Buying a PHD for Kubota BX2200 - will it work, or will it just spin around?

[sbowers9]

Hi. I just bought a house on 5 acres and as part of the sale, I became the proud owner of a Kubota BX2200. I want to buy a PHD to help me put up a large fence and I've heard that they don't have enough down pressure and usually end up just spinning around making everyone frustrated. (I live in Central PA and I'm not sure what kind of ground is under the grass.)

I have two questions:
1) Is it true - do they not have enough down pressure to really dig well?
2) Is there any good way to get sufficient down pressure?

Thanks much for any help you can give me!

 

[joshuabardwell]

You can get hydraulic downforce kits for some of them, if you have a rear remote.

 

[k0ua]

Here is the deal No tractor 3pt (with the exception of a very few, mostly russian) has any down pressure. The PHD digs by its weight alone. Yes there are down pressure kits available that use hydraulics as joshua pointed out, and people have put more weight on them etc, but the tractor normally does not "push" the bit down. 3pt hitches are powered in the up mode only, and go down by gravity.

James K0UA

 

[RPW]

As everyone has said. PHD use there own weight plus the action of the auger. If your soil is hard, packed etc. then once the auger just sits there and spins, stop and pour water in the hole. Let set for a couple of minuets and start augering again. The water will help in loosing up the soil. Here in Central Texas with the drought I've been putting in about 1000' of fence and it's taking me about 5 gallons of water per hole to get the soil loose enough to dig. Not fun in 95+ deg. heat.

Good luck.

 

[sbowers9]

Thanks for the replies so far, it seems that you all are alluding to the same thing I'm hearing - that it is only driven by the weight of the auger. To follow up on your comments, here is my revised question - is the weight usually enough to get the hole dug? I'm considering buying one for $1,200 and if it usually works, then I'll get it. If it usually doesn't work, then I'll stick to my shovel. Again thanks for your thoughts, I'm learning a lot!

 

[TheGoose]

I never have any trouble digging holes with my PHD, sometimes it goes too fast and tries to screw into the ground without actually pulling the dirt out of the hole ( we have very clay soil called gumbo ).

I seen one work a few days ago and noted that it would not get started on it's own, the guy had to dig a starter hole first and then apply manual downpressure on the auger to get it started. I also noted that the auger was very long and had to be set at the highest level before it could be put into place.

 

[murphy1244]

Thanks for the replies so far, it seems that you all are alluding to the same thing I'm hearing - that it is only driven by the weight of the auger. To follow up on your comments, here is my revised question - is the weight usually enough to get the hole dug? I'm considering buying one for $1,200 and if it usually works, then I'll get it. If it usually doesn't work, then I'll stick to my shovel. Again thanks for your thoughts, I'm learning a lot!

See if you can rent one.

 

[SSdoxie]

Type of ground definitely makes a difference but so does style of auger teeth and center point. An auger with individual, staggered teeth and a longer screw type center point work much better than a single tooth cutting edge and little triangle center point. If you do buy a PHD make sure it is listed as able to use on a SCUT. The shorter lift arms and closer mounted top link pivot can create problems trying to get the lift geometry correct.

 

[art]

Just had a customer pick up the Land Pride hydraulic auger for his BX. We mount them to the loader bucket and use the dump circuit to run the auger. That gives the loader for the down pressure but good sharp points normally do the trick. We have a nasty stone issue in much of our land here so the hyraulic drive is the only way to go so you can get the auger back out after it gets locked on large stones.

 

[k0ua]

Just had a customer pick up the Land Pride hydraulic auger for his BX. We mount them to the loader bucket and use the dump circuit to run the auger. That gives the loader for the down pressure but good sharp points normally do the trick. We have a nasty stone issue in much of our land here so the hyraulic drive is the only way to go so you can get the auger back out after it gets locked on large stones.

That sounds like that solves several problems at once, available down-pressure, and a "reverse gear", no twisted neck and good control. So about how much does something like that run?

James K0UA