John Deere Auger

[Johndeere3720]

Well, today my awsome neighbor gave me his John Deere auger. He said that he would just use his backhoe to dig post holes and if he ever need a buch of holes dug he would hire me to dig them. So I got on my tractor and drove home to get my pallet forks and a pallet to cfary the auger home. He mentioned that the frame was a little bent and the auger needs to be bent back. I hauled it home and removed my imatch system to hook it up. He was right about it being bent. Ithis auger has been sitting outside for 2 years now and i found that the PTO shaft was stuck and couldnt get it to reach to the pto on my yanmar. I tried to pull it by hand but it was no use, even after soaking it with WD40. So i drove back down to his house and hooked a chain to the PTO shaft and the bucket of his Kubota. I got it out. So then i hooked the PTO up and tested it out. Since the frame is bent, the auger shakes the whole tractor! I drove it back home and dug 1 hole so i could put it on the ground for storage. I definatly need to bend it back! I also need to replace a seal on the gear box and maybe give it a new paint job. All in all, I think free was a good price.:thumbsup:

 

[tree farmer]

Hey, you're getting quite a "stable full" of stuff here recently. I'm jealous.:licking: your Yanmar with the PHD on it reminds me of my neighbor borrowing my auger a few years ago to use on his little 175 Kabota. An hour or so later he walked over to see if I could 'rescue' him with my tractor. The auger caught a Spruce root and pulled it down to the gearbox before he could step on the clutch. The poor little 'Bota was literally standing on its tail. I put my loader bucket under his front wheels which were about 6' off the ground, unhooked his top link and lowered him to the ground. He never borrowed it again.:laughing: He said it happened really fast, so be careful and wear your seatbelt.....Dan.

 

[mjncad]

Yep, be careful with PHD's as they can be downright dangerous and they will shake a small tractor quite a bit.

However; this PHD is a much better deal than the fried to a crisp 4300 your neighbor was offering you earlier.

I haven't tried it yet; but a hot rodder buddy sent me some information on penetrating oils, and supposedly a 50-50 mix of ATF and Acetone works better than any of the popular brand name products on the market.

 

[jenkinsph]

I have one of those too, Deere 31B PHD works very well. I would change the oil and see if you can make a new gasket for the top housing if that is what is leaking. Might try a ball pein hammer and a piece of Victor gasket material for that.

That is a heavy duty unit that will easily turn a 14" auger. I still use mine if drilling holes in a straight line because it is much faster turning than my new PA30 planetary auger. Saves me alot of time drilling fence line posts.

There should be a long pipe handle coming off the gearbox to aid in leveling the auger, don't see this in your picture. Nice find at a very good price.

 

[waltsp]

... your Yanmar with the PHD on it reminds me of my neighbor borrowing my auger a few years ago to use on his little 175 Kabota. An hour or so later he walked over to see if I could 'rescue' him with my tractor. The auger caught a Spruce root and pulled it down to the gearbox before he could step on the clutch. The poor little 'Bota was literally standing on its tail. ....

This is why tools/attachments only get loaned out with ME attached!

 

[Johndeere3720]

thanks for all the comments. I had no idea what the model number was since there really arent any labels left on it. Since my last day of school is on thursday, I plan to start working on it Friday. I will take out the old seal, replace the oil, and fix some other things like the slip clutch on my tiller, and maybe replace the oil and oil filter on my Yanmar. About the handle, the handel was probably in my neighbor's shop that burned down. I will probably get a new one. One thing that i am curious about is what are the two small silver pieces on metal on the frame for? They look like a guide to run a rope from the handel rea to the tractor seat. Oh, the Deere in the old shop was a 4100. Poor thing, it only had 500 some hours on it.

 

[Johndeere3720]

One other thing to note, is that I think that the linkage connecting the PTO to the gear box may be bent, causing the whole tractor to move. And, the PTO sheild has a large hole in it possibly from my neighbor hitting something on the grond while driving with the PTO engaged. I hink i should either fix the sheild or possibly get a new one. any thoughts?

 

[tree farmer]

Jacob, when you have the auger on your tractor, does the auger bit hang vertical when you look at it from the rear? From your picture it appears that the 'A' frame that attaches the boom to the lower 3pt arms may be a little tweaked. If it is, the auger would try to go into the ground at an angle with the shaking getting worse as the upper flutes on the auger bounce off the side of the hole. To fix this, just crank up or down one side of your 3pt until it looks verticle from the back. Could be the driveline is bent. It looks as though it's had a few bangs in its lifetime. Make sure the u-joints and slip shaft are tight and lubed. And please, don't run it without the shaft shield in place. I could tell a story about that.:ashamed: Others weren't that lucky....Dan.

 

[mjncad]

About the handle, the handel was probably in my neighbor's shop that burned down. I will probably get a new one. One thing that i am curious about is what are the two small silver pieces on metal on the frame for? They look like a guide to run a rope from the handel rea to the tractor seat. Oh, the Deere in the old shop was a 4100. Poor thing, it only had 500 some hours on it.

Take a look at Bush Hog's manual for PHD's as it shows the handle. http://www.bushhog.com/ContentFiles/Documents/Manuals/PostHoleDigger.pdf

You can make a new on out of rod or tubing as Deere will charge you an arm and a leg for a new handle. I vote tubing for being lighter weight. I had a 2102.

Oops, I've had 4300 on the brain lately due to other posts on 4300's.

 

[eepete]

Put shields on the PTO shaft. Like tree farmer, I could tell you stories. The down side is somewhere between crippled for life and dead. No seat time in any of those outcomes. If you threw your life away because you were either too cheap or too lazy to get shields and something went wrong, the misery of your life would be compounded. If you learn this lesson the hard way, you'll never be in school again. Yes, it is my intent here to scare the living daylights out of everyone.

