Running Pipe Under a 24ft Driveway

Installing new pipe under a 24ft driveway in a residential neighborhood using the Roddie Inc. Pipe Ram Directional Drill.

[@stevebutler8387]

I'm a 63 year old plumbing contractor. When I started working summers in the late 1960s we did this same thing by digging a 24 foot trench back, lay a full length of 1 1/2 pipe down on bricks to level and drive it under with a sledge hammer. Take the couplings with plug off and drag it back out. Then slide the new 1 inch plastic pipe thru. It took us 6-8 hours to complete, but labor was cheap back then. Wish we had this machine, well done young man

[@davidszakacs6888]

So you started working at around age 10? Wow, tough life!

[@donnydizzle2781]

@@davidszakacs6888 Most kids did, not like the sisified kids today..

[@stevebutler8387]

Yeah, I started carrying my father's toolbox when I was 10, made a dollar a day and thought I was rolling in doe. I worked summers, holidays and Saturdays. At 20 I was the youngest master plumber in TN. Worked thru college and bought my father's company at 23. Wasn't a hard life at all, my parents were great. My son works with me now . I was and am very blessed

[@court2379]

@Dirty Sanchez That only works if your soil isn't full of rocks. I can only get about ten feet before it gets stuck, and that is using steel pipe so that you can bang the rocks out of the way.

[@1ronhall]

@@stevebutler8387 awesome work ethics ..... the literal backbone of America!! 🇺🇸

[@zacksrandomprojects9698]

Years ago I worked for a security alarm company that also installed the wiring for automatic gates in peoples driveway. Often we would have to run wires from one side of the drive to the other. We would dig a pit on both sides and use like roughly 1" pvc pipe with the coupling on the end that you can screw the twist type water spray nozzle on. Put a coupling on the other side that you can hook a garden hose to. Turn the water on and slowly push it under the drive towards the pit on the other side. When the nozzle comes out the other side cut the pvc pipe on both sides of the drive and pull the wires through. It worked like a charm.

[@davesica]

Had to have a new water line run from inside the foundation of the house, out under the front porch, under the lawn, under the sidewalk to the water main in the street about 30 years ago. This technology was relatively new at the time and I ran across a guy by chance who was able to do it this way as opposed to excavating the whole distance. Cost me a fraction of what everyone else wanted, and he made more profit.

[@soundapp7526]

I have a similar issue with a 4” sewer main to go under about 8’ of porch. Everybody I spoke to is trying to go around porch tear up my driveway and put a U instead of straight shot. They have a machine similar to this one that goes inside of the existing pipe and basically uses the existing pipe as a guide and breaks the pipe as it runs a new one going through it

[@masoncato8738]

@@soundapp7526 I've seen this same thing done before for city work replacing old clay pipe. "Pipe Bursting" is what we call it. Pretty cool concept.

[@PNWJEEPER01]

Working for a service plumber when I was a kid, we used a similar method (hydraulic boring) to run re-pipe water services (the pipe from the meter to the house) without digging a big trench through the yard, and especially when the new service had to enter through the wall of a basement or travel under concrete. We used a "Hole Hawg" drill motor with a chuck attachment that had a hose bib on a bearing shaft so the bib could stay stationary, but feed water through the spinning shaft. You would solder a union and a length of thick wall "K" pipe onto the shaft, then use your bunny-whacker to beat the end of the pipe into an "X" shape so that it would cut the soil and jet the water out as it spun. Every so often, you pause to cut the pipe off the attachment, solder on another union, attach more pipe, rinse and repeat until you get across the yard. We were usually able to hit within 12" of the meter with a 1" pipe over a max length 75' bore in around 2-4 hours. Cheap, accurate, old school.

[@1lucasvan1]

noting this...thank you

[@SooperFerneE]

Thats the way its done in cali

[@robervine7721]

Very well done Sir! Good to see a unique engineered solution that works, magic!

[@julianreverse]

Unique? :-D It's just a cheap ass copy of some Tracto-Technik equipment.

