trenching bucket

[Garrabo]

Does anyone know if a 6 inch trenching bucket for the Bx-22 is available. I wanted to use it to install waterlines with my backhoe.
Thanks

 

[KiotiJohn]

If you use a 6" bucket, you won't have much room to work around the pipe if you need to. I would use at least a 9", but most likely go ahead with a 12". That gives you plenty of room to adjust the floor of the trench if need be and to work on joints if there's a problem as well. Sorry, I don't know if that bucket is available. John

 

[AndyMA]

If I bought a 6" bucket, the second thing I would buy is a little shovel to empty it. A 12" bucket is about the smallest that I think will empty itself and even then sometimes it plugs.

Andy

 

[PineRidge]

I gotta agree with Andy because I have a 12 inch bucket. If you are digging in clay or wet earth it can be a bear plugging the bucket so I imagine a 6 inch would be twice as bad. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I would not recommend smaller than a 12 inch bucket.

 

[Richard]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( If you are digging in clay or wet earth it can be a bear plugging the bucket so I imagine a 6 inch would be twice as bad. )</font>

or perhaps 1/2 as good? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I rented a 6" trencher to install some water lines and some 4" sch-40 drain line.

After the rental was up, I needed to extend the 4" drain line out into the woods, rather than rent a trencher again, I used backhoe that happened to have a 2' bucket on it.

Made the job WORLDS easier. I had room to manouver (standing in trench) , had room to get down into the trench, had room to glue things.

Yes, it made a bigger mess
Yes, it was more to clean up
yes
yes
yes....

BUT, I'd do it again with my 2' bucket in a heartbeat, why?

Because even with the smaller trench, I had a mess to clean up, so the 2' bucket was only a matter of a "larger" mess.

The biggest reason is that the job was sooooooooooooooooo much easier being able to get down there.

I think on a day in, day out basis, you'd get much more utility out of a larger bucket than 6".

Good luck with what ever you do

/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Henro]

I have to agree with everyone else...my 10" bucket works in my clay soil pretty well...but not when it is on the wet side.

No fun having to keep getting off the backhoe to clean the bucket...and no fun not cleaning the bucket because you spend all day getting any dirt moved...half a bucket stays behind in the bucket...just to be carried back and forth...

I generally use my 16" bucket and wish I had a 24' bucket too! It is a width vs depth thing I think. For a 6" bucket to be useful it would have to be shallow. And a shallow six inch bucket while it might empty well, would not hold much.

When I used to dig trenches by hand...pre-backhoe days...I dug as narrow as possible, simply because it was less work. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif But now, as was mentioned previously in this thread, width doesn't take any more effort, and wider is actually easier...bucket cleans better and working in the trench is easier...not really much more of a mess either...a 12" trench is only 6" wider than a 6" trench... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[To20Chris]

I also agree - my 12" bucket seems ideal for that kind of work, it rarely clogs too bad, and the damage to lawns, etc is not going to be that much worse. A lot of the damage has to do with piling dirt on the grass and pushing it back in, and marks left by the tractor and stabilizers, etc. You will have those things anyway, so the smaller bucket won't help that much.

 

[Garrabo]

I did not realize this, I thought I was being clever. Im gonna run some irrigation lines and thought that might be handy, Didnt realize all the ramifications. Thanks for steering me from that idea. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif