Trenching Rates

[bigrig]

Was wondering how many feet you can dig in a 12 hour day with a 350 excavator. trench to be 10' deep top 5' sloped at 45. or is a 270 excavator just as fast?

 

[JDMGrading]

Theres to many variables to give you a definate answer....Rock, Dirt, Mud, Different types of excavator, what your doing with the material..

 

[heavylift]

the OFFICE always wanted at least 500' a day... this was water and sewer work... with 5' to 10' depths...
Did it happen... NO... One week maybe everyday was a 500 footer... then 10 foot...
You have as many variables as buckets you dig from the ground...

I've trenched over a mile a day... then a couple of months at TEN feet a day... ONE joint of sewer pipe every 2 days...

backhoe or trencher ... there is always something to dig around... utilities... old concrete.. something is always there...

I even hit a crude oil line once... 2" squirt squirt every time the jack moved... just something that wasn't marked..

 

[bigrig]

good clay no water am laying water pipe. dirt going right beside trench, assume 2009 cx350b case excavator does not stop, ANother machine puts pipe in ground. understand there are many variables. wondering what i can average per day and if can be more productive with a 27ton machine?

 

[Hendrik]

And you have been operating machines since when?
A 35 tonne machine with a 5 foot digging bucket will eat a 27 tonne machine with a 4 foot.
Are we starting to see the picture, if you can fit a bucket that is the size of the trench you will save a lot of time.
You are saying "good clay" does this mean it will not stick in the bucket? Shaking stuff out of the bucket will also eat into your cycle time, as will widening a trench with an undersized bucket.

 

[heavylift]

I would think that you would save even more time... digging straight walls and pulling a trench box...
even bed... place and push the joint...

the plus would be moving less than half the material to open a ditch... less time backfilling an compacting...

 

[tylermckee]

Agree on pulling a box, yes pulling a box is a bit of a pain in the neck, but so is digging, placing, and compacting more than twice what you need to. We never slope our trench.

 

[Aliate]

I havnt had experience trenching with excavators, but I always shoot for 300+ feet a day in the street. Ive gotten 20 foot days though for 2 weeks straight digging through steel reinforced concrete.

 

[Acivil]

Just trenching I believe you could open 1000'+ with a 350. But you won't touch that production laying at that depth. I also wouldn't think you would want to open twice as much trench as you could lay in a day. Drag a box, up your laying production and save $ by having 1 machine on the job digging/laying. Just my 2 cents.

 

[bigrig]

we averaged about 480'/day on last hdpe project of 5miles long 16"pipe. this included one river crossing(bored) highway crossing, and steep terrain bore. no personnel needed in trench. 270D excavator trenched and slinged in pre fused pipe. had another excavator backfilling pipe area, and dozer backfilling rest. we now have cx350b wonder if can better that rate? thats why asking for others insight. thanks for all the comments and keep em coming.