Mini ditch digging techniques

[bc1]

Hello guys. Been trying my new FF13 digging a ditch. Have a bunch of water line to replace and lay new. Also plan to bury the electric lines at the farm and run internet in conduit. Digging about 39" deep so my lines end up 36" below grade and dug around 60' so far in hard clay. Just ordered the 8" bucket so I hope that works faster and better. Just wondering what techniques anyone uses. This is hard to explain.

New ditch I start teeth pointed down trying to break through the sod. Try to pull back on the dipper/arm/stick/crowd and it doesn't move much. Seems to have more power using the bucket curl till full and then the boom breaks it free. Then work back a couple feet. Digging pulls the machine forward with front blade down all the way with front of tracks off the ground or if I try to leave the tracks flat on the ground.

When I get close to the existing water line then I curl the bucket almost flat and pull back with the stick. Once I've found the grade then I back up a couple feet and dig down a foot or so at a time while using the bucket curl to fill the bucket. End up digging into the blade.

I don't know but it's slow digging. The 1.75 gallon gas tank gets about 1.5 hours of digging at full throttle and get 10' to 11'. Then I let it cool before adding gas. Also time to let the hydraulic fluid cool. I check it with a laser temperature reader and it gets to 120 to 140 degrees. Also a good time for me to take an ice tea break

Just wondering if anyone has any good methods for digging ditches. Some of that clay is so hard the teeth only stick in a few inches. Haven't tried to dig a 6' hole but it won't be easy. Thanks.

 

[Carl_NH]

Getting good at running these machines takes practice and time. It sounds like you are doing everything right, but the biggest limitations are physical size and mass/weight. The machine weighs ~1800 lbs and can't apply a lot of force on hard ground.

Also with a smaller 8" trenching bucket it will perform much better - more force in a smaller area - I found the 16" standard bucket too big for rocks etc. Also, running at full throttle is not typically necessary as half to 2/3 is good for smooth operation.

 

[2manyrocks]

I rented a trencher to run about 400' of water line because it was so much faster than trying to dig it with a backhoe plus there was so much less soil disturbance.

Fact of life is hard packed clay is tough to dig.

 

[bc1]

I trenched the water line originally but it doesn't dig holes to make connections. Probably have a hundred projects around the farm and most of them will need the hoe which is why I bot this. And I'm not on the clock to make the 30 mile drive to haul it back and forth.

What I'm learning is that there is a lot of control feathering with multiple controls to take the jerkiness out which is also a little slow. I use a combination of boom down, move crowd in, and bucket curl to start the scooping process. While curling up and booming up to fill the bucket I also feather the crowd back out.

I've tried digging from the side which is bouncy digging but slower. Tried with the blade to the back but not sure I saw an advantage with that.

For ditch bottom cleaning I track forward over the dug ditch, put a flat bucket in the bottom of the ditch, track backwards till it is full, and then dump and repeat. Wouldn't do it in soft dirt. Would be safer to do with an 8" bucket.

Still learning. My new auger arrives today so I will play with it and change the hydraulic oil at the same time.

 

[bc1]

Been doing some more trenching and digging between rains. Found it is much easier to trench in a straight line if I spray paint a line on the ground to follow as I back up. During digging the tracks shift around some so it is hard to keep them in a straight line.

Found that it digs ok at less than full throttle and 3/4 or so. Got the swing to jerk less by moving the seat back away from the controls so it takes more wrist action to move the controls side to side.

Been monitoring the fluid temperature with the laser thermometer on the inlet and outlet pipes coming out of the tank. See about a 20 to 25 degree change in temp so the tank is doing its job without extra cooling. It's around 120 degrees at the return. Pump body reads around 125 degrees.

The boom is on a 135 degree angle with 58" between pins and sits 18" behind the blade giving 40" in front of the blade as the sweet spot for digging. I back up leaving a couple feet each time while digging a 3' deep trench. Just has more hydraulic digging power up close. The bent boom and lack of counter weight or stabilizers on back to keep the tracks off the ground doesn't allow for much down force with the bucket extended to far out in front.

Backhoes and bigger excavators with straight booms can reach out further and pull the bucket back scraping a layer at a time over a longer distance when working above buried lines. It's hard to do that with the mini excavators.

Still learning but I'm happy with my ff13.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I've had good luck digging in tough ground by using a ripper tooth:

I first make a pass digging what I can with an 8" bucket. I make another with the ripper and a third with the 8" bucket to clean the trench.

I've also had success using a 4.5" narrow trenching bucket:

Of course this only works for narrow trenches. Sometimes, it makes no sense to dig an 8" wide trench for a 2" pipe.

 

[bc1]

I've been looking at making a knife edge ripper at least 2' long to pull through the ground something like 1" pipe without digging similar to those with a vibrator. Just wondering if you have tried something like that and how it worked. Lawn sprinkler companies use the vibrating ones. To cut roots I would need a knife edge to cut them.