Help with selecting a trencher for my BX

[Tractor Seabee]

Z, down south here we have a sandy/gravelly/rocky soil. Pretty easy digging till you hit one of those basketball rocks. They are not common but do crop up but most rocks are 4-6" and they are prolific. My only problem is where the top soil has built up as it is what sticks in the bucket. I have a full time creek and one side is the normal stuff with 6-8" of the humus layer, the other side is 2-3' deep humus laden out 0-15' where the creek has meandered. I am in a long suffering project to run a 1" water line around 1.5 AC with a couple crossing lines to equalize pressure from both ends. Little at a time. Slopes two ways so installing drains works rather than digging down 2+ feet.

Whats your gig there on BI? I have a 20 AC working forest here plus the house on 1.5 more.

Ron

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Z, down south here we have a sandy/gravelly/rocky soil. Pretty easy digging till you hit one of those basketball rocks. They are not common but do crop up but most rocks are 4-6" and they are prolific. My only problem is where the top soil has built up as it is what sticks in the bucket. I have a full time creek and one side is the normal stuff with 6-8" of the humus layer, the other side is 2-3' deep humus laden out 0-15' where the creek has meandered. I am in a long suffering project to run a 1" water line around 1.5 AC with a couple crossing lines to equalize pressure from both ends. Little at a time. Slopes two ways so installing drains works rather than digging down 2+ feet.

Whats your gig there on BI? I have a 20 AC working forest here plus the house on 1.5 more.

Ron

 

[zoltanthegypsy]

Hey Ron,

I'm an almost-retired computer hardware nerd. Live on 7 acres here with a (too) big veggie garden. The '24 gets used for general maintenance/helping the neighbors/anything else that comes along, and maintains some property out Port Angeles-way.

Z.

 

[dragoneggs]

'eggs & Seabee - howdy neighbors!

I've got the little bucket on my BX24. When I was putting in water line around my gardens it wouldn't touch the glacial till (hardpan). For those who haven't encountered it, big rocks aren't the problem. It's more like trying to dig in a paved parking lot - paved all the way down to Hades.

The blasted hardpan was just shallow enough that I had to get into it in a few places. The bucket just struck sparks. Had to get off the tractor and us a steel bar by hand to chip away at it. Never again.

It's possible that a single ripper tooth would have worked - slowly. The blunt teeth on the little bucket just weren't made for the job.

Good luck,
Z.

Zoltan, thanks for chiming in! It sounds like my soil is more like Ron's and maybe not as much clay or something. My 12in BH will eat through it but the biggest (basketball or so) rocks can slow you down a bit. I am a little surprised your bucket with teeth don't do the job decently enough but if you are truly making sparks that is hard! I did hit one large vein of clay while building a small retaining wall and that wasn't fun. It was in the same vicinity of a small spring and that got to be a mess.

 

[xzcVAbc5]

A trencher is pretty efficient at making a trench. I'd rent the trencher and if you hit something too big you can always fix the situation with the BH on the Kubota.

 

[dragoneggs]

A trencher is pretty efficient at making a trench. I'd rent the trencher and if you hit something too big you can always fix the situation with the BH on the Kubota.

Good point! My only real concern is what kind of slope can be handled with a track trencher without getting myself in trouble (I have never used one). I am pretty sure though, I will rent one for a day and find out. I am doing a great job so far of procrastinating on this project. I am good at that!

 

[lamanated]

a neighbor welded a crowbar to a plate and hooked that to his weight bucket, to make something to rip ground up along a driveway,, worked great, in a non rocky soil..

 

[xzcVAbc5]

Did anyone ever end up using a subsoiler on the back of a BX? I'm interested in buying one.

 

[rjkobbeman]

Did anyone ever end up using a subsoiler on the back of a BX? I'm interested in buying one.

I used a subsoiler on my BX to install an underground fence for my dog. It worked like a charm. I fabricated a wire spool mount and wire guide. Here it is:

 

[xzcVAbc5]

I used a subsoiler on my BX to install an underground fence for my dog. It worked like a charm. I fabricated a wire spool mount and wire guide. Here it is: View attachment 448406

Looks like a nice setup. What's the deepest you were able to run it?