Anyone have a trencher

[woodlandfarms]

Was looking for thoughts. I need to lay around 200 feet of pipe and electric, trencher costs 500 a day to rent. Thinking about rigging up a used Toro Dingo trencher I found online and for its cost It would pay for itself in 2 days.

But, driving backwards, trying to trench.

 

[MossRoad]

I don't have a trencher, but was also thinking of getting one for my 425. PJ (RIP PJ), had one on his PT425 out in Montana. He used it quit a bit and found no problems driving backwards to pull the trencher. You aren't going at any kind of speed where you're going to ram into anything. I don't think it would be much of a problem at all. I'd think about marking out the trench line with some orange paint and then just aiming the rear of the machine towards that line as I went.

I did pull in 100' of water line with a homemade pipe puller. To get near the house, I had to do that one backwards and it was no problem at all.

 

[Maxify55]

We laid 1700ft of 2" main line PVC sch 40 for our place.

Rented a trencher for that but rented a Ground Saw for the arteries to
feed all the rotors.

Now THAT'S Florida where if you're 3"-6" you're out of the frost zone.

Let's just say that your depths may vary :laughing:

I'd never consider buying and that was 10 yrs ago.

Now? I'd pull Flex PVC trough the ground with my tractor from a spool with a sub-soiler plow.

But that's just me.

Installing Water Lines with a Subsoiler - YouTube
DIY Underground Wire layer/Pipe layer - YouTube
Siromer pipe layer - YouTube
Farm Tech Supplies RP1 Ripper and Pipe Layer - YouTube
Siromer pipe layer - YouTube

 

[BobRip]

I have one. It has a practical depth limit of about 24 inches. I have used it for several thousand feet over its 17 years of use. Generally I am pleased with it. Issues and concerns are:

1. You have to put oil on the chain every 20 minutes or so. Not a big deal, just do it.
2. The chain has to be tightened occasionally. Just like a chain saw.
3. It does about a yard every three minutes. Just a guess, it is slow, but not a big deal.
4. It is kinda jerky.
5. When you try to go below 18 to 24 inches is gets slower.
6. It is a little hard to keep it down. So the bottom is not completely even.
7. The trench will not be perfectly straight.

I have not used it lately, but I would say two thirds of my use has been for other people. I have a lot of people who owe me in the area. That is a good thing.

These are not big problems and I would buy it again. Oh, it has a life of about one mile per Terry I believe. I am at least two thirds through that.

 

[MossRoad]

I'm bummed to hear the practical limit is only 24" or so. That would be fine for wiring, but water lines here need to be down around 54" as I recall.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

I rented a large walk behind trencher to put in about 230 feet of conduit/conductor from a pole to my cabin. I got it done in a day. The soil was rocky, and the trencher jumped around like a bucking bull. It beat me around so bad I felt like I had been in a wrestling match all day. If you have a lot of rock, my advice is to get a small backhoe. If not rocky, a trencher will work fine. If sandy and not rocky, a subsoiler and pipe layer attachment should be ok.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Because I have the larger machine, I am thinking about getting a used toro dingo or bobcat trencher head and adapting it. For the moment I am looking to run a bunch of stuff in one trench (water, septic and power) to a shop. I have used a sod cutter and pulled just water but that won't work with septic. 250 feet. A ride on machine is $500 a day, $300 for a pusher. A used trencher is $1500 to 2K. Doing a walk behind sounds painful for sure.

I do have a backhoe but would like to get this done in my lifetime. Then again, whats the rush, right? Save myself the $2K and make a wider and potentiall deeper trench....

 

[Cat_Driver]

I trenched over 2000 feet in sand. After renting most rental units that all got stuck and buried in the sand I bought an attachment for my track loader.
The attachment cut liek a hot knife through soft butter and never got stuck once. The wide tracks floated over the sand and trench as needed.
It paid for itself in the first moth, then I sold it for darn near what I paid for it.

 

[BobRip]

54 inches is out of the question. Frost line is 18 inches here.

 

[3Ts]

We have rocky soil here. I hand dug my first trench on this property - 9" wide 20" deep and 33 feet long. Took 3 days in the middle of the summer. Still had a few other trenches to dig here & there, spaced out over the next few months. Went out and bought a backhoe for the tractor. Ended up with a lot more projects than I'd expected. It paid for itself in rental fees or hiring it done many times over.