Cutting Driveway run off trenches

Tractor2011 · Feb 26, 2014

Does anyone have a recommendation for an inexpensive attachment (front or rear) that would allow me to cut U-shaped trenches along side of my driveway, to allow for rain run off?

thanks in advance

savageactor7 · Feb 26, 2014

Do they really have to be that deep?

In order to accommodate the wife I use the FEL to carve out very slight 'U' grooves in our gravel driveway. You can hardly notice them when it's dry...and walk over them without any impedance. slight as they are they channel water out of way very efficient.

Just flip the bucket down , apply some downward pressure and slowly back up. I do this all over the back yard too...up here we call 'em 'swale holes' or ditches. Very gently sloping, easily accommodating to all wheeled vehicle traffic. A minimum effort to redirect drainage.

TSC does have a double furrerer, ditcher, 3PH attachment

Deerherd · Feb 26, 2014

Not sure how far you have to go but you could use your tiller. It would be slow, 66" at a time. A box blade or rear blade would be much faster but don't really meet your "inexpensive attachment" criteria.

stuckmotor · Feb 26, 2014

I was having trouble with mud running into the main road where I go into the pasture to feed the cows. I trenched to the ditch with a shovel.

sixdogs · Feb 26, 2014

Deerherd said:
Not sure how far you have to go but you could use your tiller. It would be slow, 66" at a time. A box blade or rear blade would be much faster but don't really meet your "inexpensive attachment" criteria.

This worked for me. I first tilled it up and then used a grader blade on an angle. Then I ran the tiller on the slope, graded more and smoothed things out before I planted grass seed. Worked great.

s219 · Feb 26, 2014

An offset and angled rear blade would be ideal, but that's at least $800-1200 (or more) for a good one in the size you'd want for an L3940. The good ones are properly reinforced to let you slide them off to the side and angle them to cut ditches. Cheaper ones (like the $350 TSC model I use for snow removal) would buckle in a heartbeat if you tried cutting a ditch.

A box blade would work if you were able to straddle the shoulder with the tractor. You can angle the side link (using the threaded adjuster) to get some angle on it, and then make repeated passes. That low corner should cut a shallow V ditch to the depth you want. Might take trial and error to get it perfected. Decent box blades start around $500-600 for the size you'd want. They are also very versatile for lots of other uses.

s219 · Feb 26, 2014

An offset and angled rear blade would be ideal, but that's at least $800-1200 (or more) for a good one in the size you'd want for an L3940. The good ones are properly reinforced to let you slide them off to the side and angle them to cut ditches. Cheaper ones (like the $350 TSC model I use for snow removal) would buckle in a heartbeat if you tried cutting a ditch.

A box blade would work if you were able to straddle the shoulder with the tractor. You can angle the side link (using the threaded adjuster) to get some angle on it, and then make repeated passes. That low corner should cut a shallow V ditch to the depth you want. Might take trial and error to get it perfected. Decent box blades start around $500-600 for the size you'd want. They are also very versatile for lots of other uses.