Any tips for getting a PHD to dig thru hardpan?

thavil · Feb 16, 2009

If you still have problems after soaking with water, I agree with what sixdogs said. Bouncing the auger up and down has worked for me in hardpan/clay. I usually pick the auger up about 6" to 12" while still spinning and drop it. Sometimes takes a few tries but has worked on all the holes I have dug.

CurlyDave · Feb 21, 2009

One thing I have not seen mentioned, but which I have seen done is to get a second tractor.

While you try to drill with the PHD, your buddy comes up from behind and "leans" on the top of the PHD with his FEL. If he has something in the bucket, so much the better.

warhammer · Feb 22, 2009

Went through the whole list. Drilled, soaked for a couple of days, dropped the auger several times and .... finally as I was about to live with a line post at only about 30" depth it broke through and went the rest of the way down.
So all up I have about 5 hours in this one post hole. ;o{
Three more posts to go!

Warhammer

CurlyDave said:
One thing I have not seen mentioned, but which I have seen done is to get a second tractor.

While you try to drill with the PHD, your buddy comes up from behind and "leans" on the top of the PHD with his FEL. If he has something in the bucket, so much the better.

PA hayseed · Feb 22, 2009

Water is a key ingredient for drilling hard material. In professional drilling, a diamond tip bit and water is used to core through rock. Your auger tip choice is also essential. So many people on this site use one auger with a fixed bit for drilling, also referred to as general purpose.

I put up this link on this site from time to time, a good auger bit for hard materials should look like this. http://www.belltec.net/augers.html Take a look at some of the different augers for different soil/ground conditions.

I don't work for this company, and they sure don't give me free stuff or discounts. I just think that they make a good auger bit for the materials that people are usually having issues with. I no longer work for a drilling company, so I don't have access to their auger/auger bit books. Keep in mind that not all PHD can have (designed to) another fell put on them to put down pressure, it can be dangerous.

jinman · Feb 25, 2009

warhammer said:
Went through the whole list. Drilled, soaked for a couple of days, dropped the auger several times and .... finally as I was about to live with a line post at only about 30" depth it broke through and went the rest of the way down.
So all up I have about 5 hours in this one post hole. ;o{
Three more posts to go!

Warhammer

You are in the severe drought area. Things won't get better until you get some rain. Every hole will probably need a good soaking to get done.

I tried to dig a couple of post holes in a dry area about 2 years ago. I couldn't even get the auger down much more than a few inches. I gave up and waited for rain since it wasn't a critical job. After the early spring rains, I went back and the auger didn't even slow down. It just went right in.

I also tried the FEL on top of the auger method last year with my neighbor. It worked well, but I had to be really careful because his tractor kept trying to stall as the auger dug in.

Egon · Feb 25, 2009

On a recent water well drilling site this equipment was noted. It might work as a post hole digger too.

Water Well Drilling Equipment Portable and Hydraulic Drill Rigs

warhammer · Feb 27, 2009

I went out on Wednesday to dig the next line post expecting the worst. The good news is the auger went right down with no problem. The bad news is that fence post is about 10 feet away from a rattlesnake den, there were a couple of residents home and they came out behind me while I was working to see what was going on.
I really don't like snakes.

Warhammer

jinman said:
You are in the severe drought area. Things won't get better until you get some rain. Every hole will probably need a good soaking to get done.

I tried to dig a couple of post holes in a dry area about 2 years ago. I couldn't even get the auger down much more than a few inches. I gave up and waited for rain since it wasn't a critical job. After the early spring rains, I went back and the auger didn't even slow down. It just went right in.

I also tried the FEL on top of the auger method last year with my neighbor. It worked well, but I had to be really careful because his tractor kept trying to stall as the auger dug in.

sixdogs · Feb 28, 2009

warhammer said:
I went out on Wednesday to dig the next line post expecting the worst. The good news is the auger went right down with no problem. The bad news is that fence post is about 10 feet away from a rattlesnake den, there were a couple of residents home and they came out behind me while I was working to see what was going on.
I really don't like snakes.

Warhammer

My initial suggestion would be to not tick them off by vibrating the ground with a post hole digger.

My real answer is to build two brace-type "H" posts a good distance on either side from the den. Then string high-tensile 17 ga alum coated wire between the posts with a spring and tensioner and slide batten sticks in there to keep the wire spacing correct. Could use barb wire.
You can go a considerable distance this way. I used to span the distance over granite ledge this way and it usually worked. I think I occasionally went several hundred feet. With hi-tensile my line posts were maybe 100ft apart anyway with floating spacer sticks in between.
Life went a lot easier and Miller Time a lot sooner with this method.

PA hayseed · Feb 28, 2009

warhammer said:
The bad news is that fence post is about 10 feet away from a rattlesnake den, there were a couple of residents home and they came out behind me while I was working to see what was going on.
I really don't like snakes.

Warhammer

I am sure if you call one of these snake round up people they would gladly get rid of your snakes for you. Heck people pay to catch them, and I hear they make nice boots for all you Texans.

Here, I even did some of your research work for you. Here is a link. Better hurry, the roundup is about to begin. http://gosw.about.com/od/santafenewmexico/p/snake.htm I'm not sure how far Sweetwater is from you, but I am sure that it is alot closer than central PA.

zzvyb6 · Feb 28, 2009

Check to see if the auger teeth are wore out or bent. The hole jumping technique tends to bend the tooth end of the flighting and that ends your cutting ability. Its easy to make more aggressive teeth for your auger, I cut new ones all the time using 3/8 steel and a table saw with a metal cutting wheel to get the approximate shape. Drill 2 holes and you are there. Make sure the teeth are mounted correctly to attack the hardpan. If seen a lot of guys cutting the hole more with the fastening bolts than the tooth end. Oops.