Tips On Digging A Trench With The BX24 Hoe

[DiezNutz]

Instead of painting the ground, I would just dig 4-6" left or right of the rope and keep about the same distance.

How are ya gonna keep from getting the tractor tangled up in the rope or dumping dirt on it? No matter what that string is going to be in your way.

Fortunately there's an old trick besides paint or string that won't get in your way or messed up in the process...called a sight line. Drive a grade stake in-line with but beyond the end of your trench. Drive another stake on that same line, but even further beyond the first stake (see where this is going?) Now any time you sight across the boom and see those two stakes in line with each other, you're digging on that same line. Just keep the stakes lined up as you reposition the tractor. You can reposition or add stakes to dig at other angles, etc.. use your imagination to build on the basic concept. Best part is there's nothing in your way. And if you happen to have a laser level and tripod, it makes setting up the sight lines a breeze.

Count me in the pro-backhoe bunch. For a simple narrow trench, yeah a trencher is going to go alot faster. But for the monster trench I'm getting ready to dig, that really isn't an option.

 

[DiezNutz]

One more thing .... bury an extra pipe / conduit. It is cheap and gives you lots of flexibility in the future.

I second that!

One other trick once the pipe is in place to get the wires through it. Take a shop vac and tape or otherwise seal it on one end and turn it on. At the other end, take a grocery bag and tie it to your pull string. The vac will suck it through the pipe in seconds. I have used this technique at work with sections several thousand feet long.

That is AWESOME. I am definitely going to use that.

 

[Jabroni]

If you haven't planned so already, I'd also strongly recommend placing a french drain somewhere along your conduit run, in a low spot along the trench. Because your pipe is open to the outside world, air will flow thru it. The earth below grade stays cold longer than the surface, warmer moist air will condense out inside the pipe and eventually it will collect a large quantity of water. If given enough time, it will eventually completely fill with nasty, slimy, water. A tee placed in the run pointing down into a hole filled with crushed stone will allow the water to drain out of the pipe.

 

[john_bud]

Understood....where I'll be digging is in the woods about 200 meters away from the road and the AC service entrance to the house.

I doubt if there's any AC in the area. But, I have the tools to check for buried AC lines...so I'll check.

Can your tool find fiber optics? It's real real real nasty when you pull up a broken fiber bundle. If you didn't call dig-safe, diggers hotline or similar - it's 100% out of pocket.

It's not very likely that there is anything in the woods that will bite you, but it's free to have it checked out and that transfers the liability. Checking it yourself - keeps the liability on your shoulders. Mine are too wimpy and narrow for that kind of load!

I like the idea of the site line stakes, but paint on the ground is still an old favorite!


Lbrown59 - Your supposed to rent the kind of tencher that you sit on and drive. No back ache. It also is towed to the job site. No dented tail gate. You and your buddy must have really got beat up with a manual trencher! I'll bet it must have gained about 1000# when you had to put it back in the truck at the end of the day!

 

[Singlecoil]

What a great thread!
One tip I would suggest for a first trench is to just spin the seat around and move the tractor the normal way. He'll probably want the parking brake set while he is digging. I know when I was new the tractor was bucking around quite a bit. After you get the hang of it, you can leave the parking brake off and just lower the FEL and stabilizers to the ground to stabilize the tractor. Then, when you want to move the tractor don't spin the seat, just raise the stabilizers, reach around and raise the loader, then reach down behind you and pull UP on the reverse pedal. That is the same thing as pushing down on the forward pedal.
That seems easier than using the backhoe to push the tractor.

 

[ragkar]

Guys, thanks for the good advice. I'm just starting with my BH and I really appreciate it.

 

[Vern1]

That seems easier than using the backhoe to push the tractor.

Greetings,
After you have dug a few, it's much quicker and easier to just push it with the hoe but like digging, it takes a little practice. I would suggest to go slow until you get the hang of it. Running at lower RPMS slows the movement down so you don't bounce around as much, then after you get some time in, let 'er rip.
My 17 YO son is one of those kids who liked to dig holes. I sat him on the L35 and started him out slow at low RPMs and now he enjoys doing most of the digging for me.
Another thing about taking shallower cuts: Where I live is lots of red clay. If you scrape in shallow cuts, the clay will come out of the bucket easily. If you take big bites, the clay will lodge in the bucket and you have to dig it out with a shovel or something. It's much easier and quicker if you take shallower cuts in that stuff for sure! It's not as bad with the 18" bucket as the 12 incher but still a pain when it packs full.

 

[bx24]

How are ya gonna keep from getting the tractor tangled up in the rope or dumping dirt on it? No matter what that string is going to be in your way.

For such a shallow trench, it should not be that hard to avoid dumping the soil on the string / rope. It would obviously get harder digging a trench 5 foot deep with such a limited swing as the bx series, but really if the string gets buried ... who cares. Most times I have been able to hook it and pull it out or simply cut it where it was still exposed and wrap up the junk.

I used to paint the stripes, but laziness got the best of me and now I simply use rope.

Happy digging

 

[drssg]

On the subject of going long, not deep, I've also found this approach takes a lot less power. I feel like I'm putting less wear and tear on the tractor.

When moving the tractor forward, I've found that it doesn't pay to get greedy and move too far. It is easier to dig if I'm not at the far end of the reach of the backhoe.

I also don't move the tractor from the backhoe seat. I'm not in that big of a hurry, and it won't kill me to get down and move it the regular way. I've seen professionals do all sorts of cool things from the backhoe seat, but I'm not a professional. I'm not knocking anyone who feels comfortable doing this, it's just not for me.

Rick

 

[x703jko]

One more thing .... bury an extra pipe / conduit. It is cheap and gives you lots of flexibility in the future.

One other trick once the pipe is in place to get the wires through it. Take a shop vac and tape or otherwise seal it on one end and turn it on. At the other end, take a grocery bag and tie it to your pull string. The vac will suck it through the pipe in seconds. I have used this technique at work with sections several thousand feet long. If you don't want to bury a second pipe, at least pull in an extra pull string along with the wires. It can be a pain in the a-- to get a string through a conduit that already has wires in it.

I'll be using 4 inch diameter pre-drilled septic pipe - $7.00 per 10 foot section from HD or Lowes (drilled to allow drainage). I'll be getting 10% more than I need to allow for mistakes etc.

They'll be a witness line in each conduit (1/8" dacron rope) for pulling cable. Having done these types of installs at previous locations, I can tell you that 4 inch ID conduit can comfortable accomodate no more than a 50% packing fraction before pulling more cable, even with a stout witness line, becomes difficult...not impossible but difficult. One usually uses cable grease or something similar. Once you get to the 75% point, it's close to impossible to get anything more in.

This is why I will have one additional conduit which is empty just for future expansion.

Thanks!

Jeff