Ditching work

[Furniss]

Been asked by local council that we work for to do some ditching work - I already do an odd 100m here and there every year and just nip the 3tonner about on the hook loader from spot to spot, but this time there is a lot to do.
Ideal would be small wheeled machine with a kung fu boom and V bucket but there isnt enough demand about to warrant buying a machine that wouldnt get used otherwise........ditching side on the with the ditcher is pretty laborious and I wondered If I could utilise a little v bucket with an offset headstock ?

My initial thoughts are that it might not work very well as you would be always be trying to pull it back to the digger ... I suppose it would be the same with a tiltrotator and that is why you dont see many (any?) videos of people ditching this way with v bucket and tiltrotator ?

Any suggestions folks apart from get faster with the ditching bucket

 

[Smiffy]

Been asked by local council that we work for to do some ditching work - I already do an odd 100m here and there every year and just nip the 3tonner about on the hook loader from spot to spot, but this time there is a lot to do.
Ideal would be small wheeled machine with a kung fu boom and V bucket but there isnt enough demand about to warrant buying a machine that wouldnt get used otherwise........ditching side on the with the ditcher is pretty laborious and I wondered If I could utilise a little v bucket with an offset headstock ?

My initial thoughts are that it might not work very well as you would be always be trying to pull it back to the digger ... I suppose it would be the same with a tiltrotator and that is why you dont see many (any?) videos of people ditching this way with v bucket and tiltrotator ?

Any suggestions folks apart from get faster with the ditching bucket

On old ditches a v ditcher doesn't do as nicer job and more time consuming to get nice
Where I work there is an old boy who just digs ditches pretty much exclusively
He rounds the far corner over digs the bottom out rounds the near corner over dumps the material and levels it on the verge in one movement if there's enough room
V ditcher can't compete and can't level out the waste if it's not being removed


Have you seen the McConnell ditch cleaners would that work ??

 

[Grahams]

Have you seen the McConnell ditch cleaners would that work ??

I saw one round near our yard a few years ago. Did an excellent job and at a speed you couldn't compete with in an excavator. You do need it somewhere rural though as it does spray the muck out at high speed.

 

[Furniss]

On old ditches a v ditcher doesn't do as nicer job and more time consuming to get nice
Where I work there is an old boy who just digs ditches pretty much exclusively
He rounds the far corner over digs the bottom out rounds the near corner over dumps the material and levels it on the verge in one movement if there's enough room
V ditcher can't compete and can't level out the waste if it's not being removed


Have you seen the McConnell ditch cleaners would that work ??

Agreed its a tidier job with a ditcher than a v bucket on an existing ditch and have done a fair bit of ditching that way .... but over here the norm is to get it done sharpish with a v bucket and not worry too much if its mint or not and tbf they can fair rattle along even if its a bit scruffy - with the kung fu boom and v bucket they literally drive alongside at times.

 

[craig]

Our local LA had those ditch cleaners on a hedge cutter demoed last year, the muck was 10-15 foot up the trees, and about 20 foot up the fields . As @Grahams said it needs to be rural.

 

[craig]

with a kung fu boom

What do you mean by kung fu boom? a parallel offset?

 

[V8Druid]

E="craig, post: 44318, member: 161"]
What do you mean by kung fu boom? a parallel offset?
[/QUOTE]
knuckle boom at a guess

or an offset boom

 

[Shovelhands]

Some might remember this? Was a while ago now!
A real cobble together, just to get a job done, but worked surprisingly well.
Note the angle of the left hand side cutter, so it wanted to go that way in the ditch. Worked well, but was a one trick pony. As in you could only go in one direction.
You’d probably have to get a V bucket specially made so that it tapered back well, so you could follow a ditch at an angle, if that makes sense? And if both sides were the same then you could effectively go in either direction.

 

[GazCro]

Agreed its a tidier job with a ditcher than a v bucket on an existing ditch and have done a fair bit of ditching that way .... but over here the norm is to get it done sharpish with a v bucket and not worry too much if its mint or not and tbf they can fair rattle along even if its a bit scruffy - with the kung fu boom and v bucket they literally drive alongside at times.

I have seen a scandi grader with one side cut off at 45 deg so when under a tilty you had a v bucket one end grader the other.

