I had seen brochures that advertised the Hawk Bilt Model 750 but never actually seen the real thing until Dan contacted me. The 750 is a self contained groundsaw that uses an onboard winch to pull it forward. It has to be one of the coolest machines I’ve seen. In one of the emails from Dan he said that he trenched 220 feet in 2 hours in rough ground. It’s one mean machine.
The pictures that Dan sent me show that it’s powered by a 6 1/4 hp Kohler engine.
In the picture you can see the stake through the winch cable on the front. The stake can be used as an anchor for the end of the cable. The handle that sticks up by the stake is the one that lowers the groundsaw blade into the ground.
The digging chain is started by the lever along side the engine. It puts tension on the belt drive from the engine. The “loop” in the picture below drops over the frame to keep the belt disengaged.
From the pictures that Dan sent me, it looks like the winch is powered by a rachet mechanism on the side of the machine. Dan says it works like the link on a locomotive wheel to drive the winch.
Here’s some additional pictures that Dan sent.
