3 point pto post hole digger

[ritcheyvs]

Shear bolts are not run of the mill bolt you can pickup at some hardware store. and pending on PHD you get may require a specific grade of metal the bolt is made out of, to be a shear bolt. ((to strong of metal and shear bolt does not get cut)), ((too week of metal, and you end up going through sheer bolts left and right))

Shear bolts are often common bolt sizes (e.g. 1/2 by 3 1/2 course) but they MUST be the correct strength, as boggen points out. My rotary cutter uses a grade 5 bolt. When I tried a handy grade 3 replacement it sheared as soon as I engaged the PTO clutch. A grade 8 would likely destroy the gear box (or worse) if I hit the right obstacle.

Also, see table in this article for definition of various 3-point hitch categories:
Three-point hitch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Lloyd_E]

I have a Rhino auger - EPHD. Both 9" and 14" augers.
RHINO | Post Hole Diggers | 3 pt. Mount

I have drilled well over 300 holes for fencing and other projects. Used the larger 14" for sono-tube for a deck. They have double teeth on the bit which can be reversed when the outer sets wear. Heavy enough - but still can be man-handled to put in place on the tractor. Has a hook on the end of the boom for lifting if you remove the gear box/head. Great product.

[ron45]

Scott, Llyod, thanks for the help. I'm gettiing a good education here about many new things. Love it, you folks are the cats meow! Got everything bookmarked you guys tell me in a folder for safe keeping. Looks like I have a category one hitch.

[ron45]

Scott, Lloyd, thanks very much. It would take me a while to find out all this stuff. Thanks for the help.

[Gittyup]

I have a bushhog PHD with a 12" bit like Whistlepig's. No down pressure rig. Cuts holes easily here in my clay soil. Goes through shale pretty good. And big roots are simple cut right out of the way. Same with big AC power cable (not my fault). Miss Utility...... well they missed and I didn't.

Mine also uses common #2 bolts for the shear pin. Same thing you get at any hardware store for every-day use.

[Gil Case]

I never had use for down force, just the opposite, more up force. Once that auger gets a hold of a root or rock and screws itself four feet into the ground and will not come up you realize there is no reverse on the thing. Pretty funny if it wasn't such a PITA.
Get a BIG pipe wrench and do a manual reverse on the auger. Something like trying to get that Hydro filter off the first time you change it.

[ron45]

Thanks
Gittyup and Gil, Thanks for the help. Are there teeth on the front edge of the augers that cut thru roots and powercables? Some one had done an very nice job of adding one in a previous post. Now if you could just get a nano jackhammer on the front edge for those fist sized rocks.........

[Gittyup]

Using reguler #2 bolts for shear pins is a big advantage. Dealer mistakenly told me mine used these OEM shear pins. So, I said throw in a dozen with the order. They were $9 a piece! When I realized they were wrong for my PHD, I returned them. #2 bolts are about a $1. I put in about 500 feet of fence and several other holes for piers and still haven't broken a shear bolt. Must be lucky so far.

[stuckmotor]

Has anyone tried welding a bar to the boom of the digger then adding barbell weights or something similar until the boom supplied sufficient down pressure?

[dennis52]

It's a lot more expensive, but a SSQA front hydraulic PHD is really the cats A$s. All the down force you'd like, reverse, and easy to position. My dealer rents them and told me once you used one, you'll never use anything else.

When I asked my dealer about the front mounted hydraulic post hole diggers for my 45hp Kioti he advised that, being hydraulic, they were not capable of achieving the same power as a pto driven post hole digger.