[@RubinGnoni]

Very interesting. I wonder what do you do to make go up and exit at the right place?

[@jeffcourtney8101]

Interesting. Looks like its a bit of a gamble as to steering it. A decent sized rock could cause it to veer off course causing it to be in the side of the trench instead of the middle. Which isn't necessarily bad its just something to take into consideration as its done. And its a hell of a lot cheaper and less work than a horizontal boring rig.

[@gmcjetpilot]

I went under my 4ft wide side walk with PVC and pressure washer. It was a muddy mess but worked. The bottom side if side walk was not flat and thicker in spots... which required rerouting. PIA but got my 1.5" pic through curb.

[@nelsong4719]

Use to do this with all types of boring machines from 2 inch in diameter to 6 feet in diameter , water and sewer and pipeline even directional under rivers. Your little pusher is adequate for the job but you almost missed the receiving pit. Couple of tips. Use two baseboards that are positioned on grade and lined up properly by sighting with a straight edge to your target. Spud your lead pipe slowly ensuring it is on line and grade. From there it's clear sailing.

[@robpederson281]

Nice Lil machine. I think my air missile is just as accurate. Level and square is the key. What is the largest pipe you've pushed. Could U could push larger without the plugged end and flush out??

[@1wirey]

Very cool. I guess setup is everything.

[@derrick_builds]

Well close enough. Thanks for the video.

[@DannoTull]

We did that, only we used a garden hose a jet nozzle and some pvc pipe, and it cost less than $50.

[@markc7933]

Right or if needed we dropped the 8 ton wood splitter and push 4ft at a time

[@mike88g1]

Yup that’s how I do it

[@mc4492]

Ther are many ways

[@mike88g1]

@@mc4492 that’s the easiest way tho

[@fongulgooglesucks4848]

@@mike88g1 q

[@martinschulz9381]

I had no idea that anything like this existed. Works pretty slick.

[@obviousness8113]

This guy lays pipe deep!

[@highrx]

In the 80’s, I worked for a water company that used a very similar set up but it used solid threaded rod. The once we punched through the other side, we used wire web wrap on end the rod and then connected on the soft copper water line and reversed system to pull back the line through punched dirt. The setup was easy. What wasn’t easy was not knowing if there was large boulders or rocks in the way. We once pushed a Boulder squarely out the other side. We had too shut down the county road due lack strength of soil under road way. We had to order a large excavator just to lift the Boulder out ditch because the 580 wasn’t a match too move it.

[@mindbulletz2803]

Ive been doing it for 10 years now and still hate that machine lol i made the mistake years ago of letting it be known that im really good and accurate with the bore machine. Now guess who gets to do all the bores when we have them lol

[@nikadib]

What about pipe 160mm? Could it be used with this pipe ram?

[@esthervellyindyana3850]

Smart idea bout that tools..nice job mate

[@MarkoVukovic0]

Very cool, thanks for sharing! Would it not be better to put a coupler on the end of the pipe and push on that? That might minimize the chance of the back plate squashing the threaded end of the pipe.

[@keytothegate68]

Cool tool. Could it be rented and how much for it to buy one ?

[@Imwright720]

I shot across mine with a garden hose and pvc. It was just as far and it went pretty easy.

[@DanBurgaud]

2:15 Hmm... I wasn't expecting this method. I thought you'd be drilling through it... Nice to know this is a thing! NEAT!

[@Rubbernecker]

A lot of experts here.

[@sh2697]

is thi for gas? I like to use for for a 3 inch drain.

[@officialmultie]

Pretty dope I never saw one of those before

[@patricktheplumber5482]

I’m surprised your using older black iron pipe very impressed ! Most of the underground gas I see pushed through is yellow plastic underground gas first time I’ve seen the iron pipe pushed . I’m sure there are occasions when this is necessary .

[@mrhaltstop2294]

What happens if you miss the target on the other side or if there’s a stone ?

