Heck, you could maybe make a extra 1000 on the resell. Ken Sweet
 
   / buying a trencher #9  
I sure don't know about the extended shaft. The 40 I sold did not have it. Maybe ask one of the city employees that operated it? Ken Sweet
 
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