Skid Steer Accessory Review: Trenchers

When the skid steel loader was first invented, some people may have wondered if it was nothing more than miniaturizing the large dedicated bucket loader machines for use on smaller jobs in tighter quarters. It is not certain whether the inventors even thought of attaching other strange tools to the front of the thing. But they certainly started a revolution.

At the time, though, a bull dozer was a bull dozer, an earth mover an earth mover, and so on. But even on the most capacious of worksites, giant, one-trick trucks would turn out to be something of a tedious tumult. It was the same situation when building roads or farming or landscaping. Someone decided that the solution would be a smaller machine - the skid steer loader - with a few excellent interchangeable tools to choose from. Would it not be simpler to have one or two of these, rather than to bring in a fleet of dedicated task-vehicles?

The skid steer loader has evolved over the years, and ingenious quick-change attachments are the norm. The trencher attachment is a perfect example of skid steer and skid steer attachment evolution. In the years before the skid steer, when cable, pipe, or other conduit needed to be laid underground, there was a dedicated machine called on almost exclusively for digging ditches called the ditch witch. It worked well, and the crews and contractors had little to complain about. Other than the cost of owning or renting the thing. Once the requisite ditch was dug, the machine either sat idle or went back to the garage until it was called on again.

The trencher attachment for the skid steer, on the other hand, paints an entirely different picture. The trencher is as good at digging ditches and trenches as the dedicated machine ever was, yet at nowhere near the cost.

The trencher unit is delivered complete with an extensive list of features. To begin with, the skid steer hydraulic system (that runs all of the other attachments) is what makes the trencher go. It has an aggressive six-inch-wide chain that, coupled with its boom and crumber assembly and high-flow hydraulics make the trencher a formidable layer of pipe, cable and conduit. That heavy duty boom and crumber assembly is equipped with fully replaceable wear strips so that, as this skid steer attachment is used over time, it will not require an overhaul just to repair what amounts to normal wear of the most friction-prone steel sections.

A good trencher comes complete with a single-sided auger discharge system that uses a spool-like auger shaft turned horizontal to clear the chain blade of dirt as the attachment makes its way through the earth. The discharge reach is a full eighteen inches, and the trencher has a side-shift movement range of seventeen inches. The trencher also has a fixed-legth boom and its spring-loaded, self-adjusting idler sports a useful rock guard. On a decent trencher, the anti-back-flex chain mechanism should be rated at least 50,000 pounds.

The overall length of some skid steer trenchers can be as much as 73 inches, but when cutting a trench with the machine, it is important to remember that the optimal depth of the trench is based upon the cut angle of 65 degrees.

The modern trencher for the skid steer loader outshines the original in a lot of ways. Not the least of which is price. Dedicated machines might have their limitations, but skid steer attachments can only be used one at a time, too. Whichever tool is needed for a particular job, it is good to remember that for every ingenious skid steer attachment, there is a dedicated machine that gave it inspiration.


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Skid Steer attachments such as the trencher unit for use in construction, landscaping and to manage ranch land, can be found at www.skidsteersolutions.com. Skid Steer Solutions specializes in building custom products based on customers needs and provides honest personalized service before, during and after the sale.