Digging through frozen ground with 48 BH

Tom4310 · Mar 2, 2005

My neighbor just called and he has to put his horse down tomorrow. He has had this horse for 25 years since he was a cowboy in TX. He wants to bury the horse on his property (40 acres) and he asked if I would dig a hole. The ground is still frozen to a depth of about 8". I am still kinda new on using the BH. Any tips on digging through the frozen ground? I have a 4310 with the 48 BH and he wants a 4' deep hole about 5'x8'. I am thinking about just getting through the frozen ground first and then digging under and lifting up to break the ground. Thanks!

rswyan · Mar 2, 2005

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There is what is called a frost or ripper tooth that you can get for backhoes and excavators - in fact I'm in the process of building one for my 'hoe. Basically it's just a single tooth built of heavy steel (3/4" or more thick, that is maybe 12" or more long. The idea is to concentrate all the force at one point. Something like that would be ideal.

Other than that, I'd have him boil up alot of water. Ten or twenty gallons ought to punch through the frozen layer, depending on soil type and ambient temps when you do it.

RoyJackson · Mar 2, 2005

I'm really sorry about your friend's horse...real shame when an animal has to be put down....

8" isn't too bad. When I operated a backhoe (not a CUT 'hoe) to dig sewer trenches, we often had to break the frozen ground up with a jack hammer first. Using the backhoe bucket just lifted the end of the machine.

Using hot water may work...it is only 8" frozen depth. That would be a cheapest way to go, initially.

If that doesn't work, you could try a post hole digger to break up part of the frozen ground. If you don't own one, I'm sure you could rent...or your neighbor could rent a manual machine. And, of course, there's always a pick and shovel. Once you've broken through the frozen part, the bucket of the backhoe should be able to lift the rest of the frozen earth.

It's just making that initial break through that is the problem.

JDgreen227 · Mar 2, 2005

Last winter I had to bury our dog during the coldest part of the season...the ground was frozen to almost two feet deep and it took me all day to chip it out to that depth. As the area was several hundred feet away from any hot water I tried building a fire over the ground. After three hours of burning a good size fire the earth would only soften to a depth of about three inches. I don't know if the boiling water idea would have made any difference.

rdln · Mar 2, 2005

Yeah, once you get under neath the frost it is easy to lift up (strictly speaking 8" of topsoil) find a spot where snow has insulated the ground the longest.

Sure sounds like you'd want to go deeper and maybe wider. When I need to dig frost (rare), I use the 9in bucket with 3 teeth rather than the 24in with 5 teeth

hhw · Mar 2, 2005

A good size "ripper tooth" is probably your easiest most efficient option. I use one I can "clamp-on" either the FEL or BH of my 110TLB. I'm sure you know the drill: rip/dig the area,then remove product. Isn't 4 feet a little shallow?

Tom4310 · Mar 2, 2005

Thanks for all the posts. I just finished and it took about 3 hours. The ground was frozen pretty solid for the first 12". Used a digging bar and pick to get a hole and was able to dig down into good soil. It was amazing how hard the frozen ground is. I used the BH to scoop underneath the frozen ground and then used the digging bar to break frozen chunks off into the hole.

Was the longest I have used the BH and I really am going to enjoy this machine this summer. The horse is looking pretty bad and the vet will be there this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

It was sad to look at "Charlie" but he lived a good long life and the neighbor just doesn't want him to suffer. Thanks for the replies and the advise.