Post Hole Digger

[DAP]

I would have thought there would be tons of USED phds on the market. A classic use once and sell item .. but I've only found a few ... I gave up trying to find a used tiller a year ago!

Anyway ... I've got some 6 x 6 posts to REINSTALL after this noreaster and I'm looking to re sink them THE RIGHT WAY this time (cement).

I'm thinking a 9" auger on a Howse or King Kutter (shear pin) will suffice . my soil is not too rocky being so close to the river ... New they seem to go for under 700 clams.

Anyone have an opinion on their PHD? This is for my B7800.

 

[johnk]

The PHD's at TSC are around $450 with auger last time I checked. I would go w/ 12" auger if you only had one and were using concrete just fot the fact you have a little play between the posts. With a nine inch you have to be pretty accurate when drilling or you'll have problems if its a decent run of posts. Mine has held up great after over 300 drillings..

 

[zzvyb6]

You can't lose buying new in my opinion. get one with an optional pipe handle so you can guide it to the intended position, especially if you want to sneak a new post into an existing fence. I use a 10" auger for 6x6 posts and fill with road gravel. Tamped as I hand fill. In my experience there are a couple of things to be careful of. Move the drawbar out of the way so the pto shaft doesn't hit and bend it. Keep grass, roots, rocks, pebbles and clay out of the point by cleaning often. Start the hole with a spade shovel so you can see the spot in the fence line. The shovel will take out the grass and roots which clog the auger point. Make your own teeth for the auger using 3/8 steel stock and change them when they are just a bit worn. I put a metal cutting wheel in my table saw and can buzz out new teeth in a few minutes. Bolt holes with drill press. Put bubble levels on the gearbox so you can tell when the auger is lined up with gravity. When the hole is drilled, stop the auger and lift it out. The remaining dirt will stay in the flighting and the hole will be cleaned out. If you keep the shaft spinning, dirt will spill back into the hole. Try to figure out why, when you drill a 10" hole and put in a 6" post, there isn't enough dirt to backfill the entire hole. Concrete didn't ever work for me, just made changing the posts and disposing of the old ones more difficult. If you are running a board fence, yanking the old broken stubs is easier if there's no cement holding them in. You need to keep the same location to keep the board lengths intact. For wire fence, drill a new hole alongside the old one, don't bother to try to insert a new post in the old hole. The horses could care less.

 

[skipmarcy]

I've had great service from my Leinbach PHD, I think it was $550 with one auger(9") and I bought the 12" for $100 at the same time. It has handled rocky soil well, in 5 years and maybe 150 drillings I've yet to shear any bolts (just lucky). I always run mine very slow, tractor just barely above idle. Personally I run my auger down maybe a foot or so and then bring it up quickly to sling the dirt off - you have to stop before it clears the hole though, then drop back in for another foot or so until I'm down to the last foot when I'll stop rotation and lift the last of it out on the flights. In our rocky/clay soils around here, if you don't keep the dirt out and hang a good-sized rock you can stick your auger pretty badly. Now when I was in Florida and digging mostly sand with a little clay but no rocks, you could just about go all the way down and pull all the dirt out with the auger stopped. I agree about the concrete - it doesn't do much good and is a real pain if you have to take the post out for some reason. Seems all the ones I've ever done in concrete would loosen & wobble sooner or later. Hand tamping a post is the best way in my opinion.

 

[Timber]

I have put down a lot of fence in my day most of it by hand. The reason you don't see a lot of used PHDs is because there good for a lot more than setting fence. You didn't say what kind of fence you were working with but unless it is a chain link, steel post, or a gate post I would not recommend cement in the hole. Fence has the lifespan of a good dog and has to be replaced and mended. If you put cement in the hole now you have to dig it out to set it in the same place. If you set your post in a 36 inch hole it will never fall over even with a horse or cow scratching there *** against the post. A 9 inch auger is fine even for a 6 inch post. My feeling is make the hole only as big as you need. Never disturb and more soil than you need to, Just put your hole in the right place to start with.

 

[shvl73]

Keep a pipe wrench handy if the auger gets stuck. Just disengage the pto, use wrench to turn the auger in reverse, then start tractor and it usually will lift clear.
I just got 56 4x6 posts delivered, with 1x6 rough hemlock for rails. Should keep me busy this weekend, can't beat the great weather though.
My post hole digger is an unknown brand that a friend had lying in a field for 10+ years. He told me to take it away and I did that same day. Its rusty, has about an 8" or 9" auger, gearbox leaks and has been filled with grease. Still works.

 

[MikePA]

A 9 inch auger is fine even for a 6 inch post.

DAP, if you think 1.5" all around your post is enough room to pour concrete, use a 9" auger, otherwise go with a 12" auger. If you set posts without concrete, 1.5" is not enough to room to use any kind of tamping device.

 

[Timber]

With all do respect, My personal experience laying fence is measured in Miles not in how many holes I have drilled in the ground. 90 percent of the fencing I have done is also for livestock containment that is subject to much more abuse than wind and rain. Now a 9 inch auger does not make a 9 inch hole for 1 and the most important thing about a post hole is the integrity of the soil around it. The more you disturb the soil the weaker the fence is going to be. Fencing 101. These pics are 6 inch post set with a 9 inch auger

 

[DAP]

DAP, if you think 1.5" all around your post is enough room to pour concrete, use a 9" auger, otherwise go with a 12" auger. If you set posts without concrete, 1.5" is not enough to room to use any kind of tamping device.

Thanks fellas .. yo Mike ... it is a well settled technique to cement certain posts for horse fencing .. i.e. one should always cement the gate posts and any posts for that might have some tension on them. The way we do it is, dig the hole , dry set the post, pour in the dry ready mix crete, add stone and the dirt then tamp. No water needed. It will get it sooner or later anyway. Works for many of our acres. On our place, when we fence we never make a 90 degree corner .. too often an alpha animal can trap another animal in this corner with devasting results .. so we always make our corners rounded whenever possible to give egress for an animal if needed. This does take up considerable more space, but it is also easier to mow or machine.

Anyway .. I have 6x6x8 hemlock posts in a field (155 of em to be exact) that got flooded in this noreaster. 15 of em floated up ( I think they may have been passed over when tamped). The best device to use to dig post holes is an excavator with a hyro auger on it. I have one of these .. NOT.

So I may try to find a PHD for the Tractor. I do NOT have any TSCs anywhere near me. It will take a couple of weeks for the water to drain out .. I'm counting it to be over 180,000 cubic feet of water. Besides, I'll bet I can dig some small tree holes or bush holes for the wife's gardening with it.

Charlie .. that PHD looks fine on the back of the 7800 ... do you have any geometry problems with it and your 3ph? For instance, I have Pat's Easy change on mine, but I shouldn't imagine that to be an issue. Without seeing one up close yet, I'm figureing the top link is deleted altogether and the PHD boom pins right to the 3PH (i.e. where the top link goes). Getting the auger perpendicular to the terrain is important for nice fencing though ...

I will be re-drilling the same holes so I'm assuming (perhaps erroneously) it will be butter like.

 

[Timber]

I have no issues at all with this PHD. It is a Land Pride though. With all the fencing I have done in my life I consider it one of my most important Implements. I love fences and the way they look. Your Pats system will have no impact on the PHD. The auger and gear box swings on the end of the boom. You are correct the boom is mounted directly to the tractor in place of the top link. ZZ has some great points and Ideas as well. The clutch on the B7800 is a great feature for using the PHD too. I have also recently purchased a new clam shell PHD that works deep in the hole with very small handle movements.