Buying Advice Help me find the right tool for my property (tractor, backhoe, mini ex, skid)??

[JohnFourteenSix]

One of the old Vermeer or Ditch Witch trencher/backhoes may be just the ticket for you.

How much should I be paying for one, and how big should I go? I'm seeing them for around 10k here. I'll admit that's tempting because I'd be able to make clean utility trenches as well.

 

[dfkrug]

I picked up a non-running Ditch Witch 1030 walk-behind chain trencher for $900. Needed carb work mostly. Neglected machine that is not very popular around here.

 

[MossRoad]

How much did that cost you? My budget is pretty firm on this. The machine you mentioned seems to go for 25k used, which is the limit of my budget. I would have nothing left for a tractor or CTL



I was thinking about a ditch-witch type trencher, actually. I think the limitation is that I don't see how I could do multiple passes with such a machine to widen the trench without having something to actually dig up the soil that would fall into the trench. I actually did see a ditch witch + backhoe for sale for $3500 a few weeks ago and I've been regretting not having jumped on it.

The reason I asked about a trencher was because you said as narrow as possible, but 1-2' wide, so I figured I'd toss in the suggestion to make it narrower than your 1-2'. Anyhow, good luck in your search. :thumbsup:

 

[Gee Ray]

I was wondering, what are you trying to accomplish? Do you have a low lying piece of land that you are trying to drain? Are you trying to make a pond? Are you trying to make a pasture?You say you want to dig ditches and how will you maintain them? The plants down here grow quickly and can be hard on mowers and with low lying land it can be difficult to keep up.

I have lake front property that I try to keep mowed down so I can put in a boat. A skid steer near the lake would become a boat dock quickly as it would be stuck in a blink of an eye. I know you dismissed the trailer mounted back hoe but if you are only working in a small area it might have advantages. Put high flotation tires on it. Use the trailer aspect of the unit to reach out and dig in the muck. All the while leaving the tractor on solid ground. In fact the hitch mounted to the FEL would give you even more reach into soft areas.

Towable Backhoe - Jansen USA look interesting.

Home Depot rents JD tractor backhoes near your size you could give it a try before spending big money.

 

[JohnFourteenSix]

I was wondering, what are you trying to accomplish? Do you have a low lying piece of land that you are trying to drain? Are you trying to make a pond? Are you trying to make a pasture?You say you want to dig ditches and how will you maintain them? The plants down here grow quickly and can be hard on mowers and with low lying land it can be difficult to keep up.

I have lake front property that I try to keep mowed down so I can put in a boat. A skid steer near the lake would become a boat dock quickly as it would be stuck in a blink of an eye. I know you dismissed the trailer mounted back hoe but if you are only working in a small area it might have advantages. Put high flotation tires on it. Use the trailer aspect of the unit to reach out and dig in the muck. All the while leaving the tractor on solid ground. In fact the hitch mounted to the FEL would give you even more reach into soft areas.

Towable Backhoe - Jansen USA look interesting.

Home Depot rents JD tractor backhoes near your size you could give it a try before spending big money.

I have low lying land. The entire area is in a floodplain. We have a single retention pond on one area of the property, but that is perhaps insufficient. My goal is piecemeal to dig more ditches to the retention pond; if it doesn't help with the flooding, make the ditches wider. If that doesn't help, try to expand the pond more. If that doesn't help, dig a pond in other areas. The property also has a lot of grounded stumps that have low lying areas around them; so removing those would help as well. In addition, I'd also be building small structures, setting foundations for them etc.

 

[Gee Ray]

I think you might rethink the narrow ditches. If you widen them out you can use the soil to elevate between the swales will allow you to keep them mowed. This helps to keep your water flowing toward the pond. You also might look into getting the tree trimming services to dump their waste. You can then compost it with the tractor and begin to fill in the low areas. If you drive to Vero Beach on SR 60 look at the pasture fields and see how the land is profiled and that might help you. That kind of swale can be formed with the FEL and a box blade. You have the right equipment for that work.

 

[TractorGuy]

I don't know anything about those trencher backhoes other than seeing pics and videos. I inquired about buying one once but it was gone so I ended up with a regular ex road department backhoe.

 

[Carl_NH]

I think you might rethink the narrow ditches. If you widen them out you can use the soil to elevate between the swales will allow you to keep them mowed. This helps to keep your water flowing toward the pond. You also might look into getting the tree trimming services to dump their waste. You can then compost it with the tractor and begin to fill in the low areas. If you drive to Vero Beach on SR 60 look at the pasture fields and see how the land is profiled and that might help you. That kind of swale can be formed with the FEL and a box blade. You have the right equipment for that work.

You have the right idea Gee Ray - like alligator alley, and SR520 they dredged the sides and made the road - with fill too - same principal to make retention ponds and build up the surrounding areas to use as building sites.

This will take time, depending on the acreage - how many acres are you dealing with? If 6-8 acres then a 370BH on your machine would work over time (a year or so), along with some fill materials to create your "land areas" with swales for the "drainage areas".

If you have 10 or more acres then I would seriously look at either hiring (or renting) a excavator/dozer and fill company to do the major site work and drainage swales in a week or two then you manage the rest. They can knock out a lot of work in a few days what it would take you a year or more to do.

 

[TractorGuy]

I have low lying land. The entire area is in a floodplain. We have a single retention pond on one area of the property, but that is perhaps insufficient. My goal is piecemeal to dig more ditches to the retention pond; if it doesn't help with the flooding, make the ditches wider. If that doesn't help, try to expand the pond more. If that doesn't help, dig a pond in other areas. The property also has a lot of grounded stumps that have low lying areas around them; so removing those would help as well. In addition, I'd also be building small structures, setting foundations for them etc.

Don't get caught.

Around here they would hang you up by your toes if they caught you excavating wetlands.

 

[Gee Ray]

Don't get caught.

Around here they would hang you up by your toes if they caught you excavating wetlands.

You know you have a good point. Unless you are a large builder or a politician.