Post Hole Digger bottoming out

[zzvyb6]

I made my own hydraulic auger out of a garage sale motor and an auger adapter I fabed up. Bolted to a plate from Amazon that fits onto my JD QA loader left side arm. Hoses to the curl loader circuit. Now I can see the target area, how the digger is going, and use the other loader paddle to push existing fence out of the way.
As far as my pto digger, when it gets stuck and can't lift it out of a clay based hole, I keep powering it until the thing frees up. You get a large mushrooming ground effect as the battle goes on, but soon it pops right out.

 

[alaarp]

When I used my 37 hp tractor, I bottomed out all the time. At first I used a 36 inch pipe wrench to unscrew it, but I had to add a 2 inch metal pipe to the handle to get it going. It was very painful. Then I used my backhoe to pull it out. That was easier, but the hole became twice as big when it came out. Then I got the idea to put blocks under the gearbox of the auger so it wouldn't go all the way down, and I could keep it spinning. This worked great. Kind of a pain to have to put the blocks in place, but it worked 100% of the time.

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Now I have my auger on a 65 hp tractor and it's never been an issue. More horse power means more hydraulic lifting power on the arms.

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Interesting on both accounts. I wondered about the HP being an issue. Thanks.

 

[2manyrocks]

The owners manuals for phds usually list the HP needed for each auger size.

 

[alaarp]

The owners manuals for phds usually list the HP needed for each auger size.

My problem is I have only one size auger bit and that is the 12" which I realize would be the hardest to use but I use it for planting fruit trees as well as digging large corner post hose made of bridge piling timbers. But I will check the manual just to see. Thanks.

 

[2manyrocks]

My recollection is my 12" auger says 35hp is the minimum? I know it's about all the 35hp tractor I had at the time could handle.

 

[EddieWalker]

My problem is I have only one size auger bit and that is the 12" which I realize would be the hardest to use but I use it for planting fruit trees as well as digging large corner post hose made of bridge piling timbers. But I will check the manual just to see. Thanks.

I have a 12 inch auger that I use for almost everything. I was going to put a bunch of pipe I the ground. So I bought a 6 inch auger that turned out to be impossible to control. I buried it every time I used it. I couldn’t stop it from digging down and I didn’t have enough HP to pull it up.

This was before I came up with the block idea, and it was with my 37 hp tractor. I only used it a couple of times because I changed my mind on using pipe for posts. Then I took off the tip and the cutting teeth and put them on my 12 auger when they wore out.

 

[crazyjake8493]

I've had good luck here in hard clay with a post hole digger. The key is low tractor RPM, 3pt lowering speed set to very slow, and take small bites at a time. Go down 6-12" then pop it back up, then back for another bite. Do not let the auger drive itself into the ground without resistance.

Even hitting a few rocks, to this day I haven't got the auger stuck once. If I need to go further than the auger will reach, I made a homemade extension from schedule 40 black pipe, but once we hit 36" here even the sharpest auger is almost useless without down pressure.