# Mini excavator help



## jakejorgenson (Mar 17, 2009)

Rented a mini today to do an electrical trench for a job we are doing out in the boonies. Have to dig up 800 ft of trench at 3 ft deep for the main line from the nearest location. Got about 120 ft done today. Super slow going as the ground is sort of a packed clay that once you break it up is more like sand. There is a layer about a foot thick from 6" deep to about 18 deep that is super compacted and hard until it breaks. The mini was not even making a dent in this stuff. I had to hit it with the teeth on the bucket over and over until it would finally "pop" and then go about a foot. I was getting really bounced around and the machine was just standing up instead of digging into the materials. It was a kx41-3v kubota with 18" bucket. Will a larger machine make much difference. They are telling me they have one 2 sizes up (about 10k lbs) that would make this no problem. Thoughts? Will I have issues with that much weight behind my 2500 dodge cummins up or down a highway with some pretty large elevation change?


----------



## Sar-Con (Jun 23, 2010)

Don't send a boy in to do a man's job.....Mini's are great for small, tight sites but you'll kill yourself on a production job. I assume this is a direct bury application? A trencher would've had that licked in under a day.


----------



## jakejorgenson (Mar 17, 2009)

Sar-Con said:


> Don't send a boy in to do a man's job.....Mini's are great for small, tight sites but you'll kill yourself on a production job. I assume this is a direct bury application? A trencher would've had that licked in under a day.


We had a trencher set up and the rental place went out of business literally yesterday and we didn't know until we showed up at the door this morning to get it. We had to drive an added hour (30 min each way) just to get something.


----------



## jakejorgenson (Mar 17, 2009)

Sar-Con said:


> Don't send a boy in to do a man's job.....Mini's are great for small, tight sites but you'll kill yourself on a production job. I assume this is a direct bury application? A trencher would've had that licked in under a day.


Will a trencher go through that hard pan soil set at 3 ft depth on a skid steer?


----------



## Sar-Con (Jun 23, 2010)

I was thinking of something a little bigger than a skid steer attachement. I'm sure it would work but you might find that slow going too. Hard to say for sure without seeing the soil, access, etc.


----------



## overanalyze (Dec 28, 2010)

Second the trencher..or maybe just hire a trenching sub...they could slam that footage out quick and be gone...freeing you up to do the electrical portion. A lot of our trenchers charge by the foot...


----------



## wyoming 1 (May 7, 2008)

Slighlty bigger machine and a smaller bucket.


----------



## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

18" bucket....:no:

Try a 12" or a 9"...:thumbsup:

I would sub it out to a dirt guy....:thumbsup:


----------



## MikeyJP1980 (Sep 30, 2011)

Your machine is too small for the task at hand. Seldom will any contractor in the excavating business have a machine that small. Shallow plumbing lines could be the only thing that machine is good for. There is an art to trenching with an excavator at a productive rate. 10k lb. machine would do the job in a reasonable time. Trenchers would not work in my area at 3’ depth. Main problem is kubota’s are for farmers.


----------



## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

I agree with the above, larger machine, smaller bucket will help.

A typical chain trencher is no good for any pipe greater than 3" diameter or more, unless you get one with a six inch wide chain...which is rare to see.


----------



## wellbuilt home (Oct 22, 2007)

I have a bob cat 435 11500lbs with a 12" bucket and good teeth. 
I can dig 800 ' in a long day. In tough hard rocky soil . 
Ive been runing a lot of gas line and conduit the last few years .


----------



## woodchuck2 (Feb 27, 2008)

Go with a bigger machine and smaller bucket as others have said. Trenchers around here never work, too much rock. I had an 8k lb mini-ex and i could do 800' in a day unless it was all riverbed conditions. But decent soil or sand was no issue for 800' in a day. Never played with clay much but certainly have hardpan, bigger is better. Hiring this out may be the better option too, just pad the bill so you make money too. 

Sometimes you think you are making all this money running the equipment yourself but if you step back and let someone else do it and still make money off them you could be actually making more money by getting the job done much faster, its not like you will be standing around waiting on him, for 800' thats a lot of wire to roll out and sleeve if you are using conduit. I sleeve everything and that often takes longer than the digging so once they start digging i run out my wire, start sleeving it, once they are done i drop in as much sleeved wire as possible so they can begin backfilling, then i go back to sleeving, once finished i drop in the rest and go to work attaching the ends.


----------



## jakejorgenson (Mar 17, 2009)

jakejorgenson said:


> Rented a mini today to do an electrical trench for a job we are doing out in the boonies. Have to dig up 800 ft of trench at 3 ft deep for the main line from the nearest location. Got about 120 ft done today. Super slow going as the ground is sort of a packed clay that once you break it up is more like sand. There is a layer about a foot thick from 6" deep to about 18 deep that is super compacted and hard until it breaks. The mini was not even making a dent in this stuff. I had to hit it with the teeth on the bucket over and over until it would finally "pop" and then go about a foot. I was getting really bounced around and the machine was just standing up instead of digging into the materials. It was a kx41-3v kubota with 18" bucket. Will a larger machine make much difference. They are telling me they have one 2 sizes up (about 10k lbs) that would make this no problem. Thoughts? Will I have issues with that much weight behind my 2500 dodge cummins up or down a highway with some pretty large elevation change?


Found a guy nearby to do it with a 19k lb backhoe. No issues and digging right through it. He should finish in the morning. Sounds like I just had way too small of machine.


----------

