Need tips on drilling upright post holes

[Oldoak]

Actually, all it means is the density at which he is tamping the dirt is greater than the density of the soil prior to digging the hole. I wouldn't recommend you decrease the degree of tamping, however, you might simply be creating a dense 'jacket' around the post, in relatively loose soil.

I seriously doubt anyone is going to tamp the dirt in a post hole denser than ground that had been undisturbed prior to drilling the holes.

 

[prof fate]

My PHD came with a 15" auger, a friend offered to trade me a 6" one. I said let me try this one and i'll get back to you.

I put in 2 posts and boards across to hang water buckts for horses - so a lot of weight all on one side - figured, from past experience, they may lean as the ground 'settles' or such. Of course all my previous holes were hand dug with a clamshell style 'shovel'.

Well, the 'oversize' 15" hole with a 6" diam post in it left me plenty of room to tamp with a spud bar. Adding water can also help condense the soil as you pack it in. But they didn't move one hair off dead vertical since last november.

More work tamping of course.

Loaders doent lift vertically, they go in an arc just like your 3pt. It isnt quite as dramatic as the 3pt across the 4' PHD range, but its close.

When I was putting in my fence with a crosbar I put it in 1 post at a time so we could precisely align, & plumb each one. I had a couple helpers & one of em would stand to the side & let me know when to bump the go pedal a hair to keep the auger level on it's way down. That was with my 3pt, but similar issues with the new SSQA mount PHD.

Posts stay tight if you tamp the backfill in really tight. If you dont tamp it hard they loosen up. I upgraded from a 9" auger to 12" for my 6" posts. It let me hsve wiggle room to get the precise alignment I needed. No matter how good you work things, post holes aren't perfectly aligned or plumb. That means you need room to shuffle the post in the hole before tamping things in tight.