Post Hole Digger???

   / Post Hole Digger??? #1  

gotago

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2007
Messages
31
Location
Tioga County, PA
Tractor
PT425
Anyone used the post hole digger? I need to put up quite a bit of fence and am considering the post hole digger with the 6" and 12" auger. Before I go blowing the money has anyone used these?As long as I am going to PT in Virginia was also thinking about the cement mixer and and rake. Just noticed the new grapple and finally a thumb on the pt website. Hope all of you have a great Christmas....I'm praying for more snow...the PT did a great job on the 9" we had a week or so ago.
 
   / Post Hole Digger??? #2  
I have a 1430 with the phd and both 6 and 12" augers. Have used them considerably for small holes for shrubs and plants but when it comes to post holes for fencing there are other factors to consider. What is the soil like and how deep will you want to go. My soil is so rocky that I have had limited success with the phd and invariably have to pull out the mini hoe to make the holes. I have pulled out basketball size or larger rocks from what had started out as a 12" hole. Needless to say - our garden posts, only 16, which are 3' deep are for the most part done with the hoe. I was probably only able to plant 3 or 4 in holes dug solely with the phd. However, that said, it is a good tool. I dug holes for 50 hedge plants in a short time and also did 100 plus bulb holes on a hillside in a half hour which would have taken quite some time by hand. I do love the tool but it is not wholly compatible with our soil.
 
   / Post Hole Digger??? #3  
Jim, I have the phd and 6-inch auger. Works great in our sandy soil. You can see a few photos on a thread entitled "Cold day at the Beach". I think that you will be quite pleased with this tool.
 
   / Post Hole Digger??? #4  
I have the phd and 12" auger. Works OK until you hit any rocks and than it gets sent off on a tangent. If I were to do it again, I would get the planter drill head instead. Not being able to pivot side to side, it would be more stable. The side to side pivoting of the phd sounds good in theory so you can get the auger vertical on side hills but, in realty, it just gets thrown all over the place. I plan to bolt mine up so doesn't pivot both ways.
 
   / Post Hole Digger??? #5  
I find the swivel joint handy. If I hit a big rock, then I just articulate back and forth to try to get the point of the auger underneath the rock. Sometimes by getting the right angle it can help extract the rock from the hole wheras otherwise I would have to pull it out by hand.
 
   / Post Hole Digger??? #6  
I have the phd, I use the 6 " and 9" auger. They are a decent auger for the price. But there are two big draw backs to their augers and the phd.
Because the replacement tips are made of mild steel, they will wear very quickly in hard, rocky or rooted conditions. We keep no less than three replacements on hand. These replacement tips should be made of hardened steel like all the other augers that I own. Keep in mind, I may dig 100 hole
and never replace a tip. But in harder condition, I may only get 10 holes from a tip.
The other draw back is the fact that there is now reverse on the phd itself. On several occasions we have had to reverse the hydaulic hoses to the phd in order to back it out of a hole.
But those two things aside,You will not be disappointed with the performance
of the machine. It does a great job digging holes.
 
   / Post Hole Digger??? #8  
ca956 said:
I have the phd, I use the 6 " and 9" auger. They are a decent auger for the price. But there are two big draw backs to their augers and the phd.
Because the replacement tips are made of mild steel, they will wear very quickly in hard, rocky or rooted conditions. We keep no less than three replacements on hand. These replacement tips should be made of hardened steel like all the other augers that I own. Keep in mind, I may dig 100 hole
and never replace a tip. But in harder condition, I may only get 10 holes from a tip.
The other draw back is the fact that there is now reverse on the phd itself. On several occasions we have had to reverse the hydaulic hoses to the phd in order to back it out of a hole.
But those two things aside,You will not be disappointed with the performance
of the machine. It does a great job digging holes.

The data below is for a hydraulic PHD.

Let me jump in here and offer some advise/suggestions. If you can weld, put some hard surface on the cutting edges.

The valve below will do what you want. It is a double acting valve, with forward and reverse and can handle all the fluid the PTO can run through it. It is spring centered, but a hold down strap or rod, will hold it in the fwd direction. You might be able to find a motor spool valve with detent in the fwd direction. It can be mounted after the PTO, and left in place. Knowledge is power.


Surplus Center Item Detail
 
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   / Post Hole Digger??? #9  
woodlandfarms said:
Can anyone give some differences between the PHD and the Planter PHD?

It's my understanding that the Planter head has a slower, more powerful motor (for the big augers), but it does NOT swivel side-to-side the way the PHD does...
 
   / Post Hole Digger??? #10  
The PHD is designed for a 6 in to 18 in auger, and cost about $1800.

The Planter head unit can take a 6 in to 36 in auger, and cost about $2100.


I am assuming that these units are used by all model PT's.
 
 
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