Unique post hole auger

[mwayne]

And a little tractor ****. We hired a guy to rebuild a stretch of fence and this is his rig, a brand new NH Workmaster 65 and the auger. The auger is a Continental Belton model 44. It uses a winch for downforce? Maybe I'll get a chance to watch it in action after work today.

 

[cglaser104]

It doesn't look like down force... If I'm seeing it right it's using a arched frame to slide/drill vertically down and has a pulley at the top of the frame to pull the auger out of the ground vs lifting it out with the rear hydraulics on the tractor. In theory this would help to eliminate angle drift as the auger sinks into the ground like on a standard 3pt setup. Extending the winch using the controls also helps control the bite of the auger so you don't sink it and get it jammed.

 

[tookielee]

Yes, it provides downforce also - see the pulleys mounted on the uprights?
I'd like to see this in action

 

[CobyRupert]

???- I need to see this in action too.
If winch provides downforce, I think Isaac Newton says something is getting an equal upforce.
What anchors that something from not lifting up?

 

[EddieWalker]

Never seen anything like this auger. From the pictures, I don't see how the cable creates down force. Is there another pulley at the bottom?

In my opinion, the easiest way to separate the pros from the DIY and Handyman fencers is by their auger. Pros will have a hydraulic auger.

 

[countrybumpkin]

It’s not down force it’s to raise the auger back up, depth control, and rate of decent( keeps it from sucking itself into soft material.

 

[cglaser104]

The only pulley I see is on the top of the arch with the cable running along the toplink of the apparatus and hooking into the gearbox area. (Yellow line) This setup would definitely only generate lifting force, not down force. Post hole diggers generate their own downforce by the auger action.

If you look closely at either side of the rear arched frame there's a C shaped mounting bracket on either side of the auger/gearbox beam that the auger boom travels up and down on. The entire frame is set up to set it on the ground and let the auger and pulley/winch do the drilling while not actually engaging the tractors hydraulics for depth control.

 

[mwayne]

If I get home early enough I'll take a video of it in action. Did find this on YouTube:
CONTINENTAL BELTON 12 INCH AUGER For Sale - YouTube

 

[K5lwq]

My brother has one like that and says it works good. I never understood how it provided down force or seen him use it.

 

[bcp]

Bruce

 

[cglaser104]

View attachment 642994 View attachment 642995

Bruce

That documentation looks like a historic artifacts that was unearthed from some sealed chamber buried only to be found generations later to be preserved

 

[ssgp2]

belltec.net

 

[chas0218]

All the post hole diggers I've used never needed downforce. I find that just letting it down and letting it eat I'll shear pins, I doubt that adding downforce will help me dig faster or deeper when it is already shearing pins.

 

[ovrszd]

Check out the cutting bit on that Belltec!!!!!

 

[mwayne]

A couple more pics of the auger, talked to the guy about how it operated. Pull on one of the lines to disengage the auger, pull on the other line to engage a winch to raise the auger up. He didn't seem to have any nostalgic feelings for the cool old machine and said he is wanting to get a ssqa mