Be careful man, that thing looks shoddy as frig.

 

It just needs a guard. Like the kwik trench from Little Beaver has or the EX trench. It's very similar to the kwik trench kt200b. It's missing a guard, which I'll have to fabricate.

 

Good luck, and stay safe.

 

I'm not sure what the concern is, aside from the care that should be practiced while operating any sort of power equipment. Have you ever used a ground saw of any kind? They make good trenchers.

https://youtu.be/atAV77J-_1I

 

That's awesome! I want one now 😃

 

The ones Little Beaver make, or at least the one comparable to this with an 8" deep cut, is about $3800. 😱

They work well though and apparently will get through rock and roots pretty easily. I haven't had to take one through either personally. My soil is mostly sand.

 

@mwemaxxowner
You can actually see where I posted about using a ground saw here: https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=327258#p327258

I'm just saying the one I used was built for the purpose. Just a quick look at the bubble-gum welds and the high center of gravity makes me leery. But to each his own. I'm not trying to dump on you, I just want you to be careful because it looks dangerous.

 

I FINALLY used this thing after letting it sit around taking up space for years.

During the testing phase I kept burning up belts in no time. I worked on a belt tensioner but never got it quite right. I converted it to chain drive, and set up a chain tensioner and that worked much better. I had an old rusty 3 point hitch spreader that I bought for $25, guessing I could use the frame and gearbox later for a project. I stripped the 3ph frame, and set this thing up to use behind my tractor. I trenched in about 500' with it and am very happy for the amount I've spent on it. Once this current irrigation project is done, I want to strip the motor and use the gearbox I have to convert it to PTO drive.

These pictures are from the testing phase. I've since replaced the straps with steel cable and turnbuckles. Now that I'm done (for now) with the irrigation I wanted to run, I want to fabricate a chain guard, spend some time on grinding and paint. It trenches about 3 1/2 in he's wide the way I have the teeth set now, and 8" deep. Here in SC that's all any of my existing irrigation was trenched and it's been there 30+ years.

When I work on converting it to PTO drive, I am kicking around the idea of making a larger cutting disc to extend the cutting depth to 10 or 12 inches. That's the difference between the 8" and 12" trenchers from Little Beaver. A larger cutting disc and more HP.