New Post Hold Digger and how do you use yours?

[woodlandfarms]

Well, project is done.

Grand Cost....

$300 for the steel
$50 for bolts and paint
$200 for Wheel Motor
$150 for hoses and connectors
$250 for dual flight digger medium duty
950 Grand total (UGH!!!!!)

But it beats the $2200 that PT Wanted.

So I wanted to spend $500 on the project. I planned initially to buy a used 3 point and install a PTO Motor on it. But the motor and hoses would be the same cost where needed wether I made my own or adapted. And I probably would have spent money on steel as well just fabbing up a motor mount. Still, in deep dutch with the wife. Need tp put her fence up around her new garden and all will be well with the world.

So.....This bad boy is POWERFUL. Crazy powerful.

But it begs questions for those who have one. How do you use it. I seem to drill holes off center, I guess I need to roll back on the tractor as I dig. But I wondered how you guys did it.

 

[crash325]

Have your brakes unlocked so that you can rock the digger right to left to keep it going down vert. A little forward or reverse movement will be needed to keep it straight fore & aft. May have to dig a few holes to get them straight. Most of the time a little crooked is OK.

Congrats on a nice build, looks better & stronger than store bought. :thumbsup:

 

[Clumber]

Last year we had to put in 50 post holes. I payed a neighbor to provide his M-class kubota and 3 pt PHD. The PHD hangs loosely and needed to be manualy moved into position. Once the auger starts a person needs to monitor the plumb of the auger as it digs and directs the tractor operator to adjust the tractor position to keep the auger plum. Its really a two person task. That being said, I would not want to stand close to your bad boy.

 

[magicheater]

Practice will make your holes better. You have down pressure, which is a plus unlike 3PT units. You have an articulated tractor I believe and should be easier to keep your plumb. I got rid of my 3PT unit because it was just plain easier to dig them by hand when you factored in all the change over and over sizing the holes in the end anyway. Maybe a level indicator might help where you can see it. Ya did good! :thumbsup:

 

[xtn]

I got a PHD from everythingattachments that mounts on the 3pt behind my tractor and is PTO driven. I've decided that the arc it takes on the way down, and the ever so slightly oval shaped hole this causes, is no big deal. I don't know why anybody cares about perfect holes. The cement, dirt or other back-fill around the post will fit just fine anyway.

xtn

 

[woodlandfarms]

So there is the suggestion of a level, and I got it being a 2 man job.

But, How do you install a level that lets you know the pitch (front to back) when you are sitting on a seat? I guess a mirror gag might work but I bet I am missing something simple.

Also, what speed do you guys go at. I feel this runs a bit slow but it digs so fast I would not want the motor to spin an faster.

 

[sandman2234]

Pto post hole diggers are different than hydraulic powered ones. If you have a pto one and you just let it drop as fast as it will dig, it will just auger itself into the ground and then pick up the front of the tractor in packed dirt. With pto, you have no options but to dig it out unles you are lucky enough that it pulls itself out with the weight of the tractor. With hydraulic powered, you can just reverse it and it comes back out. The best speed is probably slower than you are running, while still moving the dirt out without digging faster than the dirt is coming to the top. Slow is safer, so consider a restriction or bypass to limit flow if yours is running too fast.
David from jax

 

[hosspuller]

So there is the suggestion of a level, and I got it being a 2 man job.

But, How do you install a level that lets you know the pitch (front to back) when you are sitting on a seat? I guess a mirror gag might work but I bet I am missing something simple.

you could install an metal arrow freely hanging on the side of your motor frame. You could damp the arrow's movement with heavy grease at the pivot . Then a salvaged side view mirror to see when it moves out of plumb. But two electrical contacts on either side with differential indicator lights would be a lot sexier.

 

[MossRoad]

So there is the suggestion of a level, and I got it being a 2 man job.

But, How do you install a level that lets you know the pitch (front to back) when you are sitting on a seat? I guess a mirror gag might work but I bet I am missing something simple.

Also, what speed do you guys go at. I feel this runs a bit slow but it digs so fast I would not want the motor to spin an faster.

Before you start the hole, with the auger tip hanging above the ground, doesn't gravity center it forward and backward and left and right?

 

[woodlandfarms]

Yes Moss, it centers up, but as you dig down the arc of the lift arm comes into play. None of the test holes I have dug have been anywhere near straight. They are not terribly far off but I would love to improve my skills.

I have no experience with this kind of implement, I can say I have only seen a couple of holes being drilled before so I am learning on this one.

thanks again for all the advice

Carl

 

[beppington]

You might consider a smaller diameter bit, & then the sloppiness will actually be needed.

I've had the same problems with our 3PH auger. It follows an arc on the way down. The best we've come up with so far is, dad guides the auger point to where it needs to be, then guides me driving the tractor to or fro until the auger is plumb, then I try to back up just a tad while the auger's dropping to keep it plumb. Not always great results. We currently have an 8" or 9" diameter auger bit, & I'm thinking about getting a 6".