[@funnyfarm5555]

It looks as though the hydraulic pressure damaged the end of some pipes. I would think you would want to put the coupler on end of new piece of pipe b4 pushing,

[@thigtsquare950]

The coupler may not fit the hydraulic ram....

[@JustMike2791]

@@thigtsquare950 Then it needs to be redesigned I would think. Bad idea pushing against those threads

[@bobroberts2371]

@@JustMike2791 That pipe isn't being used for pressure, it is just to make a hole through the soil so thread seal isn't an issue. The machine cradles the pipe to maintain directional control so having a coupler on the pipe would interfere with the cradle .

[@nomerc3608]

@@bobroberts2371 Bob you clearly have never worked with threaded pipe! When you damage the threads the coupler will not thread on to the pipes! They cross thread when forced... But what do I know? It’s like I never worked in the plumbing field, welding nor as a Machinist! No I have never had to deal with broken studs, nor other people’s STUPIDITY before! I hope this explains why you don’t press against threads? If not maybe someone else can explain it to you? The starting of the threads is the most important part of any operation! Without the threads starting right there will never be a seal but that is mute here! The problem with pressure against the threads is the will be damaged at some point! But he seams to not care because he said this 2 foot pipes are cheap!? Till you start having to replace them because they will not thread on each other that is? I have to get ready to go to my local Veterans hospital for my rheumatology appointment because of the Antrax vaccine I was forced to take for the first gulf war that has caused my SI joints as well as my spine to fuse. I am a permanently disabled Navy Veteran because of another vaccine that caused 1 in 5 to become disabled! That too is mute in here but I thought I would throw it in here anyway... This new vaccine thst is not needed does more harm than the one I was forced to take! Better think! Why do You need a vaccine for something thst has a 99% + survival rate plus a cure that makes it @lmost 100%?

[@edzachary8657]

@David Bryant lol

[@jlopezjonathan]

No pipe thread sealer? Or will that be used to run the actual pile?

[@sicsempertyrannis3499]

Would’t it work better if you had a pointed cap on the first pipe...not that it needs it but seems it would help. What happens if you hit a rock the size of a basketball or larger?

[@user-eh2wt8hh1s]

Where can I rent this tool ?

[@seemorebutts3428]

This is really cool but the first thing that caught my eye was not putting some sort of thread protection on the end when half way through installing the steel blank. Is that thing rubber coated or something?

[@Jake.Gentry]

Is this used for pluming or wiring?

[@autofloweraz2371]

Shouldn't you put a wrench on the connections? Not a huge amount of force but hand tight doesn't seem right. Any thoughts, I'm just wondering. Also do you need pipe thread. I'm not trolling. Just new to construction and I'm just wondering. Cool video!

[@johnjaco5544]

i used to do this for a living except we used 5' solid steel pipe. Same prep work as you have got Dug two level holes1 on the pushing side and 1 on the receiving end. On the pushing side we used to John Deere 450 crawler to push the rod five feet on each push,than Attach another 5' section And so on.

[@HelloWorld-ql3ki]

John deer 450 wouldn't push a 5' pipe straight down a cliff.

[@sinankrikor7436]

How much cost to do the same thing and which company I should hire for that job , is it a plumber ?

[@willienolegs8928]

Looks like a good deal.

[@styledliving]

If you hit a boulder, how do you retrieve the pipe?

[@SuperBullyone]

exceptional

[@ERICKPRATHER]

What do you charge to push pipe 24'?

[@rickeyburke2596]

Why are you mixing galv. with black iron?

[@kthwkr]

That looks like soft sandy soil. In North Georgia we have hard packed red clay. Similar operation but the front tapers down to point. And it took repeated punches from the air piston moving the pipe about 1/4 to 1/8th inch with every hit. Took about 5 minutes for each 3 ft section. About 30 minutes to get to the next hole where it came out. Then they started again from that hole to go further. Finally the hole was non stop for 400 ft length and they pulled the fat coax cable through. And filled all the midway holes. I had figured they would pull a long plastic tube then pull the coax through that. But the coax was made to be by itself. It worked fine. There was lots of techs standing around as the thing pounded for about 5 minutes. But I was pleased that the guys had no issues and seemed to be well practiced in the technology.

