backhoe, trencher, renting, buying...

[Freds]

That's pretty nice Redneck. And less than half the price of the DR, plus hydraulic legs. That's very nice. I want one (lol). Seriously, if someone by me made those, I'd have one in a heartbeat.

Forgot to add above; Without stringing a line and measuring, I think I'll be lucky if I can get 18" deep. I'm running the drainage into a ditch, so I can't get too low or I will have to run uphill to stub it out of the ground.

 

[MarkV]

Personally I would wait for the ground to dry out and rent the trencher. If you try the trencher or a backhoe in ground that sounds as wet as yours it will just make a mess. You may want to look into the "soil sock" that you can slip over the drain pipe to prevent sediment from clogging the pipe. It will often eliminate the need for gravel and is even used on some types of septic drain fields without gravel.

MarkV

 

[Redneck in training]

Here is one.
towable back hoe

 

[Freds]

It's looking more and more like that, Mark. This started out as an end of winter project, while the ground was still pretty much frozen, but then two weeks of rain came. And while I know it will get drier, it always stays spongey. My neighbor has a similar area he's doing and the way he looks at it is, the ground can be repaired, I just want the water out of here... I think we're waiting on each other to see who will make the first move (lol). I'm one step ahead, as I already have the tile, but we both have our gravel piles sitting in the driveway.
And I looked into the sock. Pretty pricey plus a lot of folks said it would clog with dirt to easy. Like anything, pros and cons.

Redneck, how can you tell where that guy is? I'm not familiar with that kind of site and am not going to just email someone my phone #. No pic or nothing..... weird.

 

[Redneck in training]

It's looking more and more like that, Mark. This started out as an end of winter project, while the ground was still pretty much frozen, but then two weeks of rain came. And while I know it will get drier, it always stays spongey. My neighbor has a similar area he's doing and the way he looks at it is, the ground can be repaired, I just want the water out of here... I think we're waiting on each other to see who will make the first move (lol). I'm one step ahead, as I already have the tile, but we both have our gravel piles sitting in the driveway.
And I looked into the sock. Pretty pricey plus a lot of folks said it would clog with dirt to easy. Like anything, pros and cons.

Redneck, how can you tell where that guy is? I'm not familiar with that kind of site and am not going to just email someone my phone #. No pic or nothing..... weird.

He is in Hudson Valey area. The URL says that. But I didn't read his add right. He is not selling but looking to buy one. There was one very nice self propeled factory made for sale on ebay last week. Sold for $4180. I called the factory and they were asking $20000 for new one. They also told me that they have several used for sale. Here is the link to the factory site.
Gofor digger towable backhoes

 

[Freds]

Hey, those are pretty neat.
Thanks for the link.

 

[tallyho8]

It might be too wet for you to use a Ditch Witch but they sure are nice to use if it dries up some. I just rented one from Home Depot to dig a trench 4" wide, 2' deep and 700' long for some pipe. With tax and insurance it was $175 for 24 hours and it took me 4 hours.

I just started it up, set the depth, aimed it in the right direction, tied the bail to the handlebars and let it go. It went along by itself digging a perfect trench and I followed right behind it priming and glueing the pvc pipe and putting it in the trench. It dug the trench faster than I could install the pipe in 10' sections.

It took longer to fill the trench than to dig it! The good part about digging a narrow trench that is just wide enough for the pipe is the stability of the trench. I always have dumptruck loads of sand driving over where I put the pipe and they can not crush the pipe if the trench is only 4" wide but if you dig a wide trench and fill it, the dirt won't be compacted and trucks can crush your pipe.

 

[Freds]

Thanks tallyho. Good points.

 

[Redneck in training]

Hey, those are pretty neat.
Thanks for the link.

I think the biggest drawback is their low weight while trying to break in the ground. But once you get down deep the weight doesn't matter much I think. I will post my experience after I get some work done with my machine. It will always beat a shovel I suppose.

 

[Freds]

Well just to update, I bought a backhoe today.
It'll be nice always having one always available without having the constrictions of renting. At least that's what I keep telling myself