Opinions on PHD's

tandttravis · May 9, 2009

I'm looking for some insight on post hole diggers, I have a B-26 and was interested in the the Landpride PD-15, but my dealer has a used PD-10 for less than half of what a new 15 sells for ($1015 with a 9" auger, ouch!) I realize the 10 only has a 30" auger, but I will primarily be using this for fencing, and I'm thinking the 30" would work fine. Also, I've been reading about down pressure kits, how necessary are these? My soil is pretty hard clay, with lots of cobble, will the auger self feed it's way in, or is the downpressure kit highly reccomended? I really don't want to spend the extra money on a hydraulic kit, but I also have no patience for tools that don't perform. Anyone have any experience with the PD10 ?

Brad_Blazer · May 9, 2009

When you said 30" auger I thought you meant diameter at first!

Pengo augers are the heat. You can get carbide teeth for them. Try it without first - it may work fine. Every type of soil digs different.

That said if you're digging when the soil is dry and hard you'll likely want down pressure. An inexpensive way to add downforce is to weld a post near the end of the boom for weightlifting plates.

mjncad · May 9, 2009

How many post holes are you planning on digging? I have claycrete as I call it, and when I had my Bush Hog 2102 I was digging four feet down for a project and I got the blasted auger stuck in the ground at the gearbox. I thought I was going to have to flag down someone with a large backhoe to yank the sucker out of the ground.

Personally I'd suggest you rent a hydraulic powered one or hire someone to dig the holes for you. 3PH post hole diggers are a pain to attach/detach. They only turn in one direction, so you are screwed if they get stuck on a rock, root, or hardpan and pull themselves into the ground and the 3PH isn't strong enough to yank it back out.

I know you are trying to be cautious with your hard earned cash; but if you insist on owning one, get a hydraulic unit that you can reverse the direction. Maybe a bucket mounted one would work for you?

I didn't have hydraulic downforce on mine; but it probably would have helped with the claycrete.

I hated my PHD so much I traded it in as downpayment on a lawn tractor.

medicshawn · May 9, 2009

That would be a good PHD for your machine.

MtnViewRanch · May 9, 2009

tandttravis said:
I'm looking for some insight on post hole diggers, I have a B-26 and was interested in the the Landpride PD-15, but my dealer has a used PD-10 for less than half of what a new 15 sells for ($1015 with a 9" auger, ouch!) I realize the 10 only has a 30" auger, but I will primarily be using this for fencing, and I'm thinking the 30" would work fine. Also, I've been reading about down pressure kits, how necessary are these? My soil is pretty hard clay, with lots of cobble, will the auger self feed it's way in, or is the downpressure kit highly reccomended? I really don't want to spend the extra money on a hydraulic kit, but I also have no patience for tools that don't perform. Anyone have any experience with the PD10 ?

Don't know if you have checked, but when I bought my Land Pride down pressure kit, it was $550.

I am a weekend warrior, so I do not have the time to mess around trying to get a hole dug. We have a lot of DG (decomposed granite) type of ground. It is like rock when it is dry and packed. After taking the most part of a day to dig 2 holes, it was time to invest in the down pressure kit. I have not had any trouble since. Well worth the $$$ to me.

If you were to get the PD10 and the down pressure kit, you would still be over $1000.

but you most likely wouldn't have any problems digging any holes.

Do you already have a rear remote? If not, then that would be another cost to you.

As far as hooking up my phd, about 5 minutes.

whistlepig · May 9, 2009

I would at least give it a try with out the down pressure kit. They self feed pretty well except they don't do rocks. The augers that have the staggered teeth dig the best. Some augers just have blades and these don't work well. I have a Bush Hog 2102 PHD with the Bush Hog optional parking stand. The parking stand is worth it's weight in gold to me. Back the tractor up to the PHD, stick in three pins, raise the three point and go.

warhammer · May 10, 2009

I bought a Rhino PHD 6-7 months back for a livestock fence I am putting in.
There were 40 post holes to dig at my farm in Central Texas. 38 of them went in pretty well taking on average 45 minutes or so to run the PHD and clean the hole, drop the post and tamp the dirt. Even when ths goes well it is hard labor.
1 post hole was a bit more difficult and took a couple of hours. The last post hole was a killer being on the top of a compacted terrace that had hardpan like concrete from 5 inches down. That post hole took 5-6 hours spread out over a few days being soaked with water in between.
For my fence I would likely not buy the downforce kit for the one post hole that was a bear. If they were all like that I would either hire the job out or get the downforce kit.
As an alternative the rancher next door has a bobcat with a pile driver attachment on the front and he uses approx. 3-4 steel pipe and drives it into the ground. Makes a sturdy fence that way for sure.

Warhammer

tandttravis said:
I'm looking for some insight on post hole diggers, I have a B-26 and was interested in the the Landpride PD-15, but my dealer has a used PD-10 for less than half of what a new 15 sells for ($1015 with a 9" auger, ouch!) I realize the 10 only has a 30" auger, but I will primarily be using this for fencing, and I'm thinking the 30" would work fine. Also, I've been reading about down pressure kits, how necessary are these? My soil is pretty hard clay, with lots of cobble, will the auger self feed it's way in, or is the downpressure kit highly reccomended? I really don't want to spend the extra money on a hydraulic kit, but I also have no patience for tools that don't perform. Anyone have any experience with the PD10 ?

GE222 · May 10, 2009

I have a 3pt post hole digger that seems to work just fine. Of course the tractor size helps. Down force was never an issue, gravity did all the work.

If the conditions were tough, or, if I had to dig a lot of holes, I would hire out or rent a hydraulic unit that mounts on a bucket or skid loader.

A down force kit seems hard to justify for an occasional or one time use.

MarkLeininger · May 10, 2009

My PHD works great as long as there's no rocks, big roots, or clay. So I'm still looking for that perfect spot in my yard where it digs a clean hole.

My neighbor just bought a fence pounder, fantastic. Pounds a 4x4x'8 post in the ground in about 2 minutes. I wouldn't believe this could work if I didn't stand there and watch it. He's got it mounted on a JD that isn't much bigger than my B2710.

If you really need to dig post holes, I'd rent a bobcat with the PHD mounted on the front. It will punch a 12" hole 4' deep in about 15 seconds. I rented one to put in the piers for a deck. After I used that, my 3pt PHD seems like using a teaspoon to dig holes.

tandttravis · May 10, 2009

Thanks for all the input, after all the insight, I'm going to look into renting a bobcat for the day to punch the holes, I'm worried that the PD 10 is to small, and I'm not interested in spending more on the bigger unit, or spending more on the downforce kit, times are tough right now, as you all know.
THANKS ALL !!