I own a 1996 John Deere 490e excavator. It has a 32" bucket on it with teeth. I just bought a farm and need to trench in a mile of 10" water mainline, and the seller recommended I do it with a 18" bucket to avoid tearing up the fields too much. My question - how do I go about finding an 18" bucket that fits my excavator? Also - bonus question - is there some sort of conversion to a quick attach system for my bucket and excavator arm?
You ever put 10 inch pipe in an 18 inch wide trench not fun I would go for a 2 foot bucket or run what you got and save 5 or 6 thousand
My sentiment exactly. Use your 32". If you do decide to take his advice, this is going to be a reality. You are not going to be able to get proper fill around the bottom of the pipe unless it's saturated sand. With that, if there ever ends up being any heavy traffic over the line, chances of damage are high. Just out of curiosity, is this an irrigation line? Irrigation pipe is generally lighter than water main, so chance of damage increases as well.
What are your digging conditions like? Clay...sand...rock....silt...ect.? How deep? What kind of pipe?
From experience I agree with above. Keep the current bucket unless it’s trashed. If you were to buy anything - go with a single tooth ripper. It will tear up a mile of ground in no time then go back thru with the bucket to dig it out. I’m here in New England and its all granite stones and roots / rocks. Some are quite large. Most 32” trenches end up being 48-60” wide before you know it. The ripper makes a nice addition and loosens stuff up a lot. Good luck with the new farm! Syleng1