Adding down-pressure to a post hole digger (PHD)

[stuckmotor]

I can tell that many haven't tried drilling in the deserts caliche "soil". There are places that even adding 230# of weight on the PHD and using carbide cutters that the thing will just sit there and spin. Only answer at that point is the jackhammer which I have to use often.
I'm not even sure if a down pressure kit would work.

Orezok,
I traveled through the south west over 25 years ago. It was hot and dry, there were fences beside the road, and maybe 4 cows to the mile. I haven't been able to figure out, to this day, how anyone can make money with so few head to the acre. I can't even see how people even recover the cost of the barbed wire and fence posts. Now you tell me that you have to have a jackhammer to dig post holes! I wish I could understand it.

 

[orezok]

Orezok,
I traveled through the south west over 25 years ago. It was hot and dry, there were fences beside the road, and maybe 4 cows to the mile. I haven't been able to figure out, to this day, how anyone can make money with so few head to the acre. I can't even see how people even recover the cost of the barbed wire and fence posts. Now you tell me that you have to have a jackhammer to dig post holes! I wish I could understand it.

Well apparently those were CASH COWS!

 

[PHPaul]

I added this cylinder to my PHD. It effectively acts as "down pressure" by transferring force from the PHD boom to the lower links of the 3ph.

It will lift the rear tires of the tractor off the ground.

Works brilliantly, but does complicate things just a bit as you have to retract the cylinder while lifting the PHD out of the ground.

Also, had to re-engineer it a bit since that picture to weld the lower anchor point to the hoop. You can see the tab is already bending in the picture.

 

[stuckmotor]

Well apparently those were CASH COWS!

I'd like to borrow one of those cash bulls and introduce him to the girls in my pasture.

 

[Fallon]

Normal down pressure setups are single acting cylinders & have a pressure relief valve going to the tank (not a QD). As you lift the 3pt, the pressure relief kicks in & dumps fluid to the tank. Won't work with a QD on a double acting valve as its closed by default.

May want to find such a pressure relief valve & plumb it into the cylinder end & the tank. Just put a vent on the rod end to turn it into a single acting cylinder. Would make operating it a bit easier, not to mention safer.

Balancing on a PHD auger & your front axle pivot isn't a great idea... I can do it with mine. I have a quick hitch & hydraulic top link. I cut the PHD frame to fit the quick hitch. The top link + 3pt give enough range to dig to full depth. Without the top link it wouldn't work as with the QH you loose the leverage a normal PHD has to get the 3-4' of movement out of the 1' of 3pt movement.

 

[ayelvington]

It's a Woods PHD, so no complaints about the PHD by itself. Here are better photos and a video:

Just a few more views of the weight holder that I...

PHD enhancement with free weights for down pressure - YouTube

 

[EddieWalker]

Hope the added weight works out for you. I tried adding weight to mine, and then I added a 2x6x12 to the side of it, sticking out real far so I could hang from it while my wife worked the tractor. Then I read about other augers with replaceable cutting tips and looked into them. My first choice was a Speeco brand auger that worked pretty good, but it's cutting tips wore out quickly. One weekend when I was trying to finish off my fence and couldn't find any more cutting tips for it, I went to Tractor Supply and bought their Country Line brand auger. They had plenty of extra cutting tips in stock. I couldn't believe the difference. That auger drills through hard packed red clay like it's sand. For the first time every, I learned what others where talking about when you bury your auger. It digs down so fast that you can't pull it up. It will compress the rear tires on my tractor as it locks itself into the ground. With this auger, my biggest challenge is to keep pulling it out of the hole so it doesn't bury itself. Finding the right tool sure has changed everything I thought I knew about drilling holes in the ground!!!!

 

[5030]

What you need to do is build a platform on the backside so one of your 'friends' can stand on it while you drill. The fatter the friend, the more downpressure applied.

 

[aircommuter]

I have mine on the backhoe, lots of hydraulic down pressure, but sometimes mother nature can show who's boss.