Ready to buy a trencher - any advise?

[muddywater]

Originally Posted by TuffWork

Well part of what's holding me back is that I don't have a whole lot of my own capital on hand at the moment. So, seems like I need to pay down some of my current debt and get some money of my own. Also, if I want to get a good deal waiting until winter might be my best bet. Furthermore, I've only done one install. I probably need to get a few more under my belt to decide whether I really think this is profitable. That's what I really learned from all this. I thought I was ready to buy a trencher, but now I realize I need to take a step back. Which is sometimes the right thing to do.

That is a good plan. Kinda what I did when I first started. Saved some cash and bought the dingo in the winter. Rented attachments until I found used ones at a good price. A couple winters ago, I bought a harley rake off craigslist for $500... the guy didn't know what he had!

I just bought the dw sk650 below off of ebay for $7650 a couple weeks ago, so the deals are out there. Bought another sk650 with 800hrs for 10k with a couple buckets and a dozier blade today.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...vip=true&rt=nc

[TuffWork]

There are definitely deals to be had. I could jump off and finance one now. That would leave me just barely scraping by with enough work to afford it. However, if I wait and save up some money I can get the extra capital I need for cheaper, and will be able to get a used unit with a good price tag. The last issue to address is the difference between the 350 and 650: The price difference is really non existent when you look at the cost of ownership. The 350 is going to need a new motor every 1000 hours or so at the cost of about $2200. The 650 is $4k more than the 350 but has a turbo diesel that will run for up to 3000 hours problem free.

[Mike Leary]

I'm suprised more of you guys don't use these for 1" sch 40 sites and laterals. We had two of them and they worked cool, with hardly any clean-up.

http://brownproducts.com

[muddywater]

Originally Posted by Mike Leary

I'm suprised more of you guys don't use these for 1" sch 40 sites and laterals. We had two of them and they worked cool, with hardly any clean-up.

http://brownproducts.com

A dingo is 3x times faster than one of those. The belts constantly burn up. My buddy went through 3 belts using that type of trencher on his yard. The ground is just too hard for that machine here.