[@SuperBullyone]

move to Florida

[@davidd1395]

Sometimes that works great, sometimes it doesn’t. All it takes is a rock somewhere along the push to throw you off a long ways. But it’s cheaper than a directional bore machine. Are you going to pull a pvc flex tube back through or just use the rust out steel pipe?

[@iMadrid11]

It highly depends on the area though. In the house where I grew up. You couldn’t dig 2-3 feet in front of our sidewalk before you hit solid adobe rock. A volcanic eruption 🌋 pyroclastic flow centuries ago have solidified the ground underneath. Which is mind bogling since the nearest volcano is 100km away.

[@daiiahi3403]

Kind of cool machine but thinking if the soil has a lot of rocks and gravel and coral, it might not go "straight" as intended. Witnessed pile driving attempt where they kept driving and they kept "loosing" the piles. After the drove so many, they figured out the pilings were "slanting" and going more sideways than straight down. Solved this but drilling first then driving the piles.

[@fernandogarza9180]

I can only say that this didn’t went as expected. The pipe moved up and to the side, it didn’t came out where it was suppose to come out.

[@frosthairs9956]

Directional drilling is much safer. This method could veer off and hit Gas, power, street light, phone or CATV. Speaking of witch. I DON'T SEE ANY LOCATES.

[@Officaljc96]

What machine is that called?

[@yellowboxhd388]

Hi, you are awesome. Can I use this video for my compilation? I'll give full credits to you of course. Kevin.

[@emmaa427]

What if you hit a rock? Do you have to start all over again?

[@timdouglass4934]

I seen a young man get electrocuted in a similar operation 40 years ago in Gresham OR. The hole was muddy and when they excavated they hit a under ground electric line. They didn't see it because of the mud. When he was in the hole he got it and it killed him.

[@lariwoo]

It's always useful to bring up these sort of memories, many people would not think/choose not to do a simple cable survey before carrying out such work.

[@jeffcourtney8101]

@@lariwoo back then they probably didn't have the utility locate services that would have identified that an electric line was near work area. We have it so much safer now because of incidents like your example.

[@rogeronslow1498]

Where I live the council has no idea or records of what cables are where.

[@warrensteel9954]

@@rogeronslow1498 I was doing some digging in my backyard to level off an area for a shed and hit an old electrical line about 6 inches down that the previous owner ran from the house to the greenhouse and was nowhere near where one would expect it to be. Luckily it was long since disconnected. It was an estate sale so no one alive would have known about the line. I was wearing non-conductive footwear and didn't even scratch the insulation with my shovel ...but you can never be too careful when digging anywhere these days.

[@davidturk6301]

Call “dig USA”

[@axenos2004]

Nice job. At least it started level, ended up high but it least you got the job done.

[@mrmotofy]

24' is a long ways to stay level

[@Exclusive_Criminal]

Just like a directional drill. Hard to steer though.

[@mrodriguez5259]

Fantastic

[@saeed6811]

Where do I get that tool?

[@johnpeters9903]

i don't think you would have the same success here in PA..that soil is soft,soft,soft!! frost line is 3' here

[@jjosephm7539]

Big stones would send the head off course.

[@drayburke4432]

Maybe you should call traitor joe, he can lie with the best of them, putting pipe in p.a. should be a piece of cake just to lie it in there.

[@rogercoleman8515]

Interesting.. never seen that done before.

[@Mike-en4ye]

What was that for ?

[@laszloflorin4291]

where do i find this machine?

[@Bart-dg6qv]

Perfect for Christmas tree lights on the other side tree.

[@lapdog1479]

Doing that on the street side of the sidewalk puts you in the city easement. You could run into anything under there.

