Educate me on post drivers

ShowroomShine · Apr 12, 2023

I need to drive fence posts at my new farm in the VA mountains, the land does have some hilly sections that may be challenging for my larger tractor to get on.

On my initial looking at post drivers I’ve seen 3 point hitch shaver style and then skid steer mount. The skid steer mounted style mostly seems to be fixed with no tilt or rotate, the shaver seems to have some adjustments.

What do I look for and what do I absolutely stay away from? I’m leaning towards skid steer style since the hills will make having my larger tractor on them somewhat challenging. I also thought about maybe seeing about one mounted to the mini excavator much like a hammer.

LouNY · Apr 12, 2023

The post driver on the farm was a 3 point driver, it is mounted on a 3 point to ssqa plate. When fixing fence in this area most of them are in old hedgerows or stone walls or a combination of both. The rear mounted 3 point is too difficult to get in were it's needed mounted on the front end loader the reach is considerably better.

Tinhack · Apr 12, 2023

I did over a mile of fence with one of these, you lazy bum.

LouNY · Apr 12, 2023

That doesn't seem to fit split locust post very well

CobyRupert · Apr 12, 2023

I’ve only used a 3 point hitch pounder helping a neighbor a few times. It had a lot of nice (and needed) features. You want a way to plumb the “pounder” tower on 2 axis, straight up and down, when tractor is on uneven ground. I can see how a loader mounted on can be “tilted” by he loaded, but how is it “leveled” on the other axis?
I think neighbor’s also had ways to offset the tower in 1 or 2 other ways so posts can outside side of tractor wheel, and also fine tune the final post location. It had lots of hydraulics on it.
All I know it was a big heavy beast, hard to hook up, and his (say) 7500 lb, 60 Hp tractor knew it had something.

Putting a pointed end on the post made driving easier (I think), we never tried pounding a blunt.
His soil was loomy enough that the post would sink in, but I always wondered what could happen if the posts met a wide stone. Another reason for a pointed end I suppose. They are a violent tool, I wouldn’t want to be near a post exploding.