Grading How do you dig a driveway drainage ditch next to an earthen bank?

[Diggin It]

Best thing I've seen for clearing ditches is a rotating grinder head (sort of like a stump grinder or flail mower) on the end of an Ex boom. Spins so that the expelled debris goes up onto the bank. No idea what it's called, how it works, what it costs, or if it's available to the public.

 

[nyone]

Backhoe's have their place but this isn't one of them. At my work we do a lot of ditching for municipalities and a local conservation district as well for private concerns. We usually center the machine in the ditch itself as its much easier to pull your back slope and front slope and usually with our ditches you can't reach the back slope from the road. This also helps keep the continuity of the ditch and keep it straight. On a job like this a mini with a wrist bucket or tilt bucket is your best bet that way you can shape your back slope with the mini around any trees or other obstacles and make a flat bottom rather than a 'V' bottom which would help with erosion and make it easier to mow after the grass has a chance to grow back. But cutting back that back slope so you don't have a slope failure and so you can mow it will also look better in the end.

I'm with you on cutting that bank way down. It looks like they removed less than the bare minimal amount of material to make that driveway.

 

[jgoodma1]

OR...use the back blade...

This works best with a hydraulic top & tilt...I have to maintain ditches I've dug where there is a steep bank (actually a mountain) adjacent to the side of the lane where runoff is pitched to...this technique allows me to clear/dig/scoop out etc. 6' of ditch at a time...

I position the tractor perpendicular to the lane and back the blade to the far side of the ditch...setting the blade with the top link fully retracted...lower the 3PH and while slowly pulling forward extend the top link...this creates a scooping action...as the near side of the ditch is reached start raising the 3ph to deposit the material on the inside shoulder of the ditch to be removed with the loader...
...re position the tractor and repeat...

Thanks for that suggestion. I don’t have a top n tilt but I’m going to give that a shot and see if I can control the up and down of the 3PH to maybe scoop out a ditch. My little JD 670 has a manual gear box and in 1st gear in low range I can poke along at about 1/20th of a mph with no slop in the drivetrain, so if I can dial in my up and down control of the 3PH, I might be able to pull it off.

 

[jgoodma1]

Backhoe's have their place but this isn't one of them. At my work we do a lot of ditching for municipalities and a local conservation district as well for private concerns. We usually center the machine in the ditch itself as its much easier to pull your back slope and front slope and usually with our ditches you can't reach the back slope from the road. This also helps keep the continuity of the ditch and keep it straight. On a job like this a mini with a wrist bucket or tilt bucket is your best bet that way you can shape your back slope with the mini around any trees or other obstacles and make a flat bottom rather than a 'V' bottom which would help with erosion and make it easier to mow after the grass has a chance to grow back. But cutting back that back slope so you don't have a slope failure and so you can mow it will also look better in the end.

That part of the drive is on the property line. The slope is my neighbor’s property, so I can’t dig that away unfortunately.

 

[Egon]

Try a Gradall, that should work.

 

[airbiscuit]

I have a 1/2 mile long driveway. I don't have ditches exactly, but a reasonable crown on all but about 40 yards. On the 40 yards, it is right next to my neighbor's yard, so that section slopes slightly across the roadbed to the down hill side. Other tnan that, the crown drains the water off to the side of the road and drains away at the bottom of small hills.

In a couple of cases there was no bottom of hill depression for the water to drain, so I dug out a "swale" that gave the water a place to drain and soak away. There was a longer hill where the water drained of the road well, but gained too much velocity running down the side of the road and caused erosion. I cut a swale on each side of the road about 1/3 of the way down the hill to give the water an off ramp so that it wouldn't continue to pick up speed.

The crown and the swales have worked very well.

 

[Imold]

This is what I would use next to a bank down to road to get a ditch in.

 

[eng23ine]

I use a box blade with the 3pt lift arms adjusted so its lower on one side.
It takes a few passes, but each pass gets you deeper as long as your wheels are in the ditch you're cutting.

 

[LouNY]

A back blade with offset tilt and angle,
swing the offset over to behind the wheel, run the tilt all the way to lower the corner behind the wheel and rotate the angle forward to bring the cutting point close to the tire, set the blade down to the depth you want or less if you do not have the power to pull it thru in one pass. If need be just take an inch or two each pass to you have achieved the depth you want.
This also brings the ditch cleanings out onto your roadway.
After the final depth has been achieved, lessen the angle and pull the loose dirt futher out into your road, leaving it in a windrow.
Finish up by scooping up and cleaning off your road.