I do like the ideas of attaching levels & a mirror, though. My dad "eye-ballin' it" ain't perfect :laughing:

 

[woodlandfarms]

Today we set gate posts along our driveway. used the PHD to set 6X6 Pressure treated to support a 16 ft tube gate. our road has been built up and rocks go all the way down. it was chunky pulling sometimes.

Learned a lot, like even if you think you are not anywhere near the drain pipe double check, but that being said, I am struggling with something.

The post holes do not come out empty. Our soil is a real mix, but at the end of the day it is pretty good stuff. Not too sandy, not too much clay, very few rocks. But when I dig down no matter what I do (pulling up and out frequently, speeding up) none of it gets me an empty hole. I ended up pulling out the manual post hole digger to get the last foot of loosened dirt out.

Should I expect this or????

Thanks for any advice.

Carl

 

[beppington]

... I am struggling with something.

The post holes do not come out empty. Our soil is a real mix, but at the end of the day it is pretty good stuff. Not too sandy, not too much clay, very few rocks. But when I dig down no matter what I do (pulling up and out frequently, speeding up) none of it gets me an empty hole. I ended up pulling out the manual post hole digger to get the last foot of loosened dirt out.

Should I expect this or????

Using post hole diggers after the auger is the only way I know of to get nearly all of the loose dirt out. You'd have to have a very precise dirt hole for the auger to get most of that loose dirt, & even then, the design of the bottom of the augers I've seen would still leave some loose dirt. Augering is just imprecise work.

 

[ponytug]

Dear Carl,

The challenge of drilling a straight hole while trying out the PT auger in Tazewell convinced me that I was never going to get good at it, given my abilities and my slopes. I found that for me drilling a straight hole "was a rub your stomach/pat your head" job. To bore a vertical hole, you have to move the tractor forward/backward as the arms arc down into the hole to keep it vertical for/aft, and you may have to adjust L/R (& yaw) to keep it straight L/R, as the auger encounters harder/softer material.

However, a hydraulic auger is way easier to use than a PTO design. If yours isn't clearing all of the dirt as you go, just stop it, and lift out the auger. The bulk of the material should come off.

If you drill oversize, and back fill with concrete, it isn't as much of an issue, just make sure you put 12" of gravel at the bottom, and get the post into the gravel. Otherwise, water can accumulate at the bottom of the post and rot it. Since I put gravel in the bottom of my post holes, I don't worry about a little debris in the bottom.

Yours looks like a great design. I'm with MR- you could put some tell tales on the upper part and be able to see how you are doing.

Personally, I went with the PT post hole driver, which you can plumb up and monitor while you are driving it in. It is a one person implement.

Supposedly, the driver will set 8x8, but the largest that I have done is 6x6.

Not that I haven't thought about an auger for other reasons...

All the best,

Peter

Yes Moss, it centers up, but as you dig down the arc of the lift arm comes into play. None of the test holes I have dug have been anywhere near straight. They are not terribly far off but I would love to improve my skills.

I have no experience with this kind of implement, I can say I have only seen a couple of holes being drilled before so I am learning on this one.

thanks again for all the advice

Carl

 

[MossRoad]

Yes Moss, it centers up, but as you dig down the arc of the lift arm comes into play. None of the test holes I have dug have been anywhere near straight. They are not terribly far off but I would love to improve my skills.

I have no experience with this kind of implement, I can say I have only seen a couple of holes being drilled before so I am learning on this one.

thanks again for all the advice

Carl

O.K. I get it now. As you bring the FEL arms down, it wants to push the auger forward a ways and makes the hole an oval instead of a circle.

I suppose the only way to correct it is to constantly correct position with your treadle pedals as the hole is dug.

Can you see the auger tip and hole from the driver's seat?
Is the pile of dirt brought up by the auger obscuring your view?
How far "off" is the hole when you're finished? A few inches, half a foot or more?

I'd run that thing out into the back 40 and make it look like Swiss cheese practicing. Just be sure to tell the spouse not to walk out there. :laughing:

 

[KentT]

I'd run that thing out into the back 40 and make it look like Swiss cheese practicing. Just be sure to tell the spouse not to walk out there. :laughing:

Just be sure to put up appropriate warning signs:

:laughing:

 

[beppington]

O.K. I get it now. As you bring the FEL arms down, it wants to push the auger forward a ways and makes the hole an oval instead of a circle.

You can end up with an oval, or more likely here in FL, a round hole that is very not plumb.

 

[Putter]

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to remember a guy reversing the rotation of the auger as he pulled it out. Will this help in getting the most dirt out of the hole?

 

[beppington]

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to remember a guy reversing the rotation of the auger as he pulled it out. Will this help in getting the most dirt out of the hole?

I think that would do the opposite - Leave most/ all of the dirt in the hole.

 

[woody]

I like your design I have a TP auger I would like to convert to hydraulic but I do not know what motor, mount and adapter to use.