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

ayelvington · May 3, 2016

A video:
PHD enhancement with free weights for down pressure - YouTube

And a blog entry:
Just a few more views of the weight holder that I...

The extra weight (100 lbs) works like a champ with a 12" auger.

Fallon · May 4, 2016

ayelvington said:
A video:
PHD enhancement with free weights for down pressure - YouTube

And a blog entry:
Just a few more views of the weight holder that I...

The extra weight (100 lbs) works like a champ with a 12" auger.

I have a 200lbs chunk of pipe that rests on my PHD & gets heald on my that T handle.

I rebuilt mine to fit on a quick hitch. The hydraulic top link gives down pressure for the first foot or so of the hole, then it's normal 3pt action for the rest.

buickanddeere · May 4, 2016

Why not use an auger with a better cutting tip?

jwmorris · May 4, 2016

Water is a good ballast as its pretty easy to adjust, cheap and you don't have to carry it around when you don't want it.. That said good leading cutting edges make a world of difference, they don't last long in some areas though, getting good with a stick welder and "hard face" rod is a good skill to learn.

Fallon · May 5, 2016

Here is the chunk of steel I strap to the top of my PHD. I hang it like that so its easy to mount & dismount solo by just raising/lowering the PHD under it.

You can see my 2 main augers behind the post. The orange one is 9" & really heavy duty. It came with huge carbide frost teeth thicker than my thumb. They didnt dig in our clay for anything with hundreds of extra lbs on it. Got a cheap 6" auger to drill pilot holes & it was trying to corkscrew into the ground. The 9" would go in with a pilot hole. Got some thinner sharper teeth & it digs ok now. Ended up getting the 12" from the local farm store so id have an easier time spacing & leveling the posts properly (using a 8' crosspiece, so need to be within an inch or so. Any it has thin sharp cheap teeth on it, but despite being a lot bigger than the 9" digs noticably faster.

So ya, the right teeth help A LOT. But the good ones seem to be lighter thinner ones. At least they are cheap & common.

I can easily tell when I forget to put my 200lbs weight on, even with good teeth. Forgot it a few weekends ago & things were going way to slow, took me a few minutes to realize I forgot the weight, but I knew it wasn't digging right.

BHD · May 5, 2016

my digger was once a piece of junk, My dad always only bought the cheapest POS out there,

and he tried it a few times and gave up, I used it a little and could not dig a hole unless conditions were jsut perfect, and could hardly ever dig a straight hole, as the head would rode in an arc as it moved up and down,

and one day I figured I would adapt it to ride on a track so it would dig straight, first of all and add some down pressure, even tho the weight is only the frame it acts like three to four times the weight of the frame, if just piled on the digger when was original,

now you hardly ever have to do any more than just clean out a little loose dirt in the bottom of the hole, out of 23 holes today, I only had to alter about two holes (8" auger, and a 6 5/8" steel post, and only by about 1" on a edge.)

Tul01 · May 5, 2016

BHD that is slick. I've always struggled with the arc too. I might just "borrow" some of that design.

Fallon · May 5, 2016

That's hydraulic powered not PTO isn't it? Why not just mount it to a SSQA plate or the bucket? Would have some arc issues, but would be easier & cheaper to build.

I have a lot of arc issues with my build, but forget if the standard PTO PHD does the same. Easy enough to inch forward to counteract the arc travel path with my HST though.

farm boy00 · May 5, 2016

Fallon said:
That's hydraulic powered not PTO isn't it? Why not just mount it to a SSQA plate or the bucket? Would have some arc issues, but would be easier & cheaper to build.

I have a lot of arc issues with my build, but forget if the standard PTO PHD does the same. Easy enough to inch forward to counteract the arc travel path with my HST though.

If your talking about the red one with the lift then that one is a pto. Zoom into the gearbox and tractor pto and then you can see it. Hard to tell at first. I would add a edited picture of it but TBN won't let them load

Fallon · May 6, 2016

farm boy00 said:
If your talking about the red one with the lift then that one is a pto. Zoom into the gearbox and tractor pto and then you can see it. Hard to tell at first. I would add a edited picture of it but TBN won't let them load

Ah, the hoses for the lift cylinder threw me off.

How much downpressure on that rig? Is it just limited to the weight of that frame?