[@Jdl223]

Thats why you call in a dig ticket

[@lapdog1479]

@@Jdl223 If he's doing a job for some entity other than the homeowner, then he's probably in the right place. It it's a h/o job, he needs to be on the other side of the sidewalk. Either way, he hopefully called in a ticket. That service is free and it is helpful, but it will leave a paper trail that he can be backcharged with if there's damage.

[@court2379]

There shouldn't be anything that shallow though.

[@Frank5]

Or can use a point for a shallow-well (driven well) and sledgehammer or impact driver, w/ 5’ or 10’ pipes. Trench needs to be longer tho.

[@semiproactive9625]

You put one length on w/o using the wrench, I think about 12' in.

[@Elkmonger]

I wonder if he's got an adapter for that to split firewood on the weekends.

[@yvindascanius6061]

I thought it looked like a modified wood splitter!

[@bradwyrick4738]

How else does he pay for gas

[@Shoorit]

Can’t help but wonder how much a sharp pointed end would help? I know it went through fine so it’s obviously not needed.

[@hankstrom9705]

Never use point. Everything will push it off course.

[@joeohhboy5384]

When I was still plumbing we used to cut a piece of 2" PVC at an angle and bang it through with a block of wood and hand maul. You would have to pull it out every 2 feet and empty the dirt, but it was a much cheaper alternative. If you hit a big rock though....you're done!!

[@daiiahi3403]

Wonder if this would work on soil that has a lot of gravel, rocks and coral?

[@edwinubod0405]

Im asking too, if stuck with stone, concrete

[@IndianaDundee]

All that pipe. Now you know how I feel. I just use my thumb to help push it...

[@michaelamspacher8408]

I run a directional drill for a living. Kind of the same concept but alot bigger and alot more control. I'm assuming he's going to pull those rods back with some type of pipe attached to the other side

[@jacob-yd6qk]

most likely just use the pipe as a conduit for something smaller. phone line maybe

[@mrmotofy]

How in the world do those run so far and not drift?

[@cdouglas1942]

@@mrmotofy It did drift and it didn't go far.

[@1ronhall]

Nice work ...... is the ram working off the hydraulics of the running excavator? It’s great to see good equipment being used for the job.

[@flynnpaul26]

This can clearly be seen as the case at 0:42.

[@natfa4253]

What about stoned land?

[@hughbegg274]

Where can I rent one?

[@coutz56]

I'm a directional driller and also used torpedoes to bore beneath driveways. Never seen this

[@svtelos4726]

Its called Pipe-Jacking, not directional drilling. Problems with shallow segmented pipe jacking is a tendency to rise toward softer soil above. It can also wander as shown in this video. The pipe came out further away from the curb and almost missed the receiver pit.

[@tcpnetworks]

What a lovely machine! Very handy thing.. A hellish job turned into a simple and smart job for one guy and a trailer.

[@cdouglas1942]

one guy and an EXCAVATOR, source of hydraulic power to push the ram.

[@wheyez1]

How dose the 2.0 version look? How do you pull it out? You surely aren’t going to use that pipe, you didn’t seal it, or are you going to put plastic inside the steel pipe?

[@cdouglas1942]

Pipe not coming out. Its a sleeve for something else.

[@JC-dr8ev]

That looks like top soil in a flower bed. Let’s see it in red clay in the summertime

[@soundapp7526]

Clay you could prolly run pipe in without cap and take core samples out . Trick is getting pipe out to clean it

[@shanedelgado666]

As a Georgian....... I agree. Lmfao

[@HelloWorld-ql3ki]

Or in solid lava rock on the big island :) We be beer cannin'

[@jasramsikarwar551]

Price kya he

[@jasonswainson789]

Simple hydraulic powered pipe ram. Hire someone who knows what they're doing . IF You are bound and determined to rent one for a home project MAKE SURE You get locates and verify Your existing utilites location and depth.

[@KJ-kw7gh]

Came here for the armchairs second guessers commenting. Was not disappointed.

