Before I Buy A $400 Auger...

[MikePA]

In the continuing saga of digging fence posts...Pouring water in the 12" deep holes did not help. Both the Leinbach and Speeco augers sit and spin.

I called a local farm supply dealer and told him of my plight.

He said Danuser makes 3 different types of augers; Plain Edge, Serrated Edge and Hole Digger Head. Here's a <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.danuser.com/products/augers/all_augers.htm#2ROUND40>link</A> to pictures and here's their description of what each can do.

Plain cutting edges are a sharp edge design best used for normal digging conditions. Serrated cutting edges are best used for underground roots and breaking through compacted soils. The Hole Digger Head design is the most aggressive of the three cutting edges. Hole Digger Head augers provide digging through clay, caliche, shale, mixed limestone, and light rock.

A 9" Serrated edge auger is $235.
A 9" Hole Digger Head is $390!!!!

The salesman said that the local orchards use the Hole Digger heads for planting trees where they have to dig through roots and the also will dig through macadam driveways.

Do any of you have experience with either of these augers?

 

[WVBill]

Mike:

Let me suggest an approach. When I decided to build my own tooth bar, I used combine guards as the teeth. It's explained (with pictures) in <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=implement&Number=109898&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1#Post109898>This Thread</A>.

Maybe you could take a couple of those combine guards and slip and bolt them on to the bottom of the flights of your Linebach auger - giving it "teeth" that will help your auger dig.

There was some doubt that combine guards would be tough enough to perform as FEL bucket teeth but mine have worked out fine for almost 6 months now.

Just a thought.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Mike before you go to much further go to "projects" and look back at about page four. There you will see a thread on digging post holes with Centex (Don) and me. You will find some great links there. I would strongly suggest you consider ordering an auger from the link in California.

You'll be buying directly from the manufacturer and you can talk to the owner and get an auger designed specifically for your situation.

It is amazing how much a little difference can make. On this job in Weatherford the original bid was for four hundred holes. They've added about a hundred and seventy more. What's interesting is on the first day on the job I changed out the teeth pattern on the auger and made all the difference in the world.

I had started with what I thought was the right <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/forumfiles/33-152949-MVC-004F.JPG>combo</A> and realized quickly it wasn't digging quite the way I wanted. So I changed teeth and she was like a hot knife through butter.

So far the job has been great. I've only cut the eight inch water main once and totally destroyed only one electrical conduit line. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

The most common mistake I see guys make with digging holes is using either a dull bit or one that has a head designed for another kind of soil. The biggest mistake is the dull one.

I think you will enjoy the thread. That Don might not be pretty but he definately can think on his feet.

 

[Mosey]

Mike - I seem to recall that this fence is for your wife's horses, she sure is going to owe you big time when you get done! Something also tells me you're also going to be an expert with post hole diggers by the time you're done. I'd have probably threw in the towel by now! If your Leinbach PHD is still going by the time you get done it sure will prove they're built strong, so I sure hope it holds out since I have a Leinbach too.

 

[chrisjbell]

<font color=blue>I've only cut the eight inch water main once and totally destroyed only one electrical conduit line. </font color=blue>

And I was so proud of myself when I chopped through my irrigation and well power line with a Ditch Witch. I obviously have a lot to learn /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif...Chris

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I like to smile and tell the customer that I have the world's best utility locator. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

This is a new high school. The general contractor has pointed out where the fence goes and assured me there is nothing below me or if there is anything just where.

The electrical conduit was put in by a lazy trencher operator who didn't bother to scale out where the fence line was supposed to go. After I hit him in the first hole the decision by the general was that he shouldn't have been there and I was to do what I was supposed to do how I was supposed to do it and the electrical contractor could redo his stuff if it was in my way.

Friday morning the third hole after walking the fence line with the engineer struck the water main. He'd assured me I was clear of utilities.

I make light of it but it isn't funny. The electrical contractor cut a fiber cable between two buildings. They'd put in the conduit and still cut it. I heard seventeen thousand dollars to fix the cut. My first day on the job I was digging along the line cutting electrical conduit every hole and watching a telephone repairman fix four buried drops cut by the sprinkler contractor. That was a two thousand dollar screw up on their part. The local power locator visited with me three times the first day. They've been hit on this job about four times. So he visits often and checks out every piece of equipment that might could would cut their stuff.

