Posthole Digger How much post hole digger do i need, How much is too much for my tractor.

[SubSubsistanceFarm]

Alrighty, Here it goes.

I would love to dig post holes with my kubota L4310. Currently i do them with a linemans digger and bars, this works in our soil, but obviously it takes a lot of time and effort, two things that are a stretched thin around here.

I would bet that i have at least 500 holes i want done eventually, not counting replacements.

I am in the hills in west central New Hampshire, we have some loamy sand, gavel, lots of rocks usually potato sized loose packed, but some get basketball sized and bigger. If i am digging a tree hole 3 feet wide and 4 feet down what comes out is half sand/soil, and half gravel rocks. Of that gravel and rock it is usually half in volume in gravel, and the other half rock, mostly potato sized with the odd large one. That is the usual, some spots are a no go, and some spots are nice and easy. I would say 20 percent of the time i am going to get this thing hung up into some football-basketball sized rocks, however this is not heavily compacted soil, it is fairly loose, stuff moves when pried. I feel an auger properly driven will be effective, it just is going to hit rocks.

I have no experience with post hole diggers, however from research i would guess the following.

A 3 point auger is going to be a waste of time and money.

A 3 point auger with down pressure is still going to be a waste of time and money.

A cheap auger bit is just going to get destroyed

A quality "soil" auger may last me some time maybe, but i would be better off with a carbide tipped "rock" auger.

Hydraulic drive on my FEL is the way to go.

Hydraulic drive on my FEL, from a larger pump off my PTO is probably the way to go.


I have a quick connect bucket, i could get a blank quick connect frame to weld a mount for the drive on.

From here i am wondering how far i should go with this.

My tractors hydro pump is rated at 7.8 GPM ( unfortunately i have not been able to figure out what RPM that is at) and i already have remotes up at the bucket. Would something like land prides HD25 which is rated for 5-12 GPM be enough? and i get a better auger, or a rock auger? would that even be enough to run a rock auger? I am talking 9 inch diameter. I am guessing this probably wont be enough, anybody with personal experience with a similar setup?

If that is not enough, it is going to get much more expensive. I'll need to run a higher (i would match it for the drive) GPM pump off my PTO, I'll need lines and connectors for there, a hydraulic valve to be able to reverse direction, and then the drive and auger.
At this point could a get away with the LP35, it is comparably cheap to others? then there is the SA20, seems i am going to be in the 3k ballpark at that point. renting a skid with a hydro post hole digger for a week is going to be over 2k. landpride seems to be economical compared to McMillen and BellTech.

Being able to run this in frozen ground would be lovely too.


Does anybody have experience running a hydro post hole digger with an FEL, with a PTO driven pump?
anybody have experience running that on a tractor of my size?

specs for my tractor are here. TractorData.com Kubota L431 tractor information

Thanks!

 

[countrybumpkin]

If your looking for cheap it won’t be a front mount hydraulic unit, but they are well worth the money. If your wanting to use a pto pump to step up your hydraulic flow you’ll have to look into a power pack unit for your 3 point, and those are just as much as a good hydraulic auger setup.

As for the auger you need to look into a heavy duty one like a pengo aggressor , you can get those with a optional BORH, for solid rock. Sounds like your in the same boat as I am, with soil and mixed size rocks, the problem is that a rock head doesn’t work well in soil so you almost need both types of augers in some circumstances. I went with a Danuser EP6 with a 9” and a 15” Pengo auger with a bolt on rock head. I’m sure Fallon will chime in later with his experience with his hydraulic setup, he has used it more than I have mine. I think he has found that his is at times leaking a bit of power.

Everything Attachments has a good selection of hydraulic drives and auger stocks choose from.

 

[bluelou212]

If your looking for cheap it won’t be a front mount hydraulic unit, but they are well worth the money. If your wanting to use a pto pump to step up your hydraulic flow you’ll have to look into a power pack unit for your 3 point, and those are just as much as a good hydraulic auger setup.

As for the auger you need to look into a heavy duty one like a pengo aggressor , you can get those with a optional BORH, for solid rock. Sounds like your in the same boat as I am, with soil and mixed size rocks, the problem is that a rock head doesn’t work well in soil so you almost need both types of augers in some circumstances. I went with a Danuser EP6 with a 9” and a 15” Pengo auger with a bolt on rock head. I’m sure Fallon will chime in later with his experience with his hydraulic setup, he has used it more than I have mine. I think he has found that his is at times leaking a bit of power.

Everything Attachments has a good selection of hydraulic drives and auger stocks choose from.

I've got pretty rocky soil in the Catskill Mtns in NY. Here's what our Kubota dealer told me. Don't bother with the tractor mounted post-hole diggers in rocky soil, rent our MT55 with an augur and rock bit instead. So, I rented one and it worked out great. MT55 Mini Track Loader - Bobcat Company

 

[countrybumpkin]

That’s good but renting one isn’t for everyone.

 

[mddorange]

:welcome:
To the TBN forum SSF. You sure came to the right place to get answers.

Post some pics and keep us updated.

