Mont Belvieu, Texas Man dies in tractor accident

Soundguy · Feb 24, 2009

Yep.. I agree.. movement should only effect the output shaft.. if your input shaft is having problems.. I'd check the bearing support flange for out of round.. etc..

soundguy

Uncle Doug · Mar 4, 2009

Looks like it happened again to another local man. He was lucky and will live to tell about it.

MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2009

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Dr. Brown Injured: Well-known Liberty physician Dr. Reese Brown suffered serious injuries Friday while working on his old family farm near Corsicana. Dr. Brown痴 clothing became entangled in a post-hole auger inflicting serious injuries. They included a compound fracture to his arm, lacerations to his head, eight broken ribs and a collapsed lung. He underwent two surgeries at Parkland Hospital in Dallas over the weekend. His family says he is now able to communicate with a pad and pen.

dking · Mar 5, 2009

you can never be too careful around any PTO driven implement...i know a guy that got caught up in the PTO using a wood splitter - it tore him apart. amazing how much power they have and how quickly something can go wrong.

Chuck K. · Mar 21, 2009

Patrick what kind of auger are you using? The 12" auger that came with my leinbach P/H sucked... We removed the pilot tip that came with the PHD and welded a Pengo pilot bit on... Difference between night and day..

patrick_g · Mar 22, 2009

Chuck K. said:
Patrick what kind of auger are you using? The 12" auger that came with my leinbach P/H sucked... We removed the pilot tip that came with the PHD and welded a Pengo pilot bit on... Difference between night and day..

Chuck, Thanks for the info. Both my 9 and 12 inch are Speeco (same as the PHD) so far as I know. They have removable cutters on the starter tip. I hardly ever used the 9 inch till digging got so danged hard. I never really had so much trouble with the 12 before but it is probably just the luck of the draw. I may have not been trying to auger holes when it was quite so dry.

I may go months or over a year without making holes and then dig hole after hole after hole. I think I finally wanted to make a bunch of holes when digging was tough. I suppose I should take a look at the replaceable cutters and maybe sharpen them????

Pat

Rara Avis · Apr 20, 2009

PHDs are dangerous...and I don't mean the academic degree...

Worker killed by post-hole digger

Dos Palos, California -- A 20-year-old Dos Palos man died Wednesday after he was crushed by an industrial post-hole digger. Martin Valencia was working on a farm around 11 a.m. in the 6300 block of Eucalyptus Avenue, near Dos Palos. Valencia and another man, who was operating the tractor, were digging holes. A spinning bolt on the drill caught his jacket and pulled him toward the shaft and into the hole. The machine crushed his body before it could be turned off. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

patrick_g · Apr 21, 2009

Well, my original PHD finally developed enough problems to warrant replacement. The new unit has a "Fishtail" tip rather than a screw type tip and is supposed to be more aggressive. In addition there are three bolt on replaceable chisel tips, two on one side and one on the other that can be sharpened and or replaced and look to be fairly aggressive. I have it nearly assembled and can report back after I use it.

All this scare talk about PHD accidents has made me reassess some of my procedures with an interest in more safety. That and the instruction booklet that came with PHD number 2. This second one may outlast the first since I was, through ignorance, doing things that were stressful to the equipment and potentially dangerous.

This PHD can be fitted with an optional down pressure hydraulic cylinder which will elliminate the need/desire to do something dangerous in the way of using body weight to push the PHD down harder to get a hole started. I think I better get it on order.

Pat