Diggin a small pond with the trencher

[BobRip]

My neighbor needed a small pond for his gold fish. He was going to dig it by hand, so of course I offered to help. I was not sure which attachment would work best, so I started with the 4 in 1 bucket. This was not very fast. I then started to use the trencher. This worked much better than I expected, mainly because it acted as a conveyor to pull the dirt out of the hole broke up the dirt to a powder and cut through the many roots. I basically trenched as far out as I could reach without going into the hole. I ended up with piles of dirt around the edge and moved the excess with the 4 in 1 bucket. We left a ridge of dirt around the pond to bring the low side up to the level of the high side. When I could reach no more, the neighbor said he would finish it by hand. A couple of hours later he came over and ask for more help. I went down in the hole and broke up a little bit of the dirt that way. I had trouble getting enough torque from the motors to get out of the hole. I eventually turned on the trencher and used it to help pull me out. It dug a small trench, but that was easliy filled in. I used the minihoe very little since the small bucket moved little dirt and required a lot of movement of the tractor. We ended up with about a 20 by 20 foot hole approximately 4 feet deep. It took about 8 hours of work from the Power Trac 422. Are there any suggestions on how to improve this. I did not think to use the wider teeth, which I bought years ago, but have never installed. It probably would have sped up the process.

 

[PowerTrom425]

Sounds like you managed the project quite nicely Bob! You mentioned the small bucket on the mini-hoe. When I picked up my 425 in September Terry talked me out of the 12" bucket, thinking it would be too much resistance for the tractor. I ordered one a couple weeks later, undid the two bolts that hold the buckets on, slipped the 12" bucket in place, and have been a happy camper since! It works on the 425 like a charm. Happy tractoring......Tom

 

[MossRoad]

If the soil was too hard to dig with the bucket, I probably would have done the outline of the pond with the trencher. Then I would have used the trencher to bust up a ramp at one end down to the bottom level of the pond. Like you said, this would have severed all the roots and given a clean outline to the pond. If he wanted sloped sides or stepped sides, this could have been done from the bottom level of the pond once the majority of the center was removed. With a little planning, you could have trenched it like an upside down wedding cake to provide stepped sides. Anyway, I then would use the ramp at one end for easy in/out and started removing material. Ramps are great. Once you get that dug, you can keep the rest of the excavation pretty level by gauging it to the base of the ramp. FELs work best removing material up. They are designed to lift and have more up pressure than down pressure. If the soil was still too hard, you could have trenched slices from the top side like slicing a sheet cake, then returned to the bottom of the hole to lift out chunks.

Think of it this way...

A 4X20X20 area is about 59 cubic yards. With the 7 cubic foot bucket(which is about 1/4 cubic yard) that would have been somewhere between 200 and 225 bucket loads. That's about 25 bucket loads an hour if you worked 8 hours straight with the bucket, which you didn't, because you stopped to use the trencher. That is pretty impressive, if you ask me, especially when you consider the size and weight of the PT422. And with time will come technique and speed will improve even more.

P.S. We'd like to see pictures of the hole. People on this board just can't get enough pictures of people digging holes. Something fascinating about opening up the earth and seeing what's in there. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[stray]

P.S. We'd like to see pictures of the hole. People on this board just can't get enough pictures of people digging holes. Something fascinating about opening up the earth and seeing what's in there. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif )</font>

You've got that right Moss. Even after purchasing my own PT I still very much enjoy seeing the work of others.

 

[BobRip]

Thanks for all of the input. The ramp sounds like a good idea. I did kind of have one, but by accident and it was too steep. Next time I will build one with less slope. I spend too much time trying to reach across and down with out falling in. Going down a ramp would have saved considerable time.
This kind of input really helps me refine techniques.
I will try to get pictures. The pond is finished and has fish in it. I don't know if the owner took pictures.
Take care, but not all of it.
Bob Rip

 

[BobRip]

I have attached a picture. The pond has a leaf cover on it

 

[BobRip]

I am trying that picture again. The resolution was too low before.

 

[pajoube]

Wow, great job. That must have been allot of work and time.
keep the pictures coming.
PJ

 

[BobRip]

The neighbor asked my to move a stone today. It's one he wants to put on the side of the pond. He purchased it and they charged him for 820 pounds of stone. I felt the PT422 would not be able to pick that up, but maybe we could roll it. I put on the forks and drove over. The delivery truck had left it on a pallet. I was just barely able to lift the stone and pallet, so I asked the neighbor to stand on the bumper, and we were able to move it near the final location. I don't have pictures of the move because the photographer was standing on the bumper. Once the pallet was put down, I used the forks to flip the stone over twice and get it near the final location. I then pushed in place with the forks. See attached photo.

Bob Rip

 

[BobRip]

Just to show the size of the stone I put the forks on top. See attachment

Bob Rip