I have a bunch of tiny springs coming out of my mountains. I want to install a french drain system. There is an abundant amount of trenchers on the marker. Any that are really good or ones I should avoid?
I don’t have one and I’ve never used one, just because the ground is so rocky here in the Northeast where I am. I think their success really depends a lot on ground conditions. If you don’t have a lot of rock there it should work well. I do a lot of propane tanks and lines and would love to use one for doing the lines, interested in seeing some responses from end users.
I've got a Bobcat trencher I bought mid-2000's that's probably trenched a couple of miles over it's lifetime. It's been used but sporadically over the last 15 years. Last year we replaced the teeth for the first time - not Bobcat brand as they wanted a fortune, found them online for a 1/3 of the price Bobcat wanted. The first major issue not a wear item was the seal around the output shaft failed a couple of weeks ago. My guys have the parts but haven't had time to repair it yet. Our soil conditions vary widely from rocky chert to sandy silts. A trencher works great depending on the ground conditions on a CTL IMOP.
I've got one that my brother bought used in the early 80's. No idea what brand, he did miles of trenching with it. I got it when he passed and have done miles with it also. It's been almost completely rebuilt with new shaft and drive motor, new chain and I'm on the third set of teeth. They don't like rocky soil no matter what teeth they have. Really handy for water lines and electric. Bottom line, If I were you I'd rent one to see if you liked before buying.
Do you happen to know where you got the cutter teeth at? I have a Bobcat 313 trencher for my skid that's needing a sprocket and chain and the Bobcat dealer is far from helpful and $$$.
Most of the chains are the same from different brands. I went to ditch witch for my teeth. My sprocket was a two piece deal and I wanted more speed so I had a water jet guy cut a new sprocket with one extra tooth. Ditch witch had the factory sprocket for my old trencher also.
Believe it or not...Amazon. I just matched the bolt pattern of the tooth and the number of teeth. They've done great for the price.
That's not the answer I was expecting lol.
What type of equipment do you have currently available for use? We do a lot of drainage systems. As someone already mentioned lots of rock up our way. An excavator with a trenching bucket does really well with all types of drainage.
I have a CAT 299d.
I picked up a cheap, Chinese trencher at an auction last year. I've probably done about a mile of trench with it and really prefer it to doing a trench with the min-ex. It's faster, gives a cleaner trench and is easier to backfill. I've run mine in dirt, rocky soil and straight up rock, once it hit's bedrock it's done but loose rock it does fine with, just goes a little slower.