One Man Gas Auger

[weldingisfun]

Gee whiz, if the wife and I had known how difficult it is to use one of those one man gas augers, we never would have bought one to use putting up the 3,000+ feet of fence around our property 15+ years ago.

 

[todd walker]

I have the one man, and like it, use for fence where no room for tractor, fruit tree's, hole for dog poop.
Never had any problems, other then hard ground so might dig 6'' to 12'' then fill with water, come back next day
dig more, works great if no hurry.

 

[tow653]

Have owned one for years. Yeah they don't like roots or rocks,but sure beats the alternative.

 

[bindian]

Ustmd,
I have a hyd. auger on my backhoe. This weekend, my son and I will be putting 10 post holes in at my Daughter's house outside of your town, Manor. But I can't use the tractor and hyd. auger, as I can't get around to the back of her property and the sides are fenced. So I am borrowing my neighbor's E43 one man Earthquake auger. At least I will have my son there to manhandle the auger.
hugs, Brandi

 

[aczlan]

Our local rental place has one like this: Easy Auger Hydraulic Earth Auger with Self Propulsion System— 270cc Engine, 350 Ft.-Lbs. of Torque, Model# EA93HSPT | Auger Powerheads, Bits Extensions| Northern Tool + Equipment seems that it would be easier on the operator for one person to use.

Aaron Z

 

[DrRod]

I have a Stihl one-man auger. I've used it to drill hundreds a season for Christmas trees and for posts, other trees, shrubs, et al. It beats using a digging bar and manual post holer but I will admit it is a work out. You have to lean into it to offset the torque and about every tenth hole it will catch a rock and the cut-off arm will snap into your leg. I started wearing a rubber knee pad on my thigh to absorb the shock and that worked well. But at a recent medical exam they noted I had hard-to-explain scarring on the inner wall of my abdomen. I have to think that leaning into that machine could be the source. I mentioned it to my city doctors but they had no idea what I was talking about. In any case, its real handy but not a tool for the meek.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I have a one man auger, Little Beaver Hydraulic. At 66 I can still dig a six foot deep hole in the worst clay on the planet by myself when I have to. I've only had it almost thirty years and used it just last week on a job a two man or a tractor would never have got into. I have 35' hoses for those special occasions when I can't get the power plant next to the hole. I had three laborers working with me, one with a death grip on the torque bar which is usually attached to the power unit.

The secret to digging in clay is a little bit of water. I've found a 32 ounce cup full is usually all I need for a 12" X 3' hole, standard post hole. I figured that out real quick on my own. I was fighting the auger binding up and thought of maybe using some WD to lube the flights when I remembered that when the clay is wet you can't stand on it without falling down. Haven't fought it since.

 

[KiwiBro]

Anyone made a FEL or 3PH bracket to hold a rental auger? Could get all techy and have a side-shift on the brackets to help position the auger better.

 

[dragoneggs]

I have a one man auger, Little Beaver Hydraulic. At 66 I can still dig a six foot deep hole in the worst clay on the planet by myself when I have to. I've only had it almost thirty years and used it just last week on a job a two man or a tractor would never have got into. I have 35' hoses for those special occasions when I can't get the power plant next to the hole. I had three laborers working with me, one with a death grip on the torque bar which is usually attached to the power unit. The secret to digging in clay is a little bit of water. I've found a 32 ounce cup full is usually all I need for a 12" X 3' hole, standard post hole. I figured that out real quick on my own. I was fighting the auger binding up and thought of maybe using some WD to lube the flights when I remembered that when the clay is wet you can't stand on it without falling down. Haven't fought it since.

Clay would be a dream for me but only talking about drilling holes though. Hitting roots or large rocks is not fun.

 

[newbury]

Have owned one for years. Yeah they don't like roots or rocks,but sure beats the alternative.

I used one once, they can be a torture. The only good use I could see for them was digging holes for ice fishing - no rocks, no roots, no sudden stops.