The last dig of 2022…How I broke the old trencher again!

Now that Spring has arrived I finally have the time to upload the exciting video of my outrigger collapsing. I finished the ditch, though!
My trencher is pretty old. You can tell by her current paint job (which I hope to remedy this fall). This outrigger failure (near the end) resulted in the trencher sitting dormant, where it broke, for almost six months. Folks tease me about my respect for these Predator engines, but it sat under a tub bucket for the winter, then started on the first try once I repaired the outrigger. (in April 2023 - video to come)
00:00 Finding the water line
01:23 The Digging Plan
02:30 Digging with the Harbor Freight Trencher
04:00 Breaking the Outrigger
04:38 The Damage
05:37 Details
06:46 Pipe
07:10 Kioti CS2520 Covering it Up

[@beardedprepper8606]

I bought my HF Trencher last Oct 2022. I watched a ton of different videos of many different UA-camrs (including all of yours) and I've seen several videos proving that exact same spot to be the weakest joint on the HF Trencher. I have done some upgrades/mods to mine already, but I have a ton more mods which I plan to do to mine. Many of the factory welds throughout the machine are of poor weld quality. Before putting mine through some hard work, I modified my outriggers, so that I shouldn't have the failure like I've seen in many other videos like yours in this one. On the outrigger feet, I ground down the factory welds to the base metal and then welded back over those joints as well as I welded a cap over the open end of the foot leg, that way dirt and mud can't build up inside the leg. And, I added a large gusset in the 90°of the foot and another gusset on the top where I place the end cap over leg opening. On the main outrigger arm that gets secured into the frame (the one where your problem happened), on that part I also ground down those factory welds and really beefed up those joints as I put down new welds there. And, on top of that, I put two half inch gussets on both sides of that weak point. I did this mod to the outriggers for both sides of my HF Trencher. I'm 100% confident I will not have any issues with my outriggers. I hate that you've had this problem, but seeing videos of other's problems has helped me to take some preventative actions. Thanks for your videos.

[@shawnebaines8276]

I’m hoping in the near future I can make time to do some upgrades to the welds on the machine, as well as some of the popular mods I’ve seen others do. I have to be honest - the main reason most of us choose the HF trencher is the price. It’s easy for us to expect the machine to hold up to anything we can throw at it, but it is a mere fraction of the cost of more ‘professional’ backhoes. A repair here and there is a small price to pay to own my very own excavator, and I try not to loose sight of that. 😊

[@RavensRidgeNC]

That trencher is why I bought a welder - just seemed the timely thing to do :p

[@shawnebaines8276]

😂You can’t have one without the other. I ran the machine pretty hard a couple of years before any breakage, but when it happens it’s good to be prepared.

[@MINItraktor196]

👍😎