Don't laugh at me...

[STx]

I'm working on installing a few thousand feet of pipe so I'll have water all over my front 11 acres and can run large imacts to keep things green. It hasn't rained here in a couple of months, is windy all the time and has been hot so the ground is bone dry and, in some places, Rick hard. My mini-ex​ is just a little 4,000 pound machine so it's struggling in these areas and I'm catching myself pulling in the controls harder and harder in the area where it's struggling, as if that's going to somehow make the machine use more force or something. I can't be the only one, right?

 

[EddieWalker]

I do the same with my backhoe and have been sore afterwards. I guess the pros have learned how to relax while digging and not try to muscle the controls. I need to learn how to do this!!!

 

[CalG]

As long as you are holding your mouth that "certain way", pulling hard on the controls doesn't help much. ;-)

hint: just use your finger tips.

 

[Thomas]

hard you pull the better chance of breaking something take break from machine...as said use your finger tips.

 

[boggen]

*holds a sign up*
SLOWER DOWN ram rod

=========
if i say above will become a hypocrite!

 

[STx]

I've tried the fingertip thing, it's a small operator platform so the ergonomics of that get very uncomfortable. The machine *can* do it, it's just a slower scrape instead of a dig. When it gets too hard, I water it for a few hours and let it sit for a while to soak in.

 

[boggen]

can you dig down past the couple inches plus of "top hard pan" so when you bring in the bucket to you. the teeth/edge of bucket, is lifting up the hard pan, to help break the hard pan. vs trying to drag bucket through the hard pan.

i have had to due above, to get through initial few inches of hard pan, then finding a "rock layer" deeper. in the ground. and had to move back and forth till i finally able to get past the hard pan and/or rock layer. once i got past it, it was like busting up concrete, and bring bucket up under it and lifting it upwards.

 

[TheMan419]

You are in texas can't you just buy explosives at the local Piggly wiggly?

Seriously though I do the same with my FEL. Push harder on the joystick as though that will translate into more breakout force.

 

[Alien]

I thump myself around in the seat....

 

[STx]

You are in texas can't you just buy explosives at the local Piggly wiggly?

Seriously though I do the same with my FEL. Push harder on the joystick as though that will translate into more breakout force.

No Piggly Wiggly in Texas, have to go to Ok or La. We have a Lowe's (small town grocery chain) but, they stopped carrying explosives earlier this year. They really did help to loosen up the soil.

 

[STx]

can you dig down past the couple inches plus of "top hard pan" so when you bring in the bucket to you. the teeth/edge of bucket, is lifting up the hard pan, to help break the hard pan. vs trying to drag bucket through the hard pan.

i have had to due above, to get through initial few inches of hard pan, then finding a "rock layer" deeper. in the ground. and had to move back and forth till i finally able to get past the hard pan and/or rock layer. once i got past it, it was like busting up concrete, and bring bucket up under it and lifting it upwards.

Where it struggles, it's hard all the way down for the 3' I'm digging. My soil is silty loam with caliche mixed in, when it dries this much, it's like concrete. It's mostly the areas that have been driven in a lot and compacted or the areas where the solid caliche comes close to the surface.

 

[CalG]

Just like digging trench in the Phoenix area. You set the soaker over the area the day before you plan to dig.

 

[DJ54]

Sounds like a good place for a set of single point tiger teeth. I was taught many years ago, when ripping hard material, once you got to proper depth, rip/rake up across the face of the trench, basically shaving it from bottom to top. Proper angle on the bucket still yields a heaping bucket full, and makes much better backfill.

 

[CalG]

At the local fair "Horse pulls", I've seen the driver put his shoulder to the near horse flank when the strain was peaked.
I'm not sure if the driver's efforts amounted to beans, but I am sure that "Daisy" appreciated the attention.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Just like digging trench in the Phoenix area. You set the soaker over the area the day before you plan to dig.

Ah yes, Phoenix.

Where it takes a backhoe and dynamite to plant rose bushes.

One of the first surprises about moving up here was planting flowers at our new house only required a spade shovel. And I only had to step on the top of the spade to get it to sink all the way into the ground.

I don't miss calichee soil.

 

[STx]

It's finally raining today, not hard or non-stop; light, steadily intermittent showers. Forecast is for 1.7" between today and tomorrow, if that actually materializes, especially in light showers, the rest of the trench will be like a hit knife through butter, except for where I hit solid caliche.

 

[bcp]

Reminds me of...

"That's a really long shot. Pull the trigger as hard as you can."

Bruce

 

[TractorGuy]

I do the same with my backhoe and have been sore afterwards. I guess the pros have learned how to relax while digging and not try to muscle the controls. I need to learn how to do this!!!

ROFL! I find myself contorting my face while digging. I have to make an effort to relax while I work or I come in all worn out from doing a job that takes little to no effort. Best way I found is to turn the radio up and sing along as I work. :cool2: :dance1: :cool2:

 

[STx]

This is what I'm dealing with and this is after a little bit of rain. Between the lime from that caliche and the high calcium content, this soil gets HARD when it's dry.

Dry ground - YouTube

I do scrape up the walls as I run the trench, the top 8" or so usually comes out in a big chunk, like 16" squares, 8" thick. Below that, it's like 3"-6" clods and some of it comes out loose. Breaking that top layer up is where things bog down. The bucket keeps moving, just ever so slowly. Every now and again, it catches firm and lifts the back of the excavator off the ground, then I have to gently set myself down and try a smaller scrape it from a different angle. I've gotten 500' if trench dug in 5 hours of machine time over the last 3 days. There's about 200' more I need to get dug for this phase of the installation.