Ditch Witch C99

[billg4630]

dave if your still on here or any one elese who can send me c99 manual please send to PM me[/email] thanks

 

[MossRoad]

Posting email addresses in public forums is opening up yourself to a world of spammers. I suggest you use the PM system to contact members directly.

 

[billg4630]

thanks

 

[MossRoad]

No problem and welcome to TBN! :thumbsup:

 

[vicbilgab]

Re: Ditch Witch C99 is it possible to send me a copy of repair manual gabby@mcn.org

I have found that 1) I can trench more with rentals than I can possibly install in one shot, and 2) trenches do not age well.

The upshot is re-digging all those trenches out by hand with a contractor's shovel, or cobbling up something that allows the CUT to help with the chore. Neither have turned out well for me. Rain also disperses or compacts your backfill.

So, I bought a trencher off of Craig's List. Been stalking them for some time, but the $$ or condition put me off. Until now....

This "antique" Ditch Witch C-99 is an awesome little digger. It was $950 and I will call that good. The rope start kicks it on first pull every time (so far). It was well cared for and home-serviced.

View attachment 311511

Shifting forward and reverse is a little tricky. I can share one painful way not to do it, but it works pretty well once you get the hang of it. I can run an easy 2' deep when and wherever I want, and it's at least a little more maneuverable in some of the tighter places.

You trench in the reverse creeper gear, and once it's all going you can sit down and watch. It will just pull a straight line unless you hit something you should have known was there. Or an undocumented rock.

If anyone else has one, I have scanned the owner's manual and have the parts book as well. It's been out of production since at least '99.

I have finally got my pipes from the well to the house (and under the driveway, courtesy of a rental UnderWonder) and am finally making some real progress.

can I get a copy of the c99 repair manual to REDACTED

 

[vicbilgab]

Re: Ditch Witch C99 is it possible to send me a copy of repair manual gabby@mcn.org

Need a copy of repair manual Ditch Witch C99 please. Send to REDACTED thank you

 

[daveshoot]

Re: Ditch Witch C99 is it possible to send me a copy of repair manual gabby@mcn.org

On the way.

As mossroad says, a pm with your return email is the best way to go. I get a lot of these requests and I try to fulfill them all, but putting your email in a thread is an open invitation to spammers.

You can always PM me WITH THE RETURN EMAIL ADDRESS and I am happy to send what I have.

C99 is still going strong, used this morning to run pipe over to our little garden in the pasture.

 

[kww1184]

I just got a c99. Seems nice, but I haven't had a chance to use it yet because all of the rust in the gas tank keeps clogging the fuel line. I just finished putting another one on yesterday.

I have not been able to find the forward gear yet, which has made moving the trencher around very difficult. Does anyone have advice on this? I know where the control lever is on the axle, but either all the way up, or all the way down doesn't give me forward. It is also very "grindy" like 20 years of sand is spinning around in it. (And I'm sure that is exactly what it is)

Anyway, here is a video of it running.

 

[kww1184]

A big thanks to Dave for the information!

This past weekend I changed the tires on my C99 and cleaned up the gear selector. It wasn't selected the forward gear, and I found a broken spring along with being jammed full of dirt. Here is a summary.

After a good power washing:

After removing the locking collars and a few snap rings, the gear box slides off the shaft. If I were to do this again, I wouldn't have taken the whole axle off, I would have removed the drive chain, jacked up the trencher on the drive side, removed the wheel, then remove the gear box. It would have saved a lot of time.

Here a found the broken flat spring

someone decided to weld up this box. I didn't weld it back when I put it together, so I hope it holds with just the two bolts.

Here you can see the dirt jamming the gear selector. The power washing didn't get rid of this dirt.

I welded the spring back together. I didn't think it would work, but I gave it a try.

Here is the selector back together.

Here is a video of the selector. Notice how these tabs will engage when the selector is all the way to one side and in the middle neither tab will engage.

And just because I liked how these wheels turned out:

I hope this helps some c99 owners out there!

 

[kww1184]

Here is a video of the test run after cleaning up the selector. Notice how the gear box rotates until the selector engages.

The trencher stopped every once in a while and I had to reengage the pulley, but I am ok with this. I feel that a little pulley slip is a safety feature especially with my rocky and rooty ground.