Ditching job

[Gord Baker]

I believe the machine you are looking for or should be is called a GRADALL. Usually mounted on a tandem 6x6 truckframe. It has wrist action for the bucket. I don't know if they are still made.
It is the ultimate ditching machine unless you go the Euro route with a big flailing wheel.

 

[LD1]

I hope, for your sake, by ‘ you mean inches, not feet. That’s a big job, for a full-sized excavator, with a 2 cubic yard bucket. Roughly 1/4 million cubic yards, just on the main ditch.

What in the h3ll are you talking about

 

[ddbackhoe]

I believe the machine you are looking for or should be is called a GRADALL. Usually mounted on a tandem 6x6 truckframe. It has wrist action for the bucket. I don't know if they are still made.
It is the ultimate ditching machine unless you go the Euro route with a big flailing wheel.

One of my buddies has a couple of these. 2 chassis mount and one track mount. They can be chassis mount, wheel or track mounted. They are different to operate because the boom only goes in/out and up/down, but they are a beast with a 5 or 6 foot bucket and 30ish feet of reach. If youre used to running a typical excavator, you’ll scratch your head a bit trying to figure out why this doesnt do what you ask.

 

[redman135]

Hello Hay Dude, some food for thought.
1) How accurate is your eye to get the fall right? Water will quickly find all the hollows in your drain. Is laser guide practical?

2)In New Zealand we would use a tractor and trailer to haul the dirt to your berm and tip the loads tight togather. The tractors are in the 150 - 220hp range and tow large tandem axle trailers fitted with flotation tyres, and are european(see post 65, this example has road tyres not floatation tyres, which are about 2ft wide.) This gear is often hired to do a contract and returned to the hire centre. These generally are used where ADT's and other heavy gear will destroy the ground. Pay attention to the tare as some trailers are quite heavy for the payload.

3) Post 60, tracked tippers are in my experiance slow and thirsty. That said, they can work when everything else is parked up and have a light footprint. There are 2 types, tip over rear axle and slew (like digger) to tip, type.

4) I think you are trying to use to small a machine. I think a machine with a 20' reach (better control in 1st 80% of reach) to give a smoother/easier final grade. It also means less manuvuring/ ground damage.
5) Crunch your numbers carefully.
Good luck

 

[leonz]

There is no need to dig this swale out.

The simplest least costly way to do this is just burn the ditch out with
a propane fired weed burner to kill the brush in it to improve the drainage
at the very instant that is done.

This kills the weeds and eliminates the brush build up.
The existing shallow swale for drainage will be maintained and the drainage
will continue unabated as the brush and top growth will be gone.

A double barrel propane fired hand held roofing torch can do this quickly and
leave no dirt will be disturbed to be washed away.

 

[Buggs67]

Before I do anything I'd ask Andrew Camartta.

 

[Hay Dude]

There is no need to dig this swale out.

The simplest least costly way to do this is just burn the ditch out with
a propane fired weed burner to kill the brush in it to improve the drainage
at the very instant that is done.

This kills the weeds and eliminates the brush build up.
The existing shallow swale for drainage will be maintained and the drainage
will continue unabated as the brush and top growth will be gone.

A double barrel propane fired hand held roofing torch can do this quickly and
leave no dirt will be disturbed to be washed away.

Leonz
We had 2 of the 3 worst floods recorded in my area since the last time the ditches were cleaned.
There’s road gravel and mud washed 800 feet into them, so it’s time to remove it completely.
The first hundred feet on one trench alone is 90% filled. Other areas are holding ponds of stagnant water.
No, burning the weeds out will have little impact on cleaning the ditches.

 

[leonz]

I guess the only low cost option for you would be to import and invest a HEMOS 450 ditch auger and spend extra time scooping the cuttings.

Unless the property owner would be amenable to having a much wider 5 foot wide flat bottom drainage ditch
created by the Crary Revolution Ditcher.

The material would be torn to shreds and you could go back over it with a landscape rake to pull any
oversize material done to one end to scoop up later and dump it at the desired point.

All the existing fill would be shredded and thrown to one or both sides and the dirt and sod cuttings
would dissolve back into the soil quickly after you go over it with a landscape rake to pull the oversize
material to one end.

The Crary Revolution Ditcher has GPS and laser grade control and would maintain the proper slope at the
same time the ditch is being opened.

Even renting a Degelman Rock Picker for a day or two or a week would save you a lot of money and work as you
would skim the sod to pick up any large rocks and sod clumps on the first pass that were cut with the
Crary Revolution Ditcher.

I guess I would contact the Crary people and ask about renting a demo unit as the Revolution Ditcher is $68,000+frieght.
They are leasing these ditchers but using it for one job leaves you in the lurch for whatever the lease period balance is.
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The other option would be to use the HEMOS 350 or 450 ditching auger and a Degelman hydraulic rock picker to pick up windrows of the cut material and any rocks it would bring up when cutting the slope of the ditch.

The larger HEMOS 450 unit would allow you to cut a more gradual slope on both sides and then you could collect the material with a Degelman rock picker and cart it way to dump it. The other issue is the center of the ditch and its actual depth as it would be shallower in any case UNLESS you employ the Revolution Ditcher to take it down ten inches per pass.

Back to the HEMOS auger ditcher you would have to make several passes on each side of the ditch to bring the material out and make it wide enough and have wide windrows of material to be picked up with a Degelman rock picker and you would collect it all and then dump it where they want it and go from there.

Even renting a revolution ditcher from another farmer would be possible for such a small job and buying a small hydraulic rock picker to skim the sod would be worth considering.

Renting conventional excavating equipment is a very expensive proposition at a day or month rate and leases of that equipment are for a year period that are typically not renewed. Any maintenance is paid for by the leasee so any problems that occur you would have to pay for. The other issue is laser grade control and an excavator would have to be equipped with laser grade controls to follow such a small trench.

One of many other things to consider is silt control where you would need to have silt curtains installed along the excavation on both sides as well as silt control bags filled with straw to stop the silt.

They may need to apply for a department of the environment permit in this state for the excavation as this drains into a waterway.


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Leasing the Crary Revolution Ditcher for a week or month to make several cuts wide and several cuts deep to 10 plus inches deep and renting a Degelman rock picker to skim the sod free of clumps and rocks and buying a hundred bales of straw to catch the silt would probably be the least costly way FOR YOU to do this. Whether you will make any money to cover the ditcher lease and rock picker rental is another thing.

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[billypumper]

Sounds like they need to reconsider and put a three or four foot pipeline in place instead of a fifteen x four ft ditch that's going to erode that hayfield like no tomorrow, what are they going to do with all that dirt they excavate, berm the ditch? Should make bailing hay a real task.

 

[billypumper]

You put down feet on your measurements did you mean inches?