MarEng
Silver Member
Recently dug post holes for a pole barn on an excavated pad in SE Texas. Pad was virgin rock hard/bone dry red clay. Couldn't get the auger to start, It would spin for 20 minutes and barely make a dent. Tried all the usual stuff like hanging two friends off of it, each holding onto a Chevy 350 head, water, etc. No joy. Finally ran the other tractor over and dropped the FEL on the auger top. Used the FEL to create down force (the FEL tractor front wheels were in the air). BOOM! 3'6" hole dug in less than 30 seconds. Hard clay chips flying everywhere. Now for the question - what to do when I only have one tractor on site? Has anyone built a cable rig to use the FEL to pull the three point down? I visualize a pully up front and one back aft with connection points on the FEL cross bar and the gear head for the auger. Cable runs under the tractor. Place and start the auger and then lift on the FEL. Would love to see pictures/hear war stories before I start learning the hard way. I have a bunch of post holes I have to dig in the same soil and the second and third tractors are gone.