A sheeps foot compactor is a drum studded with steel feet that punch down into a lift instead of pressing on top of it, and hire runs from about $150 a day for a remote walk behind trench machine to $600 or more for a ride on. Most renters here are not building a road embankment: they are putting a trench back the way the inspector wants it.
Trench backfill is where this machine earns its rate
Pipe goes in, bedding goes round it, and then the spoil has to go back in layers that will not settle under a driveway two winters later. A padded drum reaches density in that spoil where a plate compactor only firms the top inch. The narrow trench machines are sized to sit down inside the excavation and work along it.
Remote control comes with the trench machines
The walk behind trench rollers are worked from a belt box at a distance, and that is not a convenience feature. It keeps the operator out of the trench and away from the drum, which matters most in exactly the excavation a compactor is needed in. Check the box and the machine talk to each other before it leaves the yard.
Walk behind, ride on, or hung off a loader
Three formats sit on the counter. A remote trench roller of roughly 24 to 33 inches for confined work, a ride on padfoot drum for open fill and pad building, and a drum attachment that bolts onto a skid steer if you already have one hired. Pick on the width of the space, not on the size of the fill.
Rates, and how it reaches you
Trench rollers are commonly $150 to $250 a day and near three day rates for a week. Ride on padfoot machines run $400 to $700 a day and are delivered. A trench roller of 1,500 to 3,000 pounds still needs something to lift it into and out of the excavation, so book that machine at the same time.
Questions people ask about sheeps foot compactor
Is a sheeps foot the same as a padfoot?
They are used interchangeably on a rental counter. Strictly the older sheeps foot has taller, more tapered feet and the modern padfoot has shorter rectangular pads, but a yard asked for either will offer you the padded drum it stocks. Describe the soil and the space instead of arguing the name.
Can I use one on a driveway base?
No, and it will make the base worse. Feet are for cohesive soil, clay and silt; crushed stone and gravel want a smooth drum or a plate that presses the aggregate together. Padded drums on stone just chew the surface and leave it loose.
What width fits a 30 inch trench?
A remote trench roller of around 24 to 28 inches will work in it, leaving room for the drum to move without scraping the walls. Measure the trench at its narrowest, not at the top, because the sides rarely stay parallel all the way down.
Do I need anything else to run one?
Fuel, a way to get it in and out of the hole, and somebody watching the trench itself. The compactor is the easy part of a backfill day; the excavation it goes into is the part with the rules and the risk.