3 Point PTO Trencher

[Fishin-4-a-Livin]

I am in need of a trencher. I want to buy one instead of renting.

i need at least 3 feet deep, in sandy soil with lots of roots.

I’m looking at used Ditch Witch and Vermeer ride on trenchers, but wondering about a 3 point trencher.

The only 3 point trencher that I can find in stock anywhere is a Frontier for around $9k.

I am looking for some advice for my purchase.

 

[JJT]

"At least three feet", you probably need a backhoe, not a trencher. I've done lots of trenching, anything over 2 feet I go with a backhoe. I do like the local rental, they have a self propelled Barretto, it goes up to 18" deep, 100'+ of trench in an hour. $120/day.

 

[Roadworthy]

If trenching to three feet in sandy soil you may find the trench caving in on itself to the point it's only a foot deep when done.

 

[Fallon]

I have a Bradco 3pt trencher I got for pretty cheep off Craigslist a few years ago. It will do 3' deep. Slow going in my hard clay, but we really don't have rocks or roots. I have HST+ & can creep along at a few yards per minute. I'm barely able to go slow enough & am not sure a normal HST could go slow enough. I know a geared machine couldn't go slow enough unless you had some special creeper gear you really don't find on CUTs.


View attachment 765992

 

[Fallon]

Other photo that didn't attach right.

 

[scootr]

Backhoe rental

 

[Fishin-4-a-Livin]

I have a mini excavator but I have a whole bunch of trenching to do for water and power lines. The power company says they need to be 4 feet deep, but that seems a little overkill. 3 feet my be deeper than need be?

Some of the runs are going to be hundreds of feet. I didn’t know if a dedicated trencher or a trencher attachment would be faster

Let me throw in a disclaimer here….

I have been around big equipment my entire adult life, it’s just been on the water, not on dry land. So all of this is new to me and kinda learning as I go.

So I am all ears right now.

 

[Vigo327]

So i own a 3pt trencher that will go almost 4 ft deep, and ive trenched 1000ft of water line with it. I think the brand is Grizzly? Ill have to go look.

Mine is kind of neat because it has its own drive axle and hydraulic motor, and you’re meant to leave the tractor in neutral and have the trencher push it. It has a ‘speed knob’ that ranges from probably a foot a minute to something way too fast to trench at, never thought to measure. But its got its own ‘creeper gear’ so the tractor gearing doesn’t matter, it just need hydraulics. PTO drives the chain bar.

I also have a small 6.5ft backhoe and on the 1000ft water line to my house i probably had to use the backhoe about a half dozen times to dig up big rocks the trencher couldnt do anything with. But if i had to do the whole thing with the backhoe.. jeez. To me its incredibly tedious trenching with the backhoe, but mine is on the weak side and doesn’t have a ‘trenching bucket’. On something like a mini ex with more power more reach and easier repositioning, sure. But on my backhoe it would be torture. Id hate to trench anything longer than 50ft in my ground conditions with my backhoe. I could easily see a different combination of backhoe and ground conditions being easy and fun, but not this combo.

 

[toolslinger]

If the power company is telling you 4' deep, you better figure for 4' deep. It doesn't matter if in reality 3' or 2' would work, if they tell you 4' and it isn't, they're likely to drive away when they show up.
My folks put our power 4' down. No chance a trencher could do it where I am. Too many rocks, too close together. It was all backhoe work. Fast forward almost 50 years, and I'm glad they're down that far as I have to add some more utilities, and I've got clearance over the power lines to run right across them, and still keep things safely below ground. Still gotta hand dig those crossings, but at least I'm not stressed about it.

 

[Fishin-4-a-Livin]

If the power company is telling you 4' deep, you better figure for 4' deep. It doesn't matter if in reality 3' or 2' would work, if they tell you 4' and it isn't, they're likely to drive away when they show up.
My folks put our power 4' down. No chance a trencher could do it where I am. Too many rocks, too close together. It was all backhoe work. Fast forward almost 50 years, and I'm glad they're down that far as I have to add some more utilities, and I've got clearance over the power lines to run right across them, and still keep things safely below ground. Still gotta hand dig those crossings, but at least I'm not stressed about it.

The main power line coming in from the meter box will be to specs. That is not a very long run.

The other power and water lines that I’m going to run throughput the property, I am hoping to get away with shallower trenches.