Digging post holes

[bgott]

I have an idea that might solve part, if not all, of your problem. This is going to need some fleshing out but might be a start. You say part of your problem is the arc of the loader while it is going downhole. You might try finding a small forklift mast assembly and mounting your auger on that. You'd have to replace the ram in the mast with a hydraulic cylinder so you'd have down pressure. You say you're drilling eight foot holes, is that correct? With a mast assembly and a little riggin' you ought to be able to get that in one fell swope. Straight as an arrow, I might add. You could add weight to it, the only problem with it is that you'd have a lot of weight that wouldn't be putting pressure on the bit but would be taking up capacity on your loader arm. The weight you could hang on the auger, though, would probably be more effective than the down pressure from the skidsteer. You said you had around 1500# capacity, right? If you could keep the weight of the auger and mast at 700 or 800 pounds that would give you room for 700 or 800 pounds right with the auger, straight down. Even if you didn't pick up much speed it would free you from having to constantly manuever the skidsteer to keep the hole straight. Let's kick this around for a while and see if you can do something with it.

[knucklehead]

Don, thanks for the advice - I've been working outside for a few days in this nice stretch of sunny weather, and I have to make my fingers work again on the keyboard. Got a chance to trim some concrete block while setting the cellar doorway down flush with the floor and widening it (so I can roll my wood cart out and load it, instead of carrying armloads of wood), so I was thinking about W-Harv describing the way he knocked concrete of the fence posts. Poured a nice short ramp last night; can't wait to pull off the forms and see how it finished.

I just got permission to get a few used utility poles, so I'll be studying PHD's closely this Summer. Thanks again for the advice. And I feel the same way as you about not worrying a problem to death - I had fun fooling around with leverage, but there's always that little voice in my head that says, "Awwww, heck, that's close enough". [img]/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif[/img]