Best value medium-duty PHD setup?

[BB_TX]

<font color="blue"> followed by a cleanout with an old shop vac! </font>
Wow!! Now that's a new one. Never thought about that. Would take a generator or very long extension cord for most holes though.

 

[GlennT]

I also have a John Deere Model 670 and agree that it's 16 HP is enough to dig postholes with a 9 inch auger. I am just finishing an extensive fencing project and have had no problems caused by the tractor's lack of power to turn the auger. However, I have had problems with the tractor's inability to sometimes lift the auger out of the hole. In caliche, clay and just plain hard-packed soil, I have to be very careful to only let the auger go down a few inches (6 inches or soil) before bringing it up and clearing it. I might mention, too, that this problem is augmented by the fact that the PHD boom swings in an arc and this causes the auger to rub against the back side of the hole and makes it even more difficult to bring up the auger. Moving forward a few inches when the auger is about halfway down in the hole helps reduce this friction. Fortunately, if I can't bring the auger up, I can usually get it started again by putting a bar through the fork of the PTO shaft and turning it in reverse. I try to do this gingerly as I don't know if I'm exerting excessive pressure on the gears in the PTD head. The only alternatives that I'm aware of are to dig down around the auger (anything but this!) or to put a big pipe wrench on the auger tube and I really hate to do this because I'll probably deform the tube and it will be difficult to slip on and off. I might mention again here that I store my PTD by slipping off the auger in the shed. This puts that big, heavy, cast-iron head on the ground where I can't tip it over on my head or something else stupid. I have just ordered and received a replacement auger tip from Leinbach. The cost was reasonable and the service was courteous, pleasant and prompt. The original tip wore out from rubbing on rocks and limestone. I took it off and sharpened it a few times to make it work, but eventually the underside of the tip wore so badly that the edges no longer presented an aggressive angle in the hole and there wasn't enough left of the blades to grind down any further. The local dealer offered to sell me a replacement auger with a more aggressive, serrated edge, but sharpening and eventually replacing the tip of the regular tip is considerably cheaper, although more time consuming.

 

[timb]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ...Would take a generator or very long extension cord for most holes though )</font>

I think it only works well here because of the high shale content. Easy to fracture into quarter or half-dollar-sized chips. And we have to be close enough to a decent electrical source to use a heavy 100' extension cord. We've actually used the "technique" to get the last 6" or so of depth when the regular digger really starts to be a pain. In fact one 1-foot hole that we wanted down six feet (antenna mast) probably got the last 3 feet out with the vac!

Does give a very neat and clean hole though! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Rick Jay]

timb,

Sounds like you're on the right track to figuring out your needs. Just another thing to keep in mind. A 6"x6" post has a diagonal measure of approx. 7.5", so the minimum hole diameter must be 8". I usually use the 12" hole for 4"x4" and 6"x6" posts...I like the "margin for error" the larger hole gives. It really helps since the holes are always exactly where I want them. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

~Rick