 

[craig]

E="craig, post: 44318, member: 161"]
What do you mean by kung fu boom? a parallel offset?

knuckle boom at a guess

or an offset boom

[/QUOTE]

Knuckle boom was what I was thinking. I`ve got a Hitachi ex 75 with one, with it fully off set, and if the ditch was not to far off the road, you could pull alone the ditch, but it would get more untidy the closer to you get to the machine, as you slew more.
The case pictured should work better, I think

 

[craig]

I have seen a scandi grader with one side cut off at 45 deg so when under a tilty you had a v bucket one end grader the other.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEkHew6jN5k
Similar to that?

 

[GazCro]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEkHew6jN5k
Similar to that?

Wasn't that actual one but v similar.

 

[Randla]

Been asked by local council that we work for to do some ditching work - I already do an odd 100m here and there every year and just nip the 3tonner about on the hook loader from spot to spot, but this time there is a lot to do.
Ideal would be small wheeled machine with a kung fu boom and V bucket but there isnt enough demand about to warrant buying a machine that wouldnt get used otherwise........ditching side on the with the ditcher is pretty laborious and I wondered If I could utilise a little v bucket with an offset headstock ?

My initial thoughts are that it might not work very well as you would be always be trying to pull it back to the digger ... I suppose it would be the same with a tiltrotator and that is why you dont see many (any?) videos of people ditching this way with v bucket and tiltrotator ?

Any suggestions folks apart from get faster with the ditching bucket

You'd expect me to say it anyway, but you should consider a tilty for this . There are plenty of videos out there with tilties of all colours pulling ditches from an offset position and they do it very well (if you can't find any let me know and I'll try and put up a few links). It would be a far cheaper option than getting in a specialised digger with a knuckle boom - you can use your existing digger and it may well pay for itself over the course of the work and you will end up with a fully amortised tilty at the end of it. There are lots of other considerations in terms of configuration, but it's something to think about.

HTH

Robert

 

[Grifferr]

Heres my effort

 

[V8Druid]

Heres my effort

and seriously respectable it is too Boyo .... hell of a long dipper on that, or is it just the camera angle ?

 

[jd6820]

Think you’d struggle on deeper ditches like the ones we have round the farm. Made a start last night just before dark and this is with a 3.5t Kubota at more or less full reach to get the bottom. I’m leaving neighbours side alone hence only grading one side. Previous owners weren’t big on ditch maintenance.....

I’m only a novice, so go easy on me it’s not my day job...

 

[Grifferr]

Yes she is long dipper 1500mm. Its long enough with the tilty so have to change driving style sometimes.
As said previously spreading dug out material with v bucket is not nice

 

[Smiffy]

Think you’d struggle on deeper ditches like the ones we have round the farm. Made a start last night just before dark and this is with a 3.5t Kubota at more or less full reach to get the bottom. I’m leaving neighbours side alone hence only grading one side. Previous owners weren’t big on ditch maintenance.....

I’m only a novice, so go easy on me it’s not my day job...

View attachment 18476

Only difference I was taught is use the back of the bracket to smear up the sides usually ground upon but the old boys always do it to seal the sides stop them becoming mushy and loose material falling back in and landing you back at square one

 

[jd6820]

Only difference I was taught is use the back of the bracket to smear up the sides usually ground upon but the old boys always do it to seal the sides stop them becoming mushy and loose material falling back in and landing you back at square one

Yeah, that’s been done but the peat doesn’t really consolidate like soil or clay. Hence the rough look, it’ll get some grass seed and left to establish. They soon crumble and look a mess. Believe it or not the other side will have been like this originally. It’s strange stuff to work with. We are pretty much all moss land apart from round the house which is better ground to dig/work. I’ll go back and tidy up once I’m happy with the sides. I’m not liking the square back ditching/grading bucket though. Think I need to find a different one. Think this is an old 3cx or 3c bucket?

 

[Furniss]

In the main they are little ditches that arent particularly deep - I do have a v bucket for the 8t but the 3t is handy for jobbing from one spot to another, I have suggested getting in an outfit that go around with a wheeled machine, v bucket and knuckle boom but there are other jobs to do and things to sort as we go round so they would rather use us and compromise a bit on the ditchng, sure enough a tilty would be the way to go when the time is right machinery wise.
But it never seems to be.