 

[buickanddeere]

Alrighty, Here it goes.

I would love to dig post holes with my kubota L4310. Currently i do them with a linemans digger and bars, this works in our soil, but obviously it takes a lot of time and effort, two things that are a stretched thin around here.

I would bet that i have at least 500 holes i want done eventually, not counting replacements.

I am in the hills in west central New Hampshire, we have some loamy sand, gavel, lots of rocks usually potato sized loose packed, but some get basketball sized and bigger. If i am digging a tree hole 3 feet wide and 4 feet down what comes out is half sand/soil, and half gravel rocks. Of that gravel and rock it is usually half in volume in gravel, and the other half rock, mostly potato sized with the odd large one. That is the usual, some spots are a no go, and some spots are nice and easy. I would say 20 percent of the time i am going to get this thing hung up into some football-basketball sized rocks, however this is not heavily compacted soil, it is fairly loose, stuff moves when pried. I feel an auger properly driven will be effective, it just is going to hit rocks.

I have no experience with post hole diggers, however from research i would guess the following.

A 3 point auger is going to be a waste of time and money.

A 3 point auger with down pressure is still going to be a waste of time and money.

A cheap auger bit is just going to get destroyed

A quality "soil" auger may last me some time maybe, but i would be better off with a carbide tipped "rock" auger.

Hydraulic drive on my FEL is the way to go.

Hydraulic drive on my FEL, from a larger pump off my PTO is probably the way to go.


I have a quick connect bucket, i could get a blank quick connect frame to weld a mount for the drive on.

From here i am wondering how far i should go with this.

My tractors hydro pump is rated at 7.8 GPM ( unfortunately i have not been able to figure out what RPM that is at) and i already have remotes up at the bucket. Would something like land prides HD25 which is rated for 5-12 GPM be enough? and i get a better auger, or a rock auger? would that even be enough to run a rock auger? I am talking 9 inch diameter. I am guessing this probably wont be enough, anybody with personal experience with a similar setup?

If that is not enough, it is going to get much more expensive. I'll need to run a higher (i would match it for the drive) GPM pump off my PTO, I'll need lines and connectors for there, a hydraulic valve to be able to reverse direction, and then the drive and auger.
At this point could a get away with the LP35, it is comparably cheap to others? then there is the SA20, seems i am going to be in the 3k ballpark at that point. renting a skid with a hydro post hole digger for a week is going to be over 2k. landpride seems to be economical compared to McMillen and BellTech.

Being able to run this in frozen ground would be lovely too.


Does anybody have experience running a hydro post hole digger with an FEL, with a PTO driven pump?
anybody have experience running that on a tractor of my size?

specs for my tractor are here. TractorData.com Kubota L431 tractor information

Thanks!

The tractor's hydraulics will have sufficient gpm. Post hole auguring is not a race .

 

[SubSubsistanceFarm]

If your looking for cheap it won’t be a front mount hydraulic unit, but they are well worth the money. If your wanting to use a pto pump to step up your hydraulic flow you’ll have to look into a power pack unit for your 3 point, and those are just as much as a good hydraulic auger setup.

As for the auger you need to look into a heavy duty one like a pengo aggressor , you can get those with a optional BORH, for solid rock. Sounds like your in the same boat as I am, with soil and mixed size rocks, the problem is that a rock head doesn’t work well in soil so you almost need both types of augers in some circumstances. I went with a Danuser EP6 with a 9” and a 15” Pengo auger with a bolt on rock head. I’m sure Fallon will chime in later with his experience with his hydraulic setup, he has used it more than I have mine. I think he has found that his is at times leaking a bit of power.

Everything Attachments has a good selection of hydraulic drives and auger stocks choose from.

Thankyou, I am not familiar with a power pack, I'll look into those. My woods 7500 backhoe has a tank and filter i was going to use, would that not be enough, im assuming based on googling for a minute that power packs are basically a tank, filter, cooler.... unfortunately the pump for the woods is too weak at 2.61 cubic inch, so 6.1 gallons per minute at 540 rpm. I'll look into the power pack more, i could probably make my own if i did not want to borrow from the backhoe, or spend cash i don't have
.

 

[SubSubsistanceFarm]

I've got pretty rocky soil in the Catskill Mtns in NY. Here's what our Kubota dealer told me. Don't bother with the tractor mounted post-hole diggers in rocky soil, rent our MT55 with an augur and rock bit instead. So, I rented one and it worked out great. MT55 Mini Track Loader - Bobcat Company

Thankyou.
My kubota dealer told me the same thing, however its over 2k to rent one for a week. It is not often i can work for a straight week. If i can set this up effectively on the tractor i have it would be the way to go. I just don't know if that is possible. hence the question

 

[SubSubsistanceFarm]

That’s good but renting one isn’t for everyone.

Renting for a day to try something before i buy would work over here, but not really otherwise, i do not have enough length of unoccupied time to make it cost effective. Kids, livestock, something else breaking in the middle of the rental period, and too many usual daily demands to maximize rental of that expense.

 

[SubSubsistanceFarm]

Thanks, will do!