Trencher

river rat · May 2, 2007

Well, I wouldn't have thunk it! But, hey, I'd rather suck up a little crow than see all your fabrication time turned into scrap metal.
GLAD IT WORKED!

bobodu · May 2, 2007

Well...it dug a trench...but where's the rock hiding??
Cut enough wood and you WILL hit a nail....

Harvster · May 3, 2007

Now I don't want any of you guys sneaking over to Havoctec's place and burying rocks, rebar, or late model Winnebagos just to see what happens.

stayalert · May 3, 2007

Tough crowd

Great results on the initial efforts. Maintain a healthy respect for the cautions provided. Don't let complacency give the "thomases" the last word.......Can you come to my place and butb a trench from my garage to a small barn? Its only about 300' and there are no rocks or roots.....I think

How much clearance is there bewtween the guard and the wheel? I'm just picturing my snow blower and the bolt shaped groove pressed into 5" or so of the steel fan shroud....I hit an errant bolt and the heavy guage steel has a nice groove in it about 5" long. It didn't take long and the blower stopped but it could have been worse.

kossetx · May 3, 2007

Great job!! Glad to see it worked.

The trench is not a hole, but there are lots of holes around.

Nasty135 · May 3, 2007

kossetx said:
Great job!! Glad to see it worked.

The trench is not a hole, but there are lots of holes around.

Hey! I resemble that remark!!

I've been watching this thread and that little unit sure cuts a clean slice.. Good Job!! How long did it take to cut the first 19" trench?

bx23barry · May 4, 2007

That thing is kool!

mboulais · May 4, 2007

Awesome tool and great results. If you are worried about hitting immovable objects, you could put on a slip clutch from a bush hog.

toy · May 5, 2007

Havoctec said:
Ok you doubting Thomas'. Had a chance to hook it up and try it for a few minutes tonight, just before dark. Mostly because I know you guys want to know how badly it will self distruct!!

Well I only dug a trench about 15' long and 19" deep. It worked well except for the telescoping front guard. There is not enough slope at the bottom of it to keep from digging into the ground so I will have to weld on a bigger skid plate. Other than that it worked as I expected. Even piled up the dirt beside the trench. I'm surprised that worked.

Only ran the tractor at 1500 rpms which did not seem to put undo stress on the trencher. It did make the tractor work a little.

I don't have a video camera so no video. It would have been very anti climactic anyway. I'll try to get action shots when I finish up the trench and it is light out.

Congratulations I'm glad it worked out for you I've been hoping for a favorable daybu of it.. I'll bet you was singing that that I told you song you know the one na nanna na na and you deserve to get to do so. Now that it has showed its stuff I would like to say that I beleive that there was some serious and earnest concerns about it self destructing and concerns for safety so if it was me I would look it over to see if I could beef it up with reenforcement so it will last a long time. Good luck with it and future projects that you might get into. A lot of ideas that turned out to be great inventions probably had a lot of trials and errors before perfection was attained and perserverancewas a big key to getting there.

MOPAULY · May 6, 2007

river rat said:
Well, I wouldn't have thunk it! But, hey, I'd rather suck up a little crow than see all your fabrication time turned into scrap metal.
GLAD IT WORKED!

I wouldn't have thought it either. I keep thinking one big tree root and whammo! Kapow!

sandman2234 · May 6, 2007

Crow tastes just like chicken...
David from jax

AlanB · May 7, 2007

I must admit, I am one of the doubting thomas's I guess, that is a big wheel when it encounters a solid object, I do hope it works well for you, I have a difficult time visualizing it holding up in our rocky area.

I saw this while driving down the road Saturday, and had to go back and get some pictures as I thought of this thread.

There is a big "gear" out in the wheel that is driven.

Anyway, I thought it was cool.

SOS · May 7, 2007

Wow it did worked ! I want to see an action movie on YOU TUBE.

Also, I need some trenches at my house for drain pipes and wires ... Wanta come try it out?

bbabineau · May 7, 2007

AlanB said:
I must admit, I am one of the doubting thomas's I guess, that is a big wheel when it encounters a solid object, I do hope it works well for you, I have a difficult time visualizing it holding up in our rocky area.

I saw this while driving down the road Saturday, and had to go back and get some pictures as I thought of this thread.

There is a big "gear" out in the wheel that is driven.

Anyway, I thought it was cool.

Also reminds me of this one !!
Krupps: World's Largest Digger: Digs, Potentially Destroys World - Gizmodo

BTDT · May 7, 2007

Havoctec said:
There were no modifications from the time I posted the first pics.

I have not used it enough to say what needs to be changed. Hopefully nothing.

The attached picture shows how the dirt deflector was added. It was just a guess where to put it and how fabricate it. So I am very surprised that it works as well as it does.

I never expected this thread to get so long but it's good to see that it provided you guys with some entertainment.

Great job. That looks like it's going to save your back a lot of work. Now, about that welding machine in the shower stall, don't you know water and electricity don't mix!

sr160009 · May 8, 2007

bbabineau said:
Also reminds me of this one !!
Krupps: World's Largest Digger: Digs, Potentially Destroys World - Gizmodo

That thing would dig a pretty big trench QUICKLY!!!!!!

jimgerken · Sep 21, 2010

How's the trencher holding up over time? Any experience to add yet? MUST be more pics by now.

Scotty370 · Sep 22, 2010

jimgerken- I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that 'stumbles' over a post, and responds, only to find out that it's over three years old, and the OP may have 'left the forum', etc.!!! But, that said, we had lots of Cleveland Trenchers laying gas lines for us in the '60's, and they were a thing to behold!!!!!!!! ~Scotty

Kernopelli · Sep 22, 2010

Scotty370 said:
jimgerken- I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that 'stumbles' over a post, and responds, only to find out that it's over three years old, and the OP may have 'left the forum', etc.!!! But, that said, we had lots of Cleveland Trenchers laying gas lines for us in the '60's, and they were a thing to behold!!!!!!!! ~Scotty

Ahh, the Cleveland trencher...what a behemoth. One of my coworkers was just telling me about running one for a summer just out of high school. Said it was an experience to say the least...lots of controls and little experience or sense, it led to real excitement and a good story years later! I see one for sale locally , a JS36 for $18K. Gotta say, they just look antiquated to me now but they would dig a trench!

J_J · Sep 23, 2010

Havoctec,

Congratulation on your build.

Just wanted to check back and see if the trencher held up to your expectations.

There are people on here that will bash anything because they simply don't understand.

I know you can run into problems, can you tell us something about those. Did you use carbide tips.

I have several trenchers. A 4 in chain trencher that is hyd driven, a wheeled trencher, that is hyd driven, a gas powered wheeled trencher like U-Hall used to rent. I also have a Case mini-sneaker that uses a vibratory hyd shaker to cut in pipe or cable.