“Made It Myself” 3-Pt. Trencher Lays In Cable
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“I needed to bury an electric cable to my daughter’s playhouse without destroying my lawn. There was nothing on the market that would do what I needed at a reasonable cost, so I built one,” says Michael Boyer, Post Falls, Idaho.
He built the trencher by welding a short length of 1-in. thick scrap steel at an angle to a vertical length of square steel tubing. The top end of the tubing is welded to a horizontal tube that fits into a receiver hitch, which mounts on a steel bracket that fastens to his tractor’s 3-pt. hitch. A 1/4-in. thick “cutting edge” is welded on front of the trencher. A curved 1-in. dia. tube clamps on behind and feeds the cable down into the bottom of the trench.
“It works similar to the trenchers used by utility companies to lay in cable, except instead of pulling it behind a bulldozer I’m using my Deere 2250 2-WD loader tractor,” says Boyer. “I’m able to lay cable about 20 in. deep.
“I keep the cable spool on a vertical pipe that attaches to the loader bucket and keep the bucket up in the air. The cable comes off the spool, back over the tractor, and down to the trencher. Once the trencher knife enters the soil, the forward motion of the tractor sucks it down into the soil. It’s a small trencher, but it takes everything my 50 hp tractor has to pull it.
“The only limitation is that I have to make big, slow sweeping turns. A tractor equipped with front wheel assist would probably work better because the front end would be pulling, allowing a tighter turn.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Michael Boyer, 10547 N. Idaho Rd., Post Falls, Idaho 83854 (ph 208 777-0861; boyermike@msn.com).
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“Made It Myself” 3-Pt Trencher Lays In Cable MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Earth Movers “I needed to bury an electric cable to my daughter’s playhouse without destroying my lawn There was nothing on the market that would do what I needed at a reasonable cost so I built one ” says Michael Boyer Post Falls Idaho He built the trencher by welding a short length of 1-in thick scrap steel at an angle to a vertical length of square steel tubing The top end of the tubing is welded to a horizontal tube that fits into a receiver hitch which mounts on a steel bracket that fastens to his tractor’s 3-pt hitch A 1/4-in thick “cutting edge” is welded on front of the trencher A curved 1-in dia tube clamps on behind and feeds the cable down into the bottom of the trench “It works similar to the trenchers used by utility companies to lay in cable except instead of pulling it behind a bulldozer I’m using my Deere 2250 2-WD loader tractor ” says Boyer “I’m able to lay cable about 20 in deep “I keep the cable spool on a vertical pipe that attaches to the loader bucket and keep the bucket up in the air The cable comes off the spool back over the tractor and down to the trencher Once the trencher knife enters the soil the forward motion of the tractor sucks it down into the soil It’s a small trencher but it takes everything my 50 hp tractor has to pull it “The only limitation is that I have to make big slow sweeping turns A tractor equipped with front wheel assist would probably work better because the front end would be pulling allowing a tighter turn Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Michael Boyer 10547 N Idaho Rd Post Falls Idaho 83854 ph 208 777-0861; boyermike@msn com
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