What equipment to use?

[DTCOOPER]

A friend works for a local equipment rental company, so I am getting "hooked up" on which ever I use..

I have to dig 350' of 16-18" deep trench, and dig a small gold fish pond.
Which machine would I be best using? (time, ease of use, etc)
Mini track-excavator?
Small backhoe with front loader bucket?

I have the D33 but I have a hard time digging trench with the loader bucket and box blade.. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

What say the masses ?

 

[DHennet]

For the trench, I would recommend a trencher. IMO you'll be done a lot faster walking behind a big Vermeer, than repostioning a BH for 350'. Use a BH for the pond.

 

[DTCOOPER]

DH,
There in lies the problem.. I can only get one piece of equipment.. What would your suggestion be, knowing that ?
Thanks as always,

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I had to dig a 4' deep by 6' wide trench, it was only about 45' long, but I used a mini-excavator. I started after lunch and was done before dinner and I took a break. I figure the same job would have taken a couple full weekends of work with the Great Bend backhoe on the back of the Kubota. The 2 great big HUGE advantages of the mini-excavator is the ability to move the machine at will and reposition it constantly combined with the much longer reach, a TLB can be moved but not in the same way with the same speed.

A trencher is great for a small narrow trench to bury cable, drainage pipe, etc, if you are doing something like that, then a trencher might be a better choice. But if you are making a trench for the purposes of leaving an open sloped sided trench then the mini-excavator is the ticket. So I guess it totally depends on the trench you are digging as to the best tool for the project.

For digging the goldfish pond the excavator will be the best choice.

 

[DHennet]

Given the choice between TLB and excavator, I would use the excavator.

 

[beenthere]

The excavator.

 

[Panache]

excavator and a can of ground marking paint.

 

[Varmintmist]

Excavator

 

[Farwell]

When I had my new well put in the guy used a Ditch Witch that had a backhoe and scrapper blade on the front and a trencher on the rear. I have seen these for rent in Michigan. The unit is the size of a medium sized tractor. The guy made short work of the trench and had to dig a good sized hole near the house where the water pipe accessed the basement. He used the blade to cover the trench and hole when he was done.

 

[LarryD]

I'd have to say the excavator will save you time, anything that is designed for a specific purpose will always do a job better than a "multi-pupose" tool. An excavator does one thing, it excavates.