Montana PHD

[rcowan]

Hey guys and gals

Do any of you own and operate the Montana PHD? Or operate someone else s . If so how is it holding up and digging holes?

I'm flush again and been "needing" a PHD and doing the research.
We don't have any good toy stores here in SE AZ so I'm kinda restricted unless I want to pay a carrier or drive a long distance to a TSC/Fleet/etc etc.

I have a 2740M

Thanks
Roland

 

[Jerry/MT]

Hey guys and gals

Do any of you own and operate the Montana PHD? Or operate someone else s . If so how is it holding up and digging holes?

I'm flush again and been "needing" a PHD and doing the research.
We don't have any good toy stores here in SE AZ so I'm kinda restricted unless I want to pay a carrier or drive a long distance to a TSC/Fleet/etc etc.

I have a 2740M

Thanks
Roland

I have a KingKutter PHD with a 12" auger. I used it to plant 60 some railroad ties when I built my corral last year. Our ground is mainly clay with lots of rocks that the icebergs in glacial Lake Missoula dropped many years ago. I had a few holes that used up 4-5 shear bolts when I dug them and I'm real happy with the performance of the PHD. I averaged about a shear bolt a hole and had to move two RR tie locations because the rocks were so big they would have required a trackhoe to get them out. When the clay was really dry, I had to hand start the holes and then fill them with 5 gallons of water before the auger would work. These are about the most adverse conditions that you can use a PHD in. I don't know what your soils are like but if there clay you'll have similar problems. A down pressure device( hydraulic cylinder) is available on some brands as an option and that might have been handy in my case, but a little bit of patience and 5 gallons of water worked for me.

 

[Maka]

Hey guys and gals

Do any of you own and operate the Montana PHD? Or operate someone else s . If so how is it holding up and digging holes?

I'm flush again and been "needing" a PHD and doing the research.
We don't have any good toy stores here in SE AZ so I'm kinda restricted unless I want to pay a carrier or drive a long distance to a TSC/Fleet/etc etc.

I have a 2740M

Thanks
Roland

Love the tractors but some of the implements were not great. The problems were with back blades and box scrapers early on. The paint would peel off quickly and the overall quality was poor. I had 3 or 4 PHD's in a row where the end cap on the end where the PHD fits to the top link would break off. The welds just had no penetration. Montana took care of this problem quickly under warranty but I quit buying anything manufactured by KK or Taylor Pittsburg after that.

What did we go with? Rhino

Maka

 

[Dallas_Lilly]

Hey guys and gals

Do any of you own and operate the Montana PHD? Or operate someone else s . If so how is it holding up and digging holes?

I'm flush again and been "needing" a PHD and doing the research.
We don't have any good toy stores here in SE AZ so I'm kinda restricted unless I want to pay a carrier or drive a long distance to a TSC/Fleet/etc etc.

I have a 2740M

Thanks
Roland

Depending on where in south east arizona you are from either the Bingham equipment carries good quality implements. They are pricey but have good equipment. There is a store in either Phoenix or Tucson. I am lucky to have a really good tractor dealer here in Flagstaff, they carry the Gearmore line and I have been very happy so far and have a blade and a rotary cutter.

Maka, I am curious as to what the problems were with the box blades? Something I need to look out for?? I have a 6 foot box blade, the paint did peel off quickly but I did not think much of it because I used it heavily. Other than that I have not had any problems. It seems to be built like a "medium duty" and I figure that because it all the three point struts were heavy square tubing and it "captures" the three point pins.

 

[Maka]

Depending on where in south east arizona you are from either the Bingham equipment carries good quality implements. They are pricey but have good equipment. There is a store in either Phoenix or Tucson. I am lucky to have a really good tractor dealer here in Flagstaff, they carry the Gearmore line and I have been very happy so far and have a blade and a rotary cutter.

Maka, I am curious as to what the problems were with the box blades? Something I need to look out for?? I have a 6 foot box blade, the paint did peel off quickly but I did not think much of it because I used it heavily. Other than that I have not had any problems. It seems to be built like a "medium duty" and I figure that because it all the three point struts were heavy square tubing and it "captures" the three point pins.

The box scrapers early on of course had bad paint and it was every single one. We had a few that had shank problems where they would just break under very normal use where one should not have broken. Now that I think of it I have had some shanks break on Rhino BX series scrapers as well. Hey, I figured it out. The Montana is just a beast that these implements can't stand up to

On the flip side I personally have had one Montana 72" scraper that has held up (aside from bad paint) pretty well. Workmanship I guess was hit and miss on them.

Thanks,
Maka