PHD technique in rocky soil?

Marks481 · Jul 12, 2005

Well the good news is that I don't have to dig the hole any deeper... it is 3' deep now.

Marks481 · Jul 12, 2005

The bad news is that it will take about 30 bags of concrete to fill the hole.

I am obviously operating atthe limits of the PT422, as picking up the rock with the forks picks up the back wheels off the ground. I can basically drag it across the ground on the forks, at least I can pick up enough of the weight to avoid digging a furrow in the grass.

KentT · Jul 12, 2005

Wow! That's a big one... how did you get it up out of the hole?

I guess perseverence pays off, at least this time! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

FOURTEEN · Jul 12, 2005

Quite a project!!

PS: When you post an image, please size it to be less than 800 wide. Smaller pictures are clearer, and do not force viewers to scroll left to right to see it all or read the print!

Thanks!!

Marks481 · Jul 12, 2005

I picked up a corner with the minihoe, rolled some rocks under it, got a better grip with the minihoe and pulled some more, and propped it up with some more rocks, etc. Basically ended up rolling it out of the hole. I am actually quite surprised I was able to roll it out, now that I "weighed" it with my fork attachment and found it was as heavy as it was.

I ended up scraping up the yard pretty good when moving it, since I had to turn the PT422 180 degrees around. Every time I turned the steering wheel, the change of COG lifted the back wheels off the ground, so it was pretty tough to turn around. Driving in a straight line, my backwheels lifted off the ground about half the time (of course, I was only trying to lift the rock about 1/2" off the ground).

Back OT, has anybody seen any other tips for the augers? If you go to the Groundhog website , they show a numer of different tips, which all look like they would do a better jump then the blunt rounded tip that comes standard on the PT auger.

I have seen some other manufacturers that sell carbide tipped augers, so you can cut through rock (wouldn't that be a fun 10-15 hours that would make all your neighbors love you?)

Marks481 · Jul 12, 2005

( PS: When you post an image, please size it to be less than 800 wide. )

Sorry, both my laptop and desktop are 1280 pixels wide, so the 1024 width seems natural to me. I notcie that the forum software doesn't handle wide pictures well.

FOURTEEN · Jul 14, 2005

I use 1024 on a 21" monitor, but still have to scroll!! Many folks with small monitors use 800!

PS: Of all the money that I have spent over the years on computer stuff, by far, the best money I ever spent was for this 21" monitor!! (Less than $200 on ebay!!)

cqaigy · Jul 14, 2005

Wow 21 inch monitor. Those are BIG! I spent 4bucks on two 17" from a county auction.

Marks481 · Jul 21, 2005

Well I finished my last hole (at least for now). Of course, another big rock square in the middle of. Sandwiched by two other big rocks, so I couldn't pry it out with my minihoe, no matter how I tried.

The good news is that I broke it loose enough with the minihoe to get a strap around it, and was able to lift it straight out using my patented crane conversion:

The REAL bad news is that when prying it loose, I got the minihoe bucket caught between the two rocks, and using it to pry at the rocks turned out to be a really bad idea.

So the question is, do I get somone to weld the two teeth and portion of the tooth bar back on, or do I see if I can buy a new toothbar from Power Track, and get somebody to weld it on (or secret option #3: I buy a MIG welder, spend a couple months playing around with it...)?

KentT · Jul 21, 2005

Ouch! I'm not a welder and can't give an intelligent opinion, but perhaps because of that, I like the sound of option 3... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif