Posthole Digger Posthole Digger Preference

[MtnViewRanch]

Have you ever seen a rotten telephone pole (utility pole)? I guess it could happen. But I don't think footers are necessary for pole barns. That's part of their appeal. Not necessary, couldn't hurt, may be overkill.

Actually, I think that if poles are set in concrete, they will rot out a lot faster.

 

[AllWaysBreakinSomething]

I've been working on our ten stall barn 36x84 and decided to go with treated 6x6 posts as I wanted a clean look and the stall fronts mount nice. Also those utility poles are really really heavy. It's easy for two men to set a 16 foot 6x6. They costed $40 each.

I would suggest buying the larger auger bit as well (18 inch). I agree with one of the previous posts that you will need wiggle room. We laid off the post sites using a transit and tape. They were accurate. But when digging the holes they moved somewhat. We had to use clam shells a bit which sucked.

One last thing. Our barn has a second story hay loft. It's top heavy when putting up the girders and floor so you need lots of 1st floor bracing and concrete around the posts. If you don't at least set these on concrete your barn will sink.

That top and tilt sounds cool. My land is rolling so backing up to dig fence posts is an issue. Especially if I'm alone. Get get the wife out in the pasture much..haha!!

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I've been working on our ten stall barn 36x84 and decided to go with treated 6x6 posts as I wanted a clean look and the stall fronts mount nice. Also those utility poles are really really heavy. It's easy for two men to set a 16 foot 6x6. They costed $40 each.

I would suggest buying the larger auger bit as well (18 inch). I agree with one of the previous posts that you will need wiggle room. We laid off the post sites using a transit and tape. They were accurate. But when digging the holes they moved somewhat. We had to use clam shells a bit which sucked.

One last thing. Our barn has a second story hay loft. It's top heavy when putting up the girders and floor so you need lots of 1st floor bracing and concrete around the posts. If you don't at least set these on concrete your barn will sink.

That top and tilt sounds cool. My land is rolling so backing up to dig fence posts is an issue. Especially if I'm alone. Get get the wife out in the pasture much..haha!!

I had a set of plans drawn and engineered last year for a 70'x70' pole barn, 26' tall at the peak, and you are correct, the poles are to set on top of concrete. The poles are 16" dia 6' deep setting on a concrete pad 6'x6'x2' thick.

 

[3RRL]

Here is an example of what you can do with a good top and tilt system. This one shows how you can move the boxblade all around. My boxblade also has hydraulic scarifiers on it, operated through my rear remotes.



I have a PHD like Eddie's, a Leinbach 7300 except I paid $450 for it which includes a 12" auger. I haven't used it very much yet but the holes I have done takes me about 1 minute going about 3' deep. That is in my decomposed granite type soil, so it is pretty tough. My shear bolts are also 3/8" and only one. I have busted a couple already, but they are easy to replace. If I had a bunch of holes to do I would look into a hydraulic one for sure. But for me, the occasional user, the cheapie one works great.

 

[Timber]

Well it looks like I am a little late on this thread, Seems everything got covered, I so hate missing a good topic. Love those clips there Rob

 

[wkpoor]

The one thing I haven't seen mentions on this thread is a power head with enough gear reduction to allow for decent engine RPM's and slow auger RPM's. My Leinbach is OK but over 18" its just too fast. I mainly use mine to plant trees and have a 25" Danuser that I adapted to fit the Leinbach. You gotta idle the tractor to use it right and there ain't much power available there. Seems there needs to be a unit with much more gear reduction. Probably is if you get a pricier quality HD one.

 

[BTDT]

Here is an example of what you can do with a good top and tilt system. This one shows how you can move the boxblade all around. My boxblade also has hydraulic scarifiers on it, operated through my rear remotes.



I have a PHD like Eddie's, a Leinbach 7300 except I paid $450 for it which includes a 12" auger. I haven't used it very much yet but the holes I have done takes me about 1 minute going about 3' deep. That is in my decomposed granite type soil, so it is pretty tough. My shear bolts are also 3/8" and only one. I have busted a couple already, but they are easy to replace. If I had a bunch of holes to do I would look into a hydraulic one for sure. But for me, the occasional user, the cheapie one works great.

Rob, with that hydraulic setup, I'll bet that tractor won't ever get stuck. Nice video.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

The one thing I haven't seen mentions on this thread is a power head with enough gear reduction to allow for decent engine RPM's and slow auger RPM's. My Leinbach is OK but over 18" its just too fast. I mainly use mine to plant trees and have a 25" Danuser that I adapted to fit the Leinbach. You gotta idle the tractor to use it right and there ain't much power available there. Seems there needs to be a unit with much more gear reduction. Probably is if you get a pricier quality HD one.

wkpoor, the heavy duty models do indeed have a lower gear ratio. I have a hd model and only drill at an idle. I can't imagine drilling any faster, it doesn't seem like it would be very safe to do so. As it is, very seldom does it take me much more than a minute to drill a hole 4 feet deep. How fast do you need to drill a hole anyway? I know that in certain circumstances, different than mine, it may take longer.

 

[wkpoor]

How fast I drill a hole is not the issue at all. Its that most augers I've run need to turn rather slowly and to do that with the engine at power you would need quite a gear reduction that becomes more critical with larger diameter augers. Another factor is soil type. From what I hear soil west of the missippi is quite sandy compared to ours. In fact our best is considered pure clay by most. Once on auger gets into that hard wet sticky clay it can be like turning into cement that is about to dry in 30secs. You can get an auger stuck real easy in that stuff. Thats where a alot of gear ratio would help also.

 

[Glowplug]

How fast I drill a hole is not the issue at all. Its that most augers I've run need to turn rather slowly and to do that with the engine at power you would need quite a gear reduction that becomes more critical with larger diameter augers. Another factor is soil type. From what I hear soil west of the missippi is quite sandy compared to ours. In fact our best is considered pure clay by most. Once on auger gets into that hard wet sticky clay it can be like turning into cement that is about to dry in 30secs. You can get an auger stuck real easy in that stuff. Thats where a alot of gear ratio would help also.

Are you saying that you'd like to run your engine speed at higher rpms to get a decent amount of torque or horsepower but have your auger still turn slowly? It sounds like higher torque is what you're looking for. Many tractors seem to have their peak torque curve at a low rpm, like 1500, whereas the horsepower would be higher, like 2200. You could probably drill at idle and then if you get stuck increase the rpms as necessary to get it moving. I don't know.