front tractor mounted post pounder??

[maplehillfrm]

has anyone ever built a post pounder or driver that would attach to the front of a tractor, or for that matter a 3 point hitch?

I was thinking it could be run off the hydraulics with maybe a large piston,a nd a few hundred lbs of weight for the pounder,, I think I can figure out the lift of the piece, but am having trouble figuring a way to release the weight onto the post, it would have to totally release and free fall, I would think

another thought was having a chain on a set of pulleys and that would go aound the whole upright beam , maybe it could have a lip coming off the weight and a lip welded to the chain so they would catch on the bottom-- the weight would ride to the top, as the chain made its approach to the top and over it would just be pulled away from teh weights lip..

anyone ever build one of these before,, the concept shouldnt be too hard, just need to get it to release.. hydraulic piston only wouldnt work , would it, it would be a lot of down pressure on the cylinder on free fall,, if it would even freefall,,
any suggestions of sites would be appreciated,, I have about 75 poles to put in and do not want to dig them all with my post holee digger, then have to fill them in and tamp,, and I sure aint pounden em by hand,, I did that when I was younger,, never hadto go to the gym though,,

 

[montejw]

The "pounders" I've seen typically are cable winch devices. The winch lifts the weight, then to drop the weight it's let to spin freely, then hit the brake to stop the cable from totally unspooling. I'm sure it takes a bit of practice, but that's just seat time.

Monte

 

[MikePA]

Commercial post drivers use hydraulics to lift an I beam and then quickly dump the oil back into the sump to drop it. The I beam has a plated welded to the bottom which drives the post.

 

[shopteacher]

I been planning on building one, but just haven't had the time to fool with it yet. I got a cylinder from a fork lift that I intend on using for lift and as stated in the last post it needs to dump the oil fast to let if freefall more or less. I thought I might have to increase the return port out of the cylinder to allow the oil to rush out

 

[maplehillfrm]

such great advice on the posts about the pounder. I didnt realize I had two going,, That was my concern I guess , the rapid dispersal of the oil upon the downward force of the pounding implement,, would a larger return line help with that??,, and would the force of the oil thru the cylinder rupture or hurt the cylinder gaskets at all??
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I actually remebered I had a HUGE log splitter I had given to me that has a close to 10 foot I beam and a long ram,,, even comes with its own hydro pump,, I am thinking on making this the basis of my unit,,[ when it warms up a bit,,,] I thnk I can use the plate that is used for pushing the log thru as the tamper end, I will have to reverse the workings on it, but I think I have a good start,, I will try to get some pics when I can get up the part of the property where it sits,,

There really does seem to be a lot of info and people willing to help on here,, keep it up, its nice to find a place where the advice flows,, , you can take bits and pieces of each post an apply it, thansk again pat