Posthole Digger Removing a buried auger... or not.

[Gary Fowler]

Drilling post holes is not like drilling in wood or steel with a self centering drill bit but more like drilling a hole in wood with a spade bit. You have to get the right size hole the first time. THe auger is not going to center up in the "pilot" hole like with a twist stem drill bit, but will just bounce around all over the place.
Good advice so far on going slow, keep your hand on the lift lever, raise and lower it frequently to clean out the hole and make sure you arent augering down. Then if all fails, keep a 24" pipe wrench with you to reverse the auger. You can do this by either turning the PTO shaft in reverse (make note before hand of which way it turns) which takes many rounds or try to turn the auger head itself. If you can turn that it will be much faster. With a severly stuck one like you had, you would have to begin by reverse turning the PTO till you got the shaft above grade then you might be able to move to the auger head and turn it. Occassional try to pick it up with the tractor hydraulics but make sure your PTO is disengaged prior to starting your tractor. You wouldnt want to auger it back in by mistake.

 

[daddykirbs]

The other thing is hole size, dig a hole of a size suitable to your tractor/ soil , it looks like that is a big auger, and I presume you have a small tractor so use a smaller auger to drill a "pilot" hole, the if you really need it expand, the bigger hole is always a bit harder to drill as it has no centre, but it is possible and means you will get the hole you want without overloading your tractor. The golden rule with tractors is if your tractor can't lift / pull / turn something then it simply wasn't designed to do it, so your just overloading it, and should be happy in this case it hasn't become a costly repair bill!

Yes, that was a 12" auger. I have since traded that in at TSC for the 9" and it works a bit better. It still wants to "grab", but I haven't buried that one yet. I have successfully drilled 3 post holes! The holes aren't pretty like the ones that I've seen some of you fellers drill on youtube, but they have worked for 3 4x4 posts on the chicken coop.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

I haven't tried it but I have heard that the ground-speed pto on early Massey Fergusons could be tricked into reversing a drill out of the ground. Seems one blocks the tractor carefully, then jacks up one back wheel, puts the tractor in reverse, low range, and idles the auger out. My MF 35 has the otherwise-useless setting just below "OFF".

 

[grsthegreat]

All you have to do is run slow and continually raise and lower the auger to keep the hole clear and you wont get it stuck. You may also need to move the tractor foreword or reverse a bit to keep the auger level as it goes down into the ground. These are things that get easier as you use it. I have had the misfortune to have to drill 100's of holes so its pretty easy to do nowdays...but in the beginning i also buried some augers.

My 3 point system has power assist hydraulic down pressure to help drill in my decomposed granite ground...love it.

 

[gengine]

We have an old ford 12 inch auger and that thing is awesome. I have never screwed the thing in. The leinbach ( I think that is how it's spelled) auger, we have a 9 and a 12 inch, and both love to screw themselves in. When we use that one we just bring the other tractor over and chain the bucket to the boom of the auger and let it go down as much or little as we want. When it does screw itself in, we chain it the same way and pull it out. I figure if I break the auger, I never have to use it again. The wife will maybe let me get a good one!

 

[daddykirbs]

.... The wife will maybe let me get a good one!

My wife would make me take the old dirty broken bent implement back to TSC for an exchange! LOL

 

[CurlyDave]

...But yeah, I've been looking at the skid steer mount hydraulic units that will work their way through rock with down pressure instead of busting a shear pin. Darned expensive though for the few holes I would use it on each year, especially since I have a (poorly working) 3pt unit already. Maybe I'll start watching Craig's list.

Ken

Watch eBay also.

Last year I got a Bobcat-labeled hydraulic drive with barely-used 12" and 18" augers for $770.

The only fly in the ointment is that it was mounted on a mini Skid Steer QA, for one of the Bobcat walk-behind units.

Modifications rare still in progress, but I expect I will ultimately get a pretty good unit by just welding the existing QA on a full-size one.

* * * * *

With the economy the way it is, a lot of small or part-time contractors are selling off their equipment.

 

[Ken45101]

Watch eBay also.

Thanks Dave, I had not thought of that.

Ken

 

[grsthegreat]

Watch eBay also.

Last year I got a Bobcat-labeled hydraulic drive with barely-used 12" and 18" augers for $770.

The only fly in the ointment is that it was mounted on a mini Skid Steer QA, for one of the Bobcat walk-behind units.

Modifications rare still in progress, but I expect I will ultimately get a pretty good unit by just welding the existing QA on a full-size one.

* * * * *

With the economy the way it is, a lot of small or part-time contractors are selling off their equipment.

ohhhhhhh.... i can use that with the rear hydraulic drive pack i got for my snowblower. since your not using it, why not store it over at my place?? purdy please

 

[kebo]

Underscore go slow and raise often to clear the screw.

Operate at lower RPM's, listen to the motor - you can tell when it starts to pull, keep your hand on the pto lever always ready to raise in an instant.

The best advice one could get for using a PHD!! Run it slow and let it dig down about a foot and then pick it up. Once it is out of the hole, you can speed it up some to throw the dirt off of the spiral lands. Once the loose dirt is off, slow it back down and drop it in the hole again. Dig down about another foot and pick it up again so you can repeat the process. If you just let it sit there and dig, well.... you found out the hard way!

But really, what made you think you needed a hole about 9" in diameter and about 3 1/2 deep to plant a tree with???? For tree's, you really need more like a 2-3ft diameter hole that is also about 2ft deep. In other words, you really never should have let it dig down that deep in the first place (for a tree). Not saying you can't use the PHD for that, I just don't understand why you thought it had go that deep to start with (for a tree)?