I live by DIGTESS. On a regular job cutting that water main would have cost I'm not sure how much. I carry a million dollar liability but I've never had to touch it, slap this wooden desk top./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[MikePA]

<font color=blue>I would strongly suggest you consider ordering an auger from the link in California.
</font color=blue>
I talked to Sandy and she FAXed me some information. I'm still woozy.

Here are their prices for a 48" long auger that will 'drill holes through Asphalt, Concrete, Lava, Frozen Ground and Sansdstone'

4.5" $400
6" $600.00
8" $800
10" $1,000
12" $1,200

A 9" drill head alone is $495.

Will a drill head fit the Speeco auger I have?

 

[MikePA]

It seems that sometimes the more information you have, the more confusing things become!

The place in CA can sell me ($95) a screw in auger tip for my Speeco auger that might work better. They might also have serrated cutting edges I can use. They had to check this.

While I was waiting for a return email from them (they're called drillingworld.com) I thought I'd call other local farm and machinery dealers who sell Danuser. The good news is I found a place that sells the same augers, either the serrated or hole drilling head, for almost $100 less. The bad news they don't think either auger will solve my problem /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif.

They talked to the local Danuser distributor and told them of my problem, i.e., hard clay and some rocks. The Danuser distributor told them since I was using an inexpensive post hole digger (Leinbach) who uses a foreign gear box, which can not spin the auger fast enough. As a result they thought there was a chance that neither the serrated auger ($189) or the hole digger head ($307) will work. They of course recommend a Danuser post hole digger. They claimed that in times of dry weather their sales go up.

Are there any of my TBN brothers and sisters who can confirm this?

I'm so confused and I sure don't want to be confused and poorer. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif I've already dropped $100 in a Speeco auger that didn't work out. I sure don't want to spend another $200 or $300 in something that won't work either.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Mike I feel your pain.

I know you're handy as a pocket on a shirt. I'm sure you're smart and there's not a shred of doubt about your industriousness.

Go back and read that thread between Don and me again. Take a good look at his weight attachment. See what you can do to duplicate it.

That principle works, weight makes all the difference in the world.

Another thing to try which I've used under certain conditions with some success is to dig a line of holes. I dig each one until I hit the point where it's between futile and hopeless. The more holes you dig the better you get at discerning this. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Then fill each hole with water and plan on coming back the next day. Now right now you might be three holes a night. But by the time you get in the house you're grouchier than a dog without a bone to chew.

If you dig and water fifteen holes tonight. Then tomorrow you dig them down another foot, hit futile and laugh at frustration, water'em and start all over again the next night.

So before you were getting three holes a night and being meaner than a junk yard dog without a home. Doing it this way you do a foot in each hole and after three nights you've got five holes done per day and that grin in your eye should be the kind that scares the wife something fierce.

Most of my hole drilling knowledge has come from drilling holes with an Hydraulic Little Beaver. The most down pressure you can get is to balance two hundred pounds of pure t old man love over the auger motor head. That's a lot from one perspective but nada from others.

So I had to figure out things. Some of the things took some study. My favorite Pengo tooth didn't work like I thought it should. So I took the time to study it's pattern attacking the clay. I studied the angle of the dangle and figured out that it was doing more polishing than cutting. I put the teeth in a vice and heated them, tweaked them bout where guesstimation and should be right met. They are like a whole nother animal.

On that one I have had some fun with other guys when they see those teeth and mention how they didn't have any luck with them. I talk about luck and it and me work hand in hand most days and let it go at that.

We're talking about tweaking that puppy so slightly that I could hand you a modified tooth and a stock one and chances are, well you probably would, but most folks would never pick up the difference between the two.

That can be the difference between digging and cussing, just the proverbial hair if you know what I mean.

Try little bites and some weight before you go out and spend much more of the hard earned bucks my friend.

 

[radman]

Try adding weight to you post hole digger. I have both a 3pt mounted and bobcat FEL mounted post hole digger. For ease of use and for hard ground, the FEL digger wins hands down. The 3pt unit is a relatively light weight/duty unit. With my 3pt mounted unit, I usually bolted a peice of angle iron over the boom. Then I added about 200-250 lbs of front end wieghts to the angle iron. It would go from not digging at all to an amazing digger. I have even used as large as 24" bits. Occasionaly, broke a few shear bolts. I always run my Kubota 3710 at idle when performing a really hard dig. Figured it was better to kill the tractor than break the digger. Yes, this method does have some risk but with my limited usage I have not had a problem. Fortunately, in my area rocks are not an issue.