3 point ditcher

Anonymous Poster · Jun 1, 2000

Does anyone have experience with a 3 pt ditcher. I have seen the Amco brand, and am looking for a used one. Questions I have are; How deep will it cut?; can it ditch through a gravel driveway?; does anyone have a used one available, wanting to sell, somewhere in the Great Lakes area. I'm from Ohio.

W5FL · Jun 1, 2000

Do a search for trenching and you will find the url for a group that is devoted to trenching. Please post any information that you find as it is certainly an attachment that many of us would like to have if it is affordable. I am sure they are available because the guy who dug some lines for me had a carbide tipped machine that would cut rock as well as dirt. It would dig to 4 feet, although I think the 2 and 3 foot machines are considerably less expensive. He had it on a full size cab tractor.

Anonymous Poster · Jun 1, 2000

Wen,
What I'm looking for is a ditcher, not a trencher. BIG difference. I have already done several searches, and have also looked at various auction, and equipment sites. I spent several hours last year travelling to Pa. for what was advertised as a "ditcher", and it was actually a trencher. They're not even similar.

MarkV · Jun 1, 2000

Wiz-Hate to sound so dumb but can you tell me how the trencher and ditcher differ? Thanks.

Anonymous Poster · Jun 1, 2000

Not really a dumb question, since a lot of people don't even know what a ditcher is. A ditcher has a round disk on it, that will cut a shallow swale appr 12 - 18 inches across, and about the same depth. A trencher will go much deeper, 6- 8 feet, for laying pipe. The ditcher is used by farmers on flat land, to channel water runoff. I want to use it to create a swale along my driveway for water to run off, so I don't continually wash away the gravel................Wiz

W5FL · Jun 1, 2000

Sorry that I never saw one of those.

All ditches and swales that I have were cut by a small cat, tilting the blade. The ones by the street were cut by a road grader with the blade tilted.

My smaller ditches were cut with a box blade tilted to one side. My next ditches will be cut by a Roadmaster (Grader box) Tilted to cut the ditch, then used to crown the drive.

I have seen a very heavy duty disk that would roll the soil up to the side as you pulled it. Wish I had a photo to see if that is the same thing you are looking for. I have not seen one manufactured like that in a long time, but there are still plenty of them in use. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Anonymous Poster · Jun 2, 2000

Wen,
There are also ditchers like you mentioned, I believe they are called ditcher plows. The one I am referring to runs off the PTO, and basically throws the soil off to one side. Thanks again for your input.

ddl · Jun 2, 2000

I had a problem with rain runoff since I live on slopes, with the area north of me providing runoff like a river when it rains. What I did was to use the tiller to run the length of the ditch I wanted, then used my loader to push the dirt to the downside of the ditch. Took several passes but it works very well. The ditch is about 250 feet long and about 3 to 5 inches indepth. I seeded the southside or the downside, and now you can hardly tell the ditch is there and you can mow over the ditch and not have problems.

A tiller and a loader can do wonderful things beside just till garden spots.

Dan Lutter

W5FL · Jun 2, 2000

Thanks Dan, that sounds like a great way to do it unless a ditcher is an affordable machine since I have a tiller and loader. I could get about 3 times as much water in my tank if I do that pretty carefully. Last year I got a builders transit, and I can finally figure out which way water runs when it isn't raining! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

MarkV · Jun 2, 2000

Wiz, Sure would like to hear the results of your search. Sounds like an interesting attachment. I can think of several places that it would take care of problems I have. Of course if I could find a 3 pt attachment that would wash my car I would want one of those too./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif