Thinking about building a drain field tile and gravel laying tool

[mx842]

A friend of mine wants me to build him a tool that has a hopper for gravel with a channel on the bottom that you can run that black drain tile through that he can drag through each ditch that will lay the tile and also put down the right amount of gravel under and above the tile. I saw one of these things years ago but don't remember just how it was configured. He had someone build one for him years ago that they used for a long time until someone snatched it up off one of his jobs awhile back. He doesn't have a clue how it was built all he knew was he could run the tile through the tube on the bottom, fill the hopper with gravel then drag it down the ditch with the excavator until the hopper was empty then fill it back up and go some more.

I don't know what the thing is called or who even makes these things but he knows they were very expensive when he went to buy one. He had this old guy build it for him but he has long ago passed and the design went with him. I was just wondering if anyone here has ever seen one of these tools or knew how one was fabricated. I have a pretty fair idea of how it was done but would like to have a little better idea of how they are put together before ruining a lot of good 1/2" plate trying. Thanks!!

 

[texasranger556]

Sounds like an interesting project. I'd search YouTube for drain tile machines. Here is one after a quick search.

Land Drainage with 2030GP Inter Drain Plough with Mastenbroek Gravel Trailer - YouTube

 

[CADplans]

I thought black pipe, and gravel was a WAY out of date concept?

There are so many newer drain field techniques,,
possibly,, pipe and gravel may no longer even be legal where you live?

I know I would never use the gravel and pipe drain field,,,

 

[mx842]

Sounds like an interesting project. I'd search YouTube for drain tile machines. Here is one after a quick search.

Land Drainage with 2030GP Inter Drain Plough with Mastenbroek Gravel Trailer - YouTube

That's not exactly what I'm looking for thats more like a plow trenching machine. What I'm thinking of is you use a backhoe to dig the trench and place this thingy into the trench fill it with gravel and pull it along the trench and it feeds out the tile along with the proper amount of gravel both below and over the tile. I've only been able to find one of these on the net and they are really tight lipped about how it's put together. see link: New Technology and Installation Tools | Onsite Installer

I went to the manufactures site and they have a video showing it working but they were really careful about the critical points. I sent them an e-mail requesting information, we'll see how it goes. From what I have heard they want $22 to $30,000 for them depending on the width of the trench.

 

[mx842]

I thought black pipe, and gravel was a WAY out of date concept?

There are so many newer drain field techniques,,
possibly,, pipe and gravel may no longer even be legal where you live?

I know I would never use the gravel and pipe drain field,,,

Well I guess in some cases they may not be the right choice but I put mine in back in 1990 and never had a minutes problem with it. I had it pumped out about 4 or 5 years ago and the pump truck guy said it didn't even need it. I told him to pump it anyway being he was already there and had the access cover off.

I know the state and some counties are getting funny about these systems and some want you to install those 20 to 30 thousand dollar sewage systems instead. I remember even back when I built my house they would like me to install this type system but I went the other route. At the time it was a matter of $2500.00 Vs. $15,000 thing and I went the low road way. If you have good soil and they are put in like they should be and maintained properly It's no reason they shouldn't last 100 years or more.

 

[mjw357]

I thought black pipe, and gravel was a WAY out of date concept?

There are so many newer drain field techniques,,
possibly,, pipe and gravel may no longer even be legal where you live?

I know I would never use the gravel and pipe drain field,,

They are not talking about septic leach fields, they are talking about drain tiles for crop fields.

 

[CADplans]

They are not talking about septic leach fields, they are talking about drain tiles for crop fields.

I am pretty sure he is talking about leach fields,,
no farmer on YouTube has EVER put gravel in a farm field,,,

If he has enough money to put gravel in a farm field,, he should be living in Beverly Hills next to the Clampetts,, not working,,,

 

[mx842]

I am pretty sure he is talking about leach fields,,
no farmer on YouTube has EVER put gravel in a farm field,,,

If he has enough money to put gravel in a farm field,, he should be living in Beverly Hills next to the Clampetts,, not working,,,[/QUOTE

Hehehehe, That was good:thumbsup:

And yes I was referring to septic leach field installation.

 

[CADplans]

Is it cheaper to buy one off CL??

Here is one for sale,,

drainfield constructor box - heavy equipment - by owner - sale

 

[CADplans]

pics,,

 

[mx842]

Dang just my luck! We had been looking around for over a year for one to show up so we decided to just build one. All I had to go by was a old picture but I had a general idea of what it needed. It's hard to build something like this and have it work as it was designed to. Especially the running gear and getting that to put down the proper depth of gravel under and over the pipe. Hopefully the numbers I have in my head will do the job.

My understanding is that the guy that was building these things passed and his family wont give up the patent # so others can start to build them again.

This one on CL looks like a copy of the original and I can see by these pics that the one I'm working on is way over built. I already have more in materials, and I already had a {lot of stuff on hand} than the guy wants for this one.OH WELL....

 

[3Lfarms]

That thing you are building looks **** for stout.
I think I know what it does, but I am not sure. Can you explain how it works?

 

[mx842]

That thing you are building looks **** for stout.
I think I know what it does, but I am not sure. Can you explain how it works?

It's a simple device that you run the drain tile pipe through the black iron pipe at the bottom of the spreader and out into a already dug 10' section of ditch. Once the drain tile is in place you fill the spreader hopper full of gravel. at that point you already have 8' of the ditch complete. Then you dig another 8' to 10' section of ditch and once done you hook a bucket tooth into the pull chain hooked to the front of the box and drag the whole thing through the already dug ditch until you get up to where you left off, add more gravel if needed then dig the next 10' and so on, until that ditch is complete.

This one I'm building is set up for a 36" wide ditch but you could build it for any width you needed by changing how wide the main part of the unit opens up into the rear spreader chamber.

 

[davedj1]

So does it disperse gravel under the pipe as well as over the pipe? What about fabric? I don't see the benefit to this as to just digging the ditch and then putting the stone in then the pipe then more stone then the fabric (this is how we do it here)

ETA: maybe it's due to clay soil and the ditch will collapse?

 

[mx842]

Yes it put gravel under and over the tile. This one is set up to put down roughly 6" under the tile and around 4" over top of the tile. It can be built to any spec you need but the amount under the tile would be hard to adjust. But since most drain fields require 6" under the tile or will work properly at 6", most are set up this way. I'm pretty sure that you could make the amount of gravel over the pipe adjustable by adding an adjustment plate to the rear of the spreader box. I'm not sure about that but it's something I'm going to look at when I get to that part of the build. It looks to me that it could be adjusted to where it lays down where it just covers the tile or up to around 6" over it. Most systems will require at least 4" or up to 6" over the top of the tile.

As far as the paper or fabric that goes on top of the gravel if it is in roll form I'm thinking you could add some type of roller system to the rear also. Something like a paper towel holder but to a little larger scale. That's something I'm also going to work on as well. I'm also thinking about adding some sort of roller system to the front where you can load a whole roll of tile and feed it out off the roller rather than cutting it to the length of the ditch and having it lay off to the side of the ditch as you move along. I'll keep you updated on the progression as I go along. Right now I have to bring this project to a halt because we are going on a short vacation for a week. I was hopping to have it done before then but with all the other chores that have popped up it ain't going to happen.