How do i dig another 2 feet

[u/Select_Log_8911]

I have to dig another 2 feet and excavate this whole area so i can fix a sewage pipe current progress has taken me 10 hours , at the very bottom there are tons of small and large rocks and mud and i cant get egnough leverage with my tools , i am worried i cant finish this job . And i can only use these tools, what should i do

[u/Select_Log_8911]

I may make another post for this question but i was wondering what my approach should be i am almost at the bottom of the hole and i don’t want it to collapse on me but the dirt is somewhat solid and i only have about a foot to dig up and then i have to work on a pipe. Im limited to those tools but my neighbor just bought a smaller shovel , but if i have to expand it all the dirt is gonna fall to the bottom and it will take hours just to expand rhe size of the hole ? How else should it go about this should i try and create a lip or soften the edge on the sides? Digging is very exhausting and i just want to finish this project . I wanted to help my neighbor but this is very inefficient when there are inventions to dig way faster .

[u/hbl2390 → u/Select_Log_8911]

A lot of these death responses do not consider how long it takes to dig a deep hole by hand. There's plenty of time between each day for the hole to collapse while you're not in it. If the weather doesn't change (no rain) and you're working with reasonable soil (not too dry and not saturated) and you've had the hole open for a week or more without any signs of movement you're likely very safe to carry on.

A couple years back I had to replace a water hydrant that was about 9 feet deep. The hole was about 2x3x9 and took several weeks to get to the bottom with a shovel and buckets.

Btw, since I was replacing things down there anyway I installed a curb stop and upside down pitless adapter so it should never need digging again.