Narrow and shallow ditch digging advice please

[etpm]

Hi All,
I am putting in a phone line from my shop to covered picnic area. The distance is about 80 feet. I don't want a deep or wide ditch because I want to disturb the ground as little as possible as it is all landscaped. So I want a ditch just wide enough to drop conduit into and only about a foot deep. I am thinking about welding up some sort of "tooth" and attaching this tooth to the front bucket on my YM2310. Then I can follow a line painted on the ground while going backwards. I want to use the front bucket because it has down pressure and I can force the tooth into the fairly hard ground. My other thought is to just lower one ripper from my box blade but that would probably take a few passes because the 3PH doesn't have down pressure. I will probably need to make a custom ripper that is long enough but I already have the steel and a nice plasma cutter. My ideas are probably not as good as the suggestions and ideas you all with more experience will have so please don't hesitate to let me know any better ways.
Thanks,
Eric

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I've pulled PVC conduit that way using a middle buster. Did one pass to make sure there were no obstacles and then pulled it on the second pass. I glued a cap on the end of the conduit and then drilled a hole through the sides and wired it to a hole in the shank of the middle buster.

At each end you need a hole you can drive over. At one end I didn't have clearance so I drove as close as I could, then disconnected the middle buster with it still in the ground, turned the tractor around and reconnected the middle buster and did the last few feet in reverse. It's a lot easier if you can lay out all the conduit on the ground, but if you have to you can drive ten feet, glue on a piece, drive another ten feet.

 

[jfsawatzky]

If you have a protected cable that does not need a conduit, a subsoiler/ ripper could work. Attach a pipe to the rear of the subsoilder that you can run the cable through. If you need conduit then middle buster like quicksandfarmer would work best imo.

 

[JJT]

I rented a walk behind gas powered trencher last year for a 100' run, 12" deep. Less than $100 and about 1 hour of work. It trenched 3" wide and up to 18" deep.

The fiber guys have a 3000# ride on vibratory plow they use, did our 700' run 6" deep in an hour with no damage to the lawn. The fiber line was direct burial, no conduit.

 

[amhicks21]

I used to install phone line about 20 years ago. for just short shallow runs we used just a flat plow disc cut in half with a handle welded to it that you'd just step on and work back in forth to make a narrow 6" deep trench that you'd just push back together with your feet. If you want practically zero damage that's the way to go. For about 30 bucks you could build one with a 13" flat coulter blade and maybe a 5' piece of pipe.

You can use a tooth on a tractor but it may do a significant amount of lawn damage unless you have sandy clean soil. Vibratory plows really rely on the vibration to break the ground and sod cleanly.

If your ground is soft enough you can use a box blade or subsoiler shank and weld a 90 degree piece of conduit to the back side of it to deposit the wire as you rip.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Any reason why you can't use a cordless phone? We use ours 100+ feet from the house with no problem.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

Hi All,
I am putting in a phone line from my shop to covered picnic area. The distance is about 80 feet. I don't want a deep or wide ditch because I want to disturb the ground as little as possible as it is all landscaped. So I want a ditch just wide enough to drop conduit into and only about a foot deep. I am thinking about welding up some sort of "tooth" and attaching this tooth to the front bucket on my YM2310. Then I can follow a line painted on the ground while going backwards. I want to use the front bucket because it has down pressure and I can force the tooth into the fairly hard ground. My other thought is to just lower one ripper from my box blade but that would probably take a few passes because the 3PH doesn't have down pressure. I will probably need to make a custom ripper that is long enough but I already have the steel and a nice plasma cutter. My ideas are probably not as good as the suggestions and ideas you all with more experience will have so please don't hesitate to let me know any better ways.
Thanks,
Eric

Going backwards with a ground engaging attachment on your loader may pull it off the loader mounts. I would recommend a subsoiler as described in post #3.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

With the box blade and one tooth down, you will have the weight of the box blade. Don't forget that. I used to bury phone lines too, all day, six days a week. We didn't work Sunday because it inconvenienced people at their homes. But, if we had a mile long run across a farm, we'd be there doing it. I think the box blade apparatus will do the job, with a long tooth. They make a phone line, five pair that is shielded, has a metal wrap around the outside for direct burial. My brother is a phone man. If you catch a phone man you can ask him for a piece. They keep leftover pieces off large spools, rolled up at the phone office. They know how long they are. 5 pair shielded in conduit would be bullet proof, I dare say

 

[Rustyiron]

A phone line? How 70's
Yeah try a cordless phone like mentioned above.

