NorCal vibraplow

There is a dealer in Newark CA. Google them CP

This machine presents an interesting project possibility. All Ya Gotta Do Is..

Self-powered snow blower repurposed for summer use, Disconnect the blower drive components, Add on a hydraulic pump in it's place, Add a cylinder, reservoir, pulsing valve and hoses, Fabricate and add tapered edged plow-type blade, Feed cable or flex pipe into kerf sliced in the soil/turf.

How hard could it be? Your neighbors will suddenly find you (interesting and) projects for your machine.

Easier to do with a rear tine tiller. Use the drive for the tines to vibrate the plow. Front mounted engine balances out the added rear components.

Try one of the big rental companies with a national presence? At least they should have a reference number for the item from the east coast so the folks on the west coast who call it something else can look it up by number. Perhaps other terms like "cable plow", "sprinkler plow" or the like. A call to the Ditchwich folks might tell you the rental yards in the region that carry it.

. . .

Very! Not exactly a whole lot of snow blowers available for ANY purpose in Santa Cruz CA,

jk

Just put wheels on a Sno-Cone machine. You'll be ready for the great Global Cooling...

Oh how I've tried. Ditto the sales dealer in Newark.

You might think so....

......

There's a few things lying around but nothing suitable to convert to same. [Unseen in that album are a few other backhoes & tractors, 2 more dumptrucks, and other vehicles.]

And vibraplows need a fair bit of traction. And AFAIK, the shaking is accomplished by a rotating mass.

That said, the resident machinist/welder/mechanic could make it, if we had the Right Stuph.

They're probably not familiar with them since anyone needing that capability just goes down to where the "day labor" guys stand around and hands out the spades. Probably would cost less than the rental.

I've not seen a single-hand cable plow, the ones I've seen were attached to a Ditchwitch and were used for planting 900 pair cable on up below the frost line in IA. The cable reel usually was taller than the Ditchwitch. We went around afterwards to dig pits for the splicing crews with a backhoe, the other outfit went on elsewhere with the Ditchwitch. When I was in No. Ca., most of the utilities were dragged through transites at the curbside, not sure how they were run to individual houses from the curb cabinets. The big apartment buildings had PVC conduits run, though. And in that part of the Bay Area where I was, you'd never get a cable plow to work, the adobe is too hard. No really loose dirt to be found much above the tide line. Just the inch or so of sod is all at the housing developments. And swamp fill, of course.

Stan

Yep, you're probably right about the tiller modifications.. my first image of a HSM version was to use an old walk-behind Gravely, but the availability of those may be getting thin.. and they used to have small HP motors.

Maybe this is an indication that I need to update my memories' images by about 40 years.

Since you're in the area of the left coast, ya might wanna just put off the task and wait for a seismic event to create a trench.

In the meantime, you could join the Procrastinators of America and have a rational reason not to get started on the plowing task right away.

Talked with a DitchWitch dealer in the Valley, and he laughed. He said he knew of none anywhere. Not even sprinkler contractors use them. I don't understand why....

The Ditchwitch guy said everyone uses "Ground Hog" trenchers; these being a 5HP 3" wide 12-18" deep human-propelled unit. And the Home Depot rents same for $340 a week.

It will make far more of a mess than a vibraplow but outside of buying/building one...

There's one other manufacturer I just found;

-- that's a circular saw & narrower, but finding one to rent will be the same adventure.

We have one (Case Mini-Sneaker) under my lean-to but it's in Oregon... We used it to bury drop wire when we had a cable TV company.

Rental houses usually have trenchers instead of plows - more versatile and idiot proof by comparison, but a plow is quick (in suitable soil conditions) and leaves almost no trace it passed through.

Check with cable TV / telephone installation contracting companies and see if they'll rent you one of theirs or do the job for you.

Carla

The problem with plows is it's Real Easy to slice up power lines, phone lines, sprinkler mains, Fiber Optics CATV, and all sorts of stuff.

And you don't know you hit it till the sprinklers try to come on in two days and only then the flood starts - Or worse, nobody notices they aren't coming on till 5 acres of lawn is dead...

You are supposed to get a USA Lookup done and have all the local utility companies come out and mark all the utility lines, but the Utilities themselves often don't know where everything is - Old maps were often wrong. They'll mark a lot of things "Hand Dig Here" and you dig an empty hole, then you find their line the hard way 50 feet over - and even if it's unmarked they'll still try to ding you for hitting it.

If the local utility likes to plow in their 15KV Medium Voltage supply lines direct buried in the same flimsy polyethylene ducting, you don't want to be messing with a plow Anywhere Near There. Unless you're trying to make your life insurance pay off...

And the soils have to be right - a lot of rocks and a plow is useless.

And a trencher is even better at same..... And a backhoe, with a 1^3 bucket & 27' reach. It's not the equipment; it's the nut behind the panel.

We get such done. There is nothing to find, the property has been in the neighbor's family since 1896. But we CYA as you should. I was in the pipeline business; when the dozer hits a

750psi LNG line, there's not much left to bury.

Bull. If you play the game, and get the location; it's their ass; it's the law in most states. That happened in front of my own house; they mislabeled the 6" water main and the pole setter hit it.

I know where every piece of HV duct is, because I put it in last summer. And there's no cable in it so far; PG&E wants a mere $46K to do *that*.

This is pure loam. The only "rocks" to be found are the gravel that came from the driveway. {Granted, that's a mile of driveway...}

Now the roots.... that is another story altogether.

Just leave the gate open....

Nevermind.. I've looked at pictures and that's too big for this job; we need something suited to going down slopes with a safety line, and skinny to fit between trees. Look up the groundhog.com page.

Exactly; not only faster but no backfilling.

I've been trying sprinker contractors to no avail. But based on what the DitchWitch guy said; I'll not find one...period.