Bob
Actually, we busted 1 shear bolt (drive shaft) in the entire process and that was on a test hole, teaching my wife how to controls worked. We hit a rock, and it was just the auger without the extension.
Interesting, I had designed the extension to use two 1/2 bolts at each connection point, which is way more than on the shaft connection. Being as it was such a chore to add/remove the extension for each hole, I only used a single bolt at the auger connection point and no problem. Thankfully, we didn't hit any rocks. The clay soil was so moist that it would only clump, but not be expelled from hole. Using a narror blade shovel, I actually let the auger deposit the clumps onto the shovel which I would then remove to wheelbarrow.
David