Auger Question

[bubenberg]

when i bought my 9 inch auger, we, pt and i went over the different option one has. the first of installing a reversal valve about $175.00 or attach a male/female and a female/male hose part when i am stuck with my auger in our lovely clay shale combination around here.

contrary to my danhuser so far i never got stuck ... but will now because i am bragging. but i have fully in mind to to get the hose adapter.

the 9 inch auger does a much better job than the 12 incher i have on my kubota tractor, less tamping work to secure the fencepost, much faster installation, no stiff neck from looking back all day, less tired and one less hourly wage to pay.

before i had to people putting the post in the ground and fine tune the alignment and one person just tamping around the posts. know with a smaller hole that job has been alleviated.

 

[bmac]

Well, just got off of the phone with Chris at Power Trac to clear this up. According to Chris, the hydraulic motor of the auger (I specifically inquired about the planter auger head) is reversible. There are 2 options as to how one can take advantage of this reversability. One, as mentioned above, is with the use of a reversable valve that mounts to the auger head. I will assume that one would have to dismount the tractor, flip a switch or lever on the valve and then return to work. Of course, this would prevent the potential problem previously addressed regarding inadvertantly reversing the hydraulic flow on implements that were not meant to be reversed. The second option is to simply reverse the hydraulic lines at the auger head. As I know nothing (literally) about hydraulics, I am going to assume that with quick disconnects, this would be a job that would be measured in seconds to accomplish. He said the hoses at the head are identical, i.e., no gender changes required to do this (which i imagine all of you real users know this - no major news flash for y'all).

So, in summary - buy a valve or switch the hoses. Too bad you can't do either from the seat. Hope this helps.

 

[davesisk]

Thanks for info, bmac. Actually, the third option is to replace the valve in the tractor that starts/stops the main pto. However, that might be a bit more involved. I've never talked to PT about this, so I don't know if they have any recommendations about how to do this.

My old tractor is a little different from the newer ones. On the newer ones (someone correct me if I'm wrong here), the main pto is operated by an electric switch on the dash, where the auxillary pto (the one that closes the rams for the quick attach) are operated by a lever down near your right leg. My old tractor's main pto (doesn't have an auxillary) is operated by a lever down near my right leg. I was particularly surprised that mine didn't go in reverse. You push the lever down and the flow turns attachments forward; you pull the lever up and it turns attachments forward. WTF? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. In the middle is off. For mine, it probably wouldn't be too hard to replace this one-direction valve with a two-direction valve. On the newer models with the electrically operated main pto, it might be a little more involved, I dunno.

Dave

 

[MossRoad]

There is no valve for the main PTO on my PT425. The electric switch turns it off or on. So, you would need to either put a reversing valve somewhere on the tractor(left side is pretty open) but that could lead to operator error reversing the mower, for example. I think the easiest and cheapest way would be to put quick disconnects on the lines at the post hole digger head. Then, on the rare occasion that you got it stuck you could shut down, hop off and switch the hoses and back it out in about a minute. That's what I would do If I had one.

Also, my Aux PTO is from a different pump and runs with the valve by your right knee. It runs the locking cylinder on the quick attach plate. There are quick disconnects on the hoses to that cylinder, so that after you mount an implement, like the snow plow, you disconnect the locking cylinder in the locked position and connect the plow's angle cylinder. Then the knee lever becomes the power angle lever. Works pretty well.

 

[Carpenter]

I've drilled quite a few postholes with both the 9" and 12" augers. The holes have been in clay, rock and a mixture of both. So far (knock on wood), I've had no instances of the auger being really stuck. I did hit some buried steel on one hole, but was able to easily break free by moving forward and backwards and side-to-side. I agree with Charlie, that taking it easy on the speed and down pressure is wise. Although, if I remember correctly, he set some kind of Guiness record for postholes drilled per hour. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[davesisk]

<font color=red>
When drilling with an auger, carry the biggest pipe wrench you own and a torque multiplier (6 feet of 2" pipe comes to mind.) If the auger gets stuck, unscrew it from the ground. If it needs more than a 6 foot pipe, mount your fence to the auger and buy another one. You can say it is a special decorative post.
</font color=red>

ROTFLMAO! Thanks Charlie! You certainly can shed new light on contraversial subjects. Still ROTF!

 

[bubenberg]

that is what i had to do with the danhuser ... those were the days....lalalalala ... no more

 

[bubenberg]

chris is not always telling the same story ... you don't need a valve ... because you so aptly said or quoted the hydraulics are reversible.

you want to buy a valve, be my guest i did not have to.
the other you don't have to leave the seat either ... just stand up get the adapters out of your pocket switch the lines from side to side and you are in business.

good luck

hrl

 

[bmac]

h.r.

I probaby wasn't too clear in my post. Chris did not say that you have to add a valve. He said that you COULD add a valve OR reverse the hoses. Certainly, he did not advocate one method over the other. (BTW, the caps above are added for emphasis, not hostility)

Where you and Chris differ (I think) is exactly where you reverse the hose attachments. I think your method is to do it at the tractor end, which is why you describe using the gender changers. Chris recommended changing the hoses at the auger head where the connections are identical (no male/female issues). Now he didn't state that the connections at the auger head were quick disconnect and I didn't ask. Having never seen a Power trac machine or the auger, I certianly don't know. I ended the conversation with him thinking that they must be quick disconnect to make the hose swap method a viable way of doing this. Maybe a bad assumption on my part.

Now, I have openly admitted my ignorance on all things tractor related. So, I am only passing on this explanation as I understand it, not necessarily how this works in reality.

Thanks you for the reply. I hope this is a more lucid explanation of my understanding. I don't want anyone to think that Chris tried to sell me something that was not necessary to acomplish this task.

 

[davesisk]

bmac:

Good point. Yes, the quick connect are male/female that hook to quick connects on the tractor that are female/male. The fittings on the hoses simply screw onto the PHD head with a wrench. So, yes, you could easily switch the hoses at the auger without have to add anything, just carry a big wrench with you.

Dave