Using a truck to dig a trench

[RoySC]

Hope to get some postive ideas from you folks.
I need to dig a trench...don't have anything but a shovel and a large truck (F-700). Too lazy to use the shovel at this moment...so....I wondering if any of you have ever attached something to a large vehicle (like a large truck) that could "plow" a trench. The idea is to mount a home made device to the bumper...(maybe a steel pipe with some hooks welded to it), position it a foot or so deep and back up the truck, forming the trench as she rolls. I don't mind making a few passes to do most of the trenching....just looking for a machine to do most of the hard work. Any ideas for a "truck trenching device" is appreciated.

 

[zzvyb6]

I once dropped a railroad tie thru a couple of welded on brackets to the bed frame. Vertical span was important with a back brace to the bed floor. Wait for it to rain, drop the stake and put it into granny gear. The thing is self leveling with some spike nails to keep it at a desired depth. I wanted to bury a water line real quick. No problem. Keep the truck moving and loaded up so you have lots of momentum. I went down about 24" no problem, 3 passes, 100 yards.

 

[DieselPower]

Why not rent a trencher?

 

[RonMar]

Well unless you have a really low gear, and I do mean LOW(redline = about 1/4 walking speed) you will most likley not be very successfull. Even the typical 4 low range on a 4X4 is not going to be low enough. Is it 2 or 4WD? a 2WD will probably only have a regular diff so that is only 1 wheel actually applying force. With the tall gearing, the wheel will spin or the engine will stall or, if an auto tranny, the torque converter will probably never be able to fully hook up. If it dosn't hook up, then it will heat up the fluid and burn clutch discs or bands as they slip. If a manual trans, the clutch will probably do a lot of slipping or the wheels will be spinning or the engine will stall.

Force = Mass X Acceleration. IF it does dig in and you are able to keep it moving without spinning the wheels, WHEN the ripper shank comes up against an immovable object at any real speed, things are going to pretzel pretty quickly. This is possible with a tractor at even a moderately slow speed with a pull structure evolved over generations specifically for the task. That is why tractors have such low gearing, so the machine will not store too much energy in it's momentum, at least not store enough energy to exceed the strength of the impliments. It also allows the tire tread time to form and compress the soil for maximum traction with the engine at it's peak horse power RPM without spinning the wheels

You might damage the truck, and you still won't have a trench. Anything you drag thru the ground is not going to dig a trench. It will loosen up the soil, but you will still have to dig the dirt and rock out of the ground with a shovel.

The best advice has already been given. Gotta dig a trench? Rent a trencher or put hand to shovel... Sorry.

 

[Renze]

In former years in Holland, many trenching companies used a subsoiler with a cable pulley behind the chisel to plough the cables into the ground.
This was about 20 to 30 years ago, when the above ground network was changed for an underground network.

These cable ploughs were pulled by an army surplus truck, an american built 4x4 which got the nickname "beep" around here.

 

[Hosskix]

Back "in the day" we use to have an old single middle buster plow with a ring welded onto the end to slip over the ball on a bumper and handles for a man to hold on to...kinda like using the truck for a mule and the "farmer" guides the plow, holds pressure down, etc.

Worked pretty well... as long as you were driving the truck!
(Crude pic attached)

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Somebody posted a link on TBN here somewhere recently that took you to a site that sells a trencher that hooks into a pickup truck receiver hitch.

I spent about 15 minutes looking for it on TBN and then more time looking for it on the internet. I can't find it and it's driving me nuts.

Maybe whoever posted it will see this thread and link us back to the site.

I remember that it was basically just a ripper shank that hooked in to the receiver hitch. You dug a hole, dropped the ripper in it and then drove away. The comments indicated that it does a pretty good job as long as it is in a straight line through soft soil with no roots or very big rocks.

 

[bobodu]

I'm curious if you want a trench for say..drainage or do you want to pull pipe or cable? I've pulled thousands of feet of pipe with the farm tractor and I suppose it could be done with a truck. For deep buries I use the Gravely rotary plow.

 

[KAB]

Somebody posted a link on TBN here somewhere recently that took you to a site that sells a trencher that hooks into a pickup truck receiver hitch.

I spent about 15 minutes looking for it on TBN and then more time looking for it on the internet. I can't find it and it's driving me nuts.

Maybe whoever posted it will see this thread and link us back to the site.

I remember that it was basically just a ripper shank that hooked in to the receiver hitch. You dug a hole, dropped the ripper in it and then drove away. The comments indicated that it does a pretty good job as long as it is in a straight line through soft soil with no roots or very big rocks.

Is this the post you your thinking of? http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/98030-hitch-n-ditch.html?highlight=truck+trench

Kurt

 

[herringchoker]

My father used to tell how he and my uncle plowed a 10 acre field with a single furrow horse plow hitched to a 1929 Chev 1-1/2 ton truck. They took turns driving (in granny gear) and walking behind the plow. The only problem was the truck was awkward turning on the headlands.