 

[etpm]

Any reason why you can't use a cordless phone? We use ours 100+ feet from the house with no problem.

So, the reason for the wired phone is so I can mount, in a covered outside area, this model telephone: Vintage Lollipop Automatic Electric Space Saver Rotary Telephone Front Hook yqz | eBay
The phone is an Automatic Electric made dial telephone. I think the phone looks great, wonderful Art Deco styling. I'm not sure yet if my telco will still accept pulse dialing but there are ways around that. I have two of these phones that are in great shape. One is black and the other is a kinda pastel green color. The covered area has a shed style roof and 3 of the 4 posts holding the roof up are old rot free power poles. The fourth post is from a dock or pier or something similar. It washed up on the beach in front of a house my wife and I were renting and I knew I had to rescue it and haul it to our property so that it would be the first corner of the pigvilion. That post was in the ground for about 12 years before the other 3 were planted. The roof is reclaimed, AKA used, "tin" roofing/siding. The roof lumber and most of the tin is predominantly from a roof I built years ago to cover a hot tub. I had to extend it in both directions but still managed to buy only a few pieces of new lumber. I scrounged some more used tin so there is no new tin on the roof.
The structure has power. When I ran conduit for power years ago I stupidly didn't drop conduit in the ditch for phone.
Every year I roast a pig. This year will be my 27th pig. Since we completed this structure 6 or so years ago we serve the pig under the roof of the structure. We call the structure the "Pigvilion". Yeah, it's lame, I know. But roasting a pig on a spit is lame too. But lotsa fun and a great excuse for folks and family to get together once a year. I've only missed two years. One year because I was in a wheelchair with a broken pelvis and pins sticking out of both arms because of crushed wrists and broken ulnas that stuck out at the same time my wrists were crushed. The other year was when that virus kept everybody apart. So way less dramatic.
I like the fact that the pigvilion is made from used material and looks old. I like re-using stuff. It satisfies my ethics. And I like stuff that doesn't look like everybody else's stuff. Stuff that is maybe a little eclectic. My wife and I wanted to make something that will look good years from now and will have some sort of history that folks will want to preserve. When we die my son swears he will keep the pig roast going. He was a teenager when we bought the property and roasted our first pig. So we have been roasting a pig once a year for about two thirds of his life. It is a tradition. And he really loves the pig roast.
So that's why I want to run wires and don't want a cordless phone.
Thanks,
Eric

 

[2manyrocks]

I didn't want to tear up my yard to run a TV coax line so I cut a slit in the turf/ground with a lawn edger. I got the coax just deep enough to get by.

 

[etpm]

I knew you all would come through! Tomorrow I measure and order but it looks like I'm gonna buy 150 feet direct burial CAT 6 for 32 bucks delivered. I will be using the slice and bury method. My son and I will be using spades to slice. Way better than digging or ripping. Almost no disturbance of the grass and a trail and it will heal in about a week. Thanks again for the ideas.
Cheers,
Eric

 

[mikester]

If you have the box blade and can drop one ripper tooth I'd try that first. If you need depth rent a chain trencher if you are burying conduit.

 

[Rustyiron]

Pigvilion - I can relate
Now I get it!

 

[bdhsfz6]

There are corded to cordless telephone adapters available such as this one:

Amazon.com

They use the AC power line to carry the phone signal.

 

[etpm]

There are corded to cordless telephone adapters available such as this one:

Amazon.com

They use the AC power line to carry the phone signal.

Yeah, I saw those when I looked for something like them about 6 months ago. But $188.00 was too much for me. I ordered 150 feet of CAT 6 direct burial for 32 bucks delivered. But thanks for the suggestion.
Eric

 

[EdGooding]

You can buy a pipe layer add-on for a subsoiler, or use the photos in this ad to fabricate one: PIPELAYER F/ASC 73410A

I had to bury a 100' run of coaxial cable for my DirecTV dish and rented a ground saw that made pretty quick work of it.

 

[CCSO5514]

I hesitate to say this but… here I go. I ran across a YouTube video where a guy used a cordless reciprocating saw and a pruning blade to cut a trench in the ground for some coaxial cable. He started with a small “starter hole", and then cut a trench just wide enough to slide the cable into the slit. I have never tried it. I’ll close with a newer version of, “Hold my beer” – “It worked in the video”.

 

[MissouriMax]

I got a 6" trenching bucket from these folks: All BH Accessories. I have used it heavily to install irrigation lines and it has held up well.

 

[CoyPatton]

So, the reason for the wired phone is so I can mount, in a covered outside area, this model telephone: Vintage Lollipop Automatic Electric Space Saver Rotary Telephone Front Hook yqz | eBay
The phone is an Automatic Electric made dial telephone. I think the phone looks great, wonderful Art Deco styling. I'm not sure yet if my telco will still accept pulse dialing but there are ways around that. I have two of these phones that are in great shape. One is black and the other is a kinda pastel green color. The covered area has a shed style roof and 3 of the 4 posts holding the roof up are old rot free power poles. The fourth post is from a dock or pier or something similar. It washed up on the beach in front of a house my wife and I were renting and I knew I had to rescue it and haul it to our property so that it would be the first corner of the pigvilion. That post was in the ground for about 12 years before the other 3 were planted. The roof is reclaimed, AKA used, "tin" roofing/siding. The roof lumber and most of the tin is predominantly from a roof I built years ago to cover a hot tub. I had to extend it in both directions but still managed to buy only a few pieces of new lumber. I scrounged some more used tin so there is no new tin on the roof.
The structure has power. When I ran conduit for power years ago I stupidly didn't drop conduit in the ditch for phone.
Every year I roast a pig. This year will be my 27th pig. Since we completed this structure 6 or so years ago we serve the pig under the roof of the structure. We call the structure the "Pigvilion". Yeah, it's lame, I know. But roasting a pig on a spit is lame too. But lotsa fun and a great excuse for folks and family to get together once a year. I've only missed two years. One year because I was in a wheelchair with a broken pelvis and pins sticking out of both arms because of crushed wrists and broken ulnas that stuck out at the same time my wrists were crushed. The other year was when that virus kept everybody apart. So way less dramatic.
I like the fact that the pigvilion is made from used material and looks old. I like re-using stuff. It satisfies my ethics. And I like stuff that doesn't look like everybody else's stuff. Stuff that is maybe a little eclectic. My wife and I wanted to make something that will look good years from now and will have some sort of history that folks will want to preserve. When we die my son swears he will keep the pig roast going. He was a teenager when we bought the property and roasted our first pig. So we have been roasting a pig once a year for about two thirds of his life. It is a tradition. And he really loves the pig roast.
So that's why I want to run wires and don't want a cordless phone.
Thanks,
Eric

Eric use the subsoiler with a larger diameter 90 degree conduit bend mounted on the back of the subsoiler.
But a 100 ft roll of poly pipe for your phone line conduit.
Get a light duty string string—mason string is good, but lots of options for string.
Tie it to a piece of plastic bag not the hold bag just a part of it. Use a shop vac at the end you want to pull from held over the ploy (you may need to seal it with a rag or tape) then feed the string/bag into the poly from the other end. Tie the string to the phone line and pull gently.
You will need a hole in the ground to start snd end your poly pipe. Your poly pipe will be one long piece so no need for an trench beyond the slit made by the subsoiler. Only landscape damage will be the 2 holes.