Can anyone tell me about this old Ditch Witch C99 trencher's hydraulics?

   / Can anyone tell me about this old Ditch Witch C99 trencher's hydraulics? #1  

mrgadfly

New member
Joined
Dec 16, 2012
Messages
4
Location
Denton, Texas
Tractor
Massey Ferguson TO35
Hey, Folks!

Been enjoying surfing through TBN for a few years and, other than requesting a copy of the manual for this C99 Ditch Witch trencher (shout out and thanks to daveshoot for emailing the manual to me awhile back!), I hadn't had anything worth posting--until now.

As you can see from the second attached photo, my C99 has some type of large rectangular reservoir, I assume a hydraulic fluid reservoir, attached to the underside of the handles. The filler cap is located at the top of the reservoir between the two handle grips. What is this? I'm puzzled because, after surfing the net and looking at pictures of other C99's, I haven't found a single picture of another C99 with the same type of reservoir mounted to the handles. I've also looked through the C99 manual daveshoot emailed, me, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence of this reservoir, nor could I find any reference to it either.

Also, as you may be able to see in the first attached photo, when I have the C99 running, there's a hydraulic leak at one of the fittings just beneath the reservoir going into the little motor or pump.

Does anyone know if this reservoir is a DIY "value engineered" modification, or was this some type of upgrade or option Ditch Witch had available at the time?

I haven't actually used the trencher yet, other than starting and trenching a little when I first bought it. That old Wisconsin engine started after a few pulls, and it didn't smoke one bit! I'm planning on digging it out of the garage in the next week or so, cleaning the carburetor and fixing the hydraulic leak. It'll be my first time messing with any hydraulics, so it could be interesting.

Thanks for any help or input!
 

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   / Can anyone tell me about this old Ditch Witch C99 trencher's hydraulics? #2  
I can't say for sure (not familiar with the C99) but most hydraulic fittings on Ditch Witch equipment is ORFS...so there is a good possibility that just a new 0-ring will fix the leak...

Good Luck...
 
   / Can anyone tell me about this old Ditch Witch C99 trencher's hydraulics?
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Thank you, Slash Pine! I appreciate the tip on o--ring. I'll try it and let y'all know if it works.

I also just bought some new tires off of Amazon for it. First one was a BEAR to get off. Couldn't break the bead on the old tires to get them off with my HarborFreight small tire changer. Took 'em down to a Discount Tire for some help. They were kind enough to swap them out and didn't even charge me. Maybe because we've purchased all of our other car tires from them for close to 25 years, or maybe because they liked challenges? Either way, I appreciated their help!

Still looking, but haven't been able to figure out why my C99 has the hydraulic reservoir under the handle. Guess I need to email Ditch Witch and see if they can fill me in.
 

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