On a lighter note, good deal :thumbsup:. More things to learn and stuff to master, and that's what it's all about !

Pete

 

[Johndeere3720]

Jacob, when you have the auger on your tractor, does the auger bit hang vertical when you look at it from the rear? From your picture it appears that the 'A' frame that attaches the boom to the lower 3pt arms may be a little tweaked. If it is, the auger would try to go into the ground at an angle with the shaking getting worse as the upper flutes on the auger bounce off the side of the hole. To fix this, just crank up or down one side of your 3pt until it looks verticle from the back. Could be the driveline is bent. It looks as though it's had a few bangs in its lifetime. Make sure the u-joints and slip shaft are tight and lubed. And please, don't run it without the shaft shield in place. I could tell a story about that.:ashamed: Others weren't that lucky....Dan.

I dont think it is the A frame but the steel fram,ing that supports the gearbox. I think my neighbor hit something with it and bent it a bit but left it be. I've only hooked it to my tractor once and when I did, I noticed that yes, it is drilling at an angle as the hole is way off from where it should be. I am thinking that where the PTO shaft connects to the Gear box may be bent since the entire PTO shaft is strait. With the shield, my neighbor owns a steel fabrication shop and could easily patch the hole up for me. I will also have him heat up the steel frame and bend it back to get it strait.

 

[beenthere]

And it may be that the PTO shaft knuckles on each end don't match up, allowing some shake. Is it possible the telescoping PTO shaft can be re-assembled more than one way?

 

[Johndeere3720]

And it may be that the PTO shaft knuckles on each end don't match up, allowing some shake. Is it possible the telescoping PTO shaft can be re-assembled more than one way?

Im not sure. Tomarrow I plan to start taking it apart so I may know better then. Last night, I got some pictures of the hole in the PTO sheild. The second picture is of the PTO shaft where it hit the sheild. There are a few dings in it but it seems to be fine. The third picture is of the two pieces of steel that i am not sure about what purpose they serve. Any ideas? The 4th picture is the mount for the handel to control the level of the Auger. The 5th picture is of one of the 3 point pins that attach to the tractor. It is clearly bent as the camera was level in the picture. I will have to bend it back. My next pictures show just how big the hole is in the PTO sheild. I definatly want to patch the hole. Again, any questions or comments are welcome.
Jake

 

[beenthere]

While working on it, you might try removing the auger, and running it free. This may give you an indication where the wobble/vibration is coming from.

 

[tree farmer]

After spending some time looking at your pictures, I'm ready conclude that at some time one of the lower pins came off the hitch arms while the auger was running. Probably due to a lynch pin falling out. That would cause the whole assembly to fall sideways and down bending the frame and causing the u-joint to catch and mangle the shield. I suppose it could even twist the main boom. I have lots of round rocks and roots at my place that will kill the engine on my 27 horse tractor without snapping the shear bolt when drilling post holes. The shear bolts snap like glass when drilling with my 40 horse, but not without a violent shake and shudder. Nice thing about augers is they aren't very high tech, so a hot torch and a big hammer or press can fix a lot of ills. By the way, the pto shield I mentioned in another post is the round plastic tube that fits over the pto shaft from the tractor stub shaft to the implement gearbox. The one that spins with the shaft, but stops if it catches on your clothing or you. I had a jacket hanging on the back of the tractor seat while mowing a few years ago, heard a horrible noise and nearly was jerked off the seat backwards in front of my old brush hog. Jacket sleeve wound up on the pto shaft and tore the whole back rest off the tractor seat. Motto: If any safety guard is missing or damaged, repair or replace it before using that equipment again. Don't wanna "rain on your parade", but your family and friends probably want you around a bit longer.:thumbsup:...Dan.

 

[mjncad]

The third picture is of the two pieces of steel that i am not sure about what purpose they serve. Any ideas? Jake

They look like something a previous owner added to route hydraulic lines, or who knows what with.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Well, today i started restoring my auger. Started by taking off the auger bit and gearbox. We brought the gearbox and frame down to my grandpa's shop where we could start working on it. First, we cut the auger bracket off and cut out the bent area and made it level again. Then welded it back on. Now the auger bit will drill strait up and down and not crooked. Next, we commensed on taking the pto shaft off of the gear box. Well, we broke the bolt, so had to bore it out. Even with a lot of hammering it wouldntr come out. So we took the u joint off the pto and used the hydaulic press to seperate the PTO shaft from the gear box and the PTO sheild. Once I got the PTO off, I put the u joint back together. Next, i worked on patching the hole in the PTO sheild. In the end, it looked great! After a bunch of inspecting, i also noticed that the holes that connect the gearbox to the main frame were all bored out. Since the gearbox is cast iron, I cant weld on it so I was kinda stuck there. Then I grinded all the rust and old paint off the auger and primed and painted it. The thing looks brand new and i've only got $20 in it.

 

[beenthere]

Looking great!
Don't sweat the oversized holes you mentioned. They may have come that way, and no reason for them being a tight fit. This way, they won't rust together any time soon.
Did you check the shafts into and out of the gear box for true?

 

[Johndeere3720]

Yeah, my PTO shat was bent a little too so I took the sledge hammer and straitened er' out. Goin to JohnDeere today to see if I can get some new decals. Also gonna assemble the auger today. Caint wait to try it out!

 

[beenthere]

JD
I meant the shaft stubs coming out of the gear box...not the long PTO connecting shaft.