[@tomthompson7400]

thats a handy bit of kit ,,, but once youve seen it , you would be making your own I think.

[@brada4018]

I use too do that many years ago, with gas lines.

[@andrewstafford-jones4291]

Pneumatic Moles, or soil displacement hammers have been used for many years as the tool of choice for laying cables and pipes underground without the need to dig out the top surface. Starting in a pit the mole can travel at up to 15 metres per hour and minimise disruption.

[@marcelogarcia7860]

Nice bro cool video !!! 👍🏽 I got into trenchless technology at 16 years old went from seeing my dad bore under 20’ + driveways with pvc pipe , water garden hose and a nozzle 😅 and in tuff soil and a lot of rock 🪨 in the city of Rancho Cucamonga California were not a lot of contractors lasted back in years of 2008-2012 then i got into pneumatic missile boring for a long time doing 2-3 50’ shots daily im 32 now and do Horizontal directional drilling and bore 500’ to 1000’ daily and i love it ! I drill into mother Earth 🌍 everyday sorry Mother Earth but maybe some day ill be drilling thru gold and now even know it i think that’s punishable enough 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@gzhang207]

Interesting work. How you would control the grade of the pipe?

[@cdouglas1942]

You can't. As the receiving hole showed, pipe was high and to the side. Grade not important to this pipe which just carries another which is under pressure.

[@coutz56]

Hopefully theres no gas lines or electrical lines

[@jamescotter3756]

Now that’s simple yet ingenious it could’ve saved me a lot of skinned knuckles and many a painful back, nice job though.👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@candlemedia]

KZbin allows one to stumble onto something that one hasn't seen. Roddie, this pipe upload was one. I was so fascinated and impressed by such a equipment & its ability to do so!! Here I thought only a hose and water jet pressure was a way to go. *Has the investment of $6,800 for this machine paid off for you?*

[@manuelpanquevagomez94]

Me marcan porfa para comprar la maquina

[@coutz56]

Only issue, there is no way to direct it over or under other underground utilities

[@jeffloudenslager456]

Top of a log splitter, nice work I’m sure the pipe is only for running something through it,

[@IsThisAvailable550]

Yes, I can't think of anything else, other than 'something' running through such a pipe! 😂

[@user-hm3nb6hh2f]

Not sure what this is for. Very nice set up that works. But no wrap. No tightening the fittings. Is this just for demonstration

[@JoseSilveira-newhandleforYT]

No, the real water-tight pipe will run inside this outer shell.

[@donnierobertson3088]

Nice

[@censoreditali-american6487]

Whole new meaning to "laying pipe"

[@hankwang8324]

nice!

[@yuqinyun]

Is there anybody thinking about how to get out those metal tubes ?

[@morrisschwarts4826]

No sealer on the joints? Is it gas or for electric? Either way, a gas leak or ground water intrusion. No?

[@AndTheCorrectAnswerIs]

They are most likely going to run plastic gas line or cable thru that pipe.

[@qajussi]

What does this tool call? And what’s cost to rent? Wonder I can find a service to do this for me. I have a ten feet wide asphalt driveway i want to bury a wire underneath for lighting.

[@tractor9391]

Pipe Ram 6,800

[@tractor9391]

@Shawn Huffman not in hard dirt

[@haynillesen]

We used your method to go under a road , 10 minutes@Shawn Huffman

[@fishingman4816]

At least he is not Using water, water is not good it can do a lot of damage , so I like this tool , and it dose not need and Aircompressors to operate it It dose tie up his tractor , but in a smaller operation like this it is asset worth the money

[@terrysincheff6682]

I wonder why he used malleable couplings rather than steel?

[@1arm_658]

So why didn't you tighten any of the coupling joints? Was this pipe just a conduit?

[@tractor9391]

yes

[@brian2100]

have you ever tried this on soft poop stoppages

[@hankstrom9705]

This is pretty cool. For short runs. Anything longer 50ft. I would directional bore. I have Done horizontal boring my hole life.