Backhoe Moving backhoe over ditch

[RBA50]

I'm Confused (easy enough to do). Is this a circular ditch? If not, I would begin filling at one end, and as the ditch is filled back over (straddle) the ditch that has been filled. Once it's filled there should not be a problem with collapse. Just don't back past the filled area, and use the reach of the backhoe to stay as far away as possible from the open area. Also curious about the size of the rock. If you can't fill from the end, the FEL would be my choice.but as noted above, the large rock could be damaging to the pipe.

 

[JoeL4330]

Not sure I understand the ins and outs, but: fill liberally to 8 feet (i.e., level) in places where you need support, or to cross, and then remove two feet from those "overfilled" areas and re-position stone ? I can see needing to cross the ditch from time to time, but no need to straddle: "over"-filling stone w. bucket and then nudging it w. hoe can be done from sides, no? ...or, am I misunderstanding?

 

[Claytonfarms]

The ditch is 8 feet deep, filled 6 feet with the big stone, then pipe, then backfilled. I have no idea why so deep, stone size, etc. that is what the health dept. wants. The reasons for crossing are that we are building in the woods, and we had to remove a bunch of trees to install the system. If we removed a stump, there may be a hole of very soft soil as big as 6-8 feet around. I will not get my FEL close to that. 14,000 lbs I am sure the sides will collapse. Thus we over filled the trench with stone and I need to cross it to spread the stone. Even with a backhoe that big stone does not want to move. Hand leveling is out of the question.

Due to the depth of the trench we can dig a little then spread the stone but I can only fill so far before the stone starts to get in the way of digging.

 

[JoeL4330]

some sort of dragline bucket arrangement to move/level stone?

 

[LD1]

I am confused as all get out too.

Have you dug the ditch yet?? Thats easy to do without crossing anything, start at one end and go toward the other.

What is the issue with filling that you cant use the front end loader. Probably lots faster than the hoe anyway.

Dig the trench, fill with stone with the FEL, lay pipe, then backfill with dirt with the FEL??????

 

[dragoneggs]

I am confused as all get out too.

Have you dug the ditch yet?? Thats easy to do without crossing anything, start at one end and go toward the other.

What is the issue with filling that you cant use the front end loader. Probably lots faster than the hoe anyway.

Dig the trench, fill with stone with the FEL, lay pipe, then backfill with dirt with the FEL??????

Yeah it seems simple and obvious... I am thinking the OP is worried about caving in being too close and getting tractor stuck, IDK.

 

[LD1]

Yea. Seems simple and straight forward to me. Dig the trench, fill all but 2' with stone, lay pipe, backfill, then spread the leftover dirt

 

[Mechanos]

It's easy if your FEL has an antigravity bucket.

 

[workinallthetime]

what area of the country requires a leach field to be 8 feet deep? around here we are not allowed to go deeper then 4 feet due to the septic contaminating the ground water. Is this the tight line from the house to the tank? or the field pipe? i think code here is 300 feet minimum with additional 100 feet per full bath.
crossing a ditch with a bh is pretty easy when absolutly necessary, if the machine cant handle it rent one that can for a day or so.
remember pay day is on friday, dont lick your fingers and effulent runs down hill but not more than 1/4 inch per foot!!

 

[jenkinsph]

The ditch is 8 feet deep, filled 6 feet with the big stone, then pipe, then backfilled. I have no idea why so deep, stone size, etc. that is what the health dept. wants. The reasons for crossing are that we are building in the woods, and we had to remove a bunch of trees to install the system. If we removed a stump, there may be a hole of very soft soil as big as 6-8 feet around. I will not get my FEL close to that. 14,000 lbs I am sure the sides will collapse. Thus we over filled the trench with stone and I need to cross it to spread the stone. Even with a backhoe that big stone does not want to move. Hand leveling is out of the question.

Due to the depth of the trench we can dig a little then spread the stone but I can only fill so far before the stone starts to get in the way of digging.

I think you are overly concerned about the stump holes, use your backhoe to tamp the holes and compact them. Over filling the trench was a mistake imo. but might be a good place to use to straddle the ditch.

Lots of problems and issues with this ditch, unless the percolation if very good 60 ft of trench isn't much and may cause premature failure of the field. The stone seems to be too large to be in contact with the field pipe and will be hard to smooth and grade. If you do get it smoothed out and pipe in place you might want to add a layer or two of landscape cloth to keep the dirt out of the rock layer when backfilling.