I have horses in Northern California and want a power post driver

   / I have horses in Northern California and want a power post driver #1  

gdcb

New member
Joined
Jul 11, 2012
Messages
6
Location
Sacramento, CA
Tractor
kubota, zen noh
Hi everyone. I have read this site before but just joined. I have a small Zen noh (Kubota). I use it to field mow, drill post holes and drag horse arena. I would like to add a power down and a bucket. I am a welder fabricator and would like to get some plans for attachments. Right now I want to make a power post driver. Any links or thoughts are welcome.
 
   / I have horses in Northern California and want a power post driver #2  
Welcome to TBN :)

I moved your thread to the Welding Forum.
 
   / I have horses in Northern California and want a power post driver #3  
I have kicked around the idea of building a post driver before for my brother-n-law. He lives south east of you in the foot hills. I was thinking about using a WF beam, and a 12-volt capstan, with two sheaves at the top of the beam, capstan mounted on the inside flange of the beam, and a large weight with guides that run on the outside flange. All mounted to the 3-point hitch, with a four way vertical adjustment. Would also have to build a follower to keep the post under the drop hammer weight.
 
   / I have horses in Northern California and want a power post driver
  • Thread Starter
#4  
I'm not sure how the capstan would apply force in a hammer. I know of them as manual winches on sailing ships. I saw some power hammers (jackhammers) that are fitted with adaptors for t posts and pipes. I was hoping for some variation of this. I may just fab the adaptor and rent the hammer.
 
   / I have horses in Northern California and want a power post driver #5  
My idea for the capstan was to pickup the weight, (drop hammer) with a rope wrapped 2 or 3 times around the capstan, while pulling tension on the rope. When the weight reached the top of the beam, let go of the rope, and drop the weight.


Here is a picture of a larger scale of what I was thinking of building. In your neck of the woods this pile driving system is called a pogo stick. Other places they call them Bay City leads.
 

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   / I have horses in Northern California and want a power post driver
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Pretty cool! I work mostly on ranch stuff. I was an industrial fabricator for 12 years. Mostly blow pipe and food processing equipment. Pile driving was usually finished long before I got there lol. My father was a civil engineer so on his projects I used to watch those things in action. If you come up with a design I'd like to see it.
 
   / I have horses in Northern California and want a power post driver #7  
Thats what I did for a living.

Never got as far as putting pen to paper for a design, just thinking about how I would build one if my brother-n-law would have ever got off his azz. He bought 20-acres just west of Copperopolis and was worried about driving T-post in the shale. I suggested this system with a spud to break up the shale first. Went right over his head.:rolleyes:
 

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   / I have horses in Northern California and want a power post driver #8  
You could build a pto powered driver. Here on smaller work barges they take an aold rwd car drive train and put it on a frame. Just the engine trans and rearend. They make a frame to hold the rear axle and then cut a section of tube out of it. THe frame holds the outside bearing and axle. THen they pull the live axle out and make a spool to fit it. Then hold the spool in the place where the axle was and slide the axle inplace through the spool. Then welde the spool to the axle. This is how the old pulp loaders worked. You just apply brake to the one drum and it causes the spool to winch up. Then you can use the brake to hold the drop hammer. We use these from time to time on the water. Sometimes run off electric, or a hydraulic motor.

You could make the frame and winch one set up and run it off the PTO. It can be made from a golfcart rearend to. The other one is whats more common now. They make a driver from an H beam and then ue a 6 foot 2 inch cylinder to with a simple sring loaded pin in top of it. It will pop into a torched square hole intop of the drop weight. My friends rig is a large one mounted on the end of an old prentice log loader on his barge. It will drive some huge posts in the ground.
 
   / I have horses in Northern California and want a power post driver #9  
You could build a pto powered driver. Here on smaller work barges they take an aold rwd car drive train and put it on a frame. Just the engine trans and rearend. They make a frame to hold the rear axle and then cut a section of tube out of it. THe frame holds the outside bearing and axle. THen they pull the live axle out and make a spool to fit it. Then hold the spool in the place where the axle was and slide the axle inplace through the spool. Then welde the spool to the axle. This is how the old pulp loaders worked. You just apply brake to the one drum and it causes the spool to winch up. Then you can use the brake to hold the drop hammer. We use these from time to time on the water. Sometimes run off electric, or a hydraulic motor.

You could make the frame and winch one set up and run it off the PTO. It can be made from a golfcart rearend to. The other one is whats more common now. They make a driver from an H beam and then ue a 6 foot 2 inch cylinder to with a simple sring loaded pin in top of it. It will pop into a torched square hole intop of the drop weight. My friends rig is a large one mounted on the end of an old prentice log loader on his barge. It will drive some huge posts in the ground.

That is some "mad max" stuff right there. Talk about re-purposing and recycling. Ingenious!
 
   / I have horses in Northern California and want a power post driver #10  
Look at a Shaver. They are impossible to beat in design.
 
 
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