Backhoe New backhoe owner with ditch questions

[downsizingnow48]

I would back up to where the trench needs to be at 90 degrees. Swing boom 90 degrees to left dig as far as you can reach. Swing boom to right do the same. No reason I can see to straddle or cross the ditch.

 

[Egon]

I would back up to where the trench needs to be at 90 degrees. Swing boom 90 degrees to left dig as far as you can reach. Swing boom to right do the same. No reason I can see to straddle or cross the ditch.

Read the OP's first post.

 

[100 td]

A couple of methods, practice without the trench first, paint or mark a couple of lines on the ground.
Crossing a trench - YouTube
Justin crossing a trench with backhoe - YouTube

 

[radioman]

you wont be able to cross trenches like you see in the youtube videos, the bx geometry and power is not the same as those industrial machines. but katoome00 is right.
use your fel to keep front tires off the ground a bit and use combination of bh and hst to move to the other side. the first time you do it , just go slow, calculate every movement. sure it will get your heart pounding, but it can be done. i have crossed trenches i dug and needed to get to the other side and you can to. just remember let the hydraulics do the work.

 

[downsizingnow48]

Read the OP's first post.

I did, that is why I commented. His question is can you dig the ditch without straddling it. The answer is yes, if you back up and dig at 90 degrees. All the suggestions about how to straddle or cross or get off a ditch are sensible. However, you don't have to in this situation. Just back up and dig to the side. Spend more time digging, less time moving the machine around.

 

[Egon]

Yes, there should be a 180 degree arm swing. To utilize it can you keep the stabilizers out of the trench?

 

[downsizingnow48]

Depending on bx geometry might have to do the part close in with stabilizer up.

 

[Egon]

Looked it up. Only 140 degrees of swing and 6 ft. Digging depth. Makes it kinda hard cause it requires an angle approach which means you'll end up almost undercutting a tire and not able to use the boom for depth.

At right angles both rear tire's will have to sit on the edge of the trench. Trench may collapse.

 

[downsizingnow48]

Huh did not realize bx was so limited in swing. Thx!

 

[newbury]

Congrats! You will learn to love your BH. To me now it is like being a big kid in a huge sandbox! <snip>

Exactly, every hour using my BH is joy.

<snip>
Congratulations, have fun and BE CAREFUL, especially on slopes, THE BH MAKES IT TOP HEAVY!

But for traversing slopes you can extend a stabilizer down slope and swing the bucket upslope!
/edit - only very carefully when yo just HAVE to cross the slope.

I just took delivery of a brand new Kubota BX-23S, complete with a hydraulic plow and backhoe. So far it sure seems like an excellent machine! When they delivered it, after cutting the lawn, I went down back and tried my hand at experimenting with the backhoe. It's fairly easy to operate, but I can see it's going to take some doing to actually get good at it.

My question is about digging a trench. I need to dig one between two buildings for a footing. I can see how you'd start the trench from each building toward the center, but at some point, you'd be straddling the trench with no way to get out of there, right? Is there some technique for this that I might be missing? What's the right way to do this? Thanks!

How deep a trench? Are you at the limit of your BH reach?
Can you do the footing in 2 pours?
Or can you maneuver such that you dig two trenches almost meeting and then just dig a big hole between them to join them?