Thoughts on Ditch Clearing?

[Diggin It]

The drainage ditch along the road is getting clogged due to recent rains, leaves from last year and road work that disturbed a lot of dirt and rock. Yes, it's a county road and they should clear it and probably will ... eventually. Maybe in a another year or two or more. The 12" culvert under the driveway is about half filled, so I really don't want to wait for them to get around to it.

Due to the steep bank, I can't straddle the ditch to use the BH and get a straight pull. Obviously I can't be in the road very much.

Thought is to use the County Line 5' landscape rake and drive long the edge of the road pulling the spoils downhill. I'm thinking of removing all but the last 4 or 5 tines at the one end. That would let me settle that end into the ditch with the tineless part of the rake riding along or just above the pavement. I might even be able to swing the rake a bit to the one side. I'd have to make several passes. I have traffic cones I can set out on the crest of the hill and yellow blinkies on the ROPS, so caution to traffic will be OK.

Question is, will the rake and my little tractor be able to handle the side stress?

 

[Panik]

Thoughts on assuming responsibility for county work aside, it can be done.... just depends on how much time you have and how much material you want/need to move. I'm in the latter stages of the process of doing the exact same thing with my shop road (heavy clay in GA Ridge and Valley soils) using a BX2360 - no backhoe. It's been a slow learning process.

I've got a EA Attachments root rake and even with the swing arm and rake angle adjustment, the geometry of the up slope side of the ditch and existing ditch depth didn't really allow for the rake to get in to an effective position. YMMV (I have used the rake to pretty effectively put in swale ditches in other situations however)

What has worked, albeit slowly, is taking small bites of the up slope side of the ditch with the FEL bucket and slowly working my way down into actually removing material until I reach depth in the original ditch channel. The biggest concern, given the clay soil, is being nice to the tractor and hydraulics so as to not damage equipment. It's not ideal using a tractor bucket to ditch, but it can be done if you are careful. I did also ended up buying a toothbar to break up the soils and put less stress on the machine. That may or may not be necessary for you depending on the material you are needing to remove.

Logistically, it also takes a bit of planning, given that you'll likely have to take small bites at a time given your machine size - it looks comparable to a Bx. I've found piling those small bites at a spot further along the ditch until I have enough to run full bucket loads to the spoils site has been a huge time saver.

I'll try and post some pics of my progress later. Best luck!

** Edit - in answer to your question about side stresses using a landscape rake. It honestly depends on the soils involved and how careful you are in the process. Taking light passes with close attention to what's going on shouldn't be an issue. If you're going full power and the rake is wagging the tractor you may want to reevaluate your process. I wouldn't personally go through the effort of removing a bunch of tines.... it honestly sounds like a pain in the butt to remove and re-install most of them.

 

[JJT]

Call the county DPW and get the job in their queue, around here that call gets you to the top of the normal work list.

 

[Diggin It]

What has worked, albeit slowly, is taking small bites of the up slope side of the ditch with the FEL bucket and slowly working my way down into actually removing material until I reach depth in the original ditch channel.

I can't do anything like that since it would put me crosswise of the road.

** Edit - in answer to your question about side stresses using a landscape rake. It honestly depends on the soils involved and how careful you are in the process. Taking light passes with close attention to what's going on shouldn't be an issue.

Right now, it's mostly loose leaves and rocks with wet/damp mud. I could almost do it with a hand shovel if it wasn't for the 100' or more length

I wouldn't personally go through the effort of removing a bunch of tines.... it honestly sounds like a pain in the butt to remove and re-install most of them.

With mine, it looks like one or two bolts removes a bracket that releases about 10 tines.

 

[Panik]

Regarding the tines - that’s a nifty adaptation. All of mine are individually bolted.

Realistically, JJT’s recommendation is probably the best way to go as a starting point. Especially if you can document and politely demonstrate that the state of the ditch is causing road flooding during a rain event.

If you are able to use your rake to remove material and return the ditch to depth, you still likely going to have to get further out in the road than safe to remove the spoils from the work.

 

[Diggin It]

Our county road department is very small. Maybe a dozen people total and this is their busy time of year.

With my plan, I wouldn't need to remove anything ... just drag it downhill and feather it where the ditch widens out and clears itself.

 

[Birdhunter1]

Going to the highway department at the start of shift and talking to them will go further than a phone call. The trip will only cost you a few minutes, joke with the guys a bit, tell em you appreciate it. If they plowed snow the past few months tell em thanks.


Lastly a box of donuts on this trip will get you higher on the list.

 

[dodge man]

If you had better sight distance I’d use the FEL, but that is apparently a no go. I’d probably just wait and let the county do it unless water is running over your drive.

 

[lennyzx11]

That is a good idea with removing tines. I have the same issue but I have 900 feet to clean out.

With an offset and angle capability, that may be the way to go.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Looks like there is quite of a slope going down hill, I would clean by hand with a shovel the down hill side culvert as much as I can, like the inside of the the culvert and dig until you find the bottom of the culvert then dig the ditch @ a flat or -1% until reaching the original ground. Once water go through the culvert will eventually wash itself down. Keep in mind if you remove the grass on the side of the road you will induce erosion especially with a rake it will make the ditch flatter instead of a U shape. If a storm comes before it grows again and the county could make you responsible if they know you did it. ''just saying'' if they can do it they will, its can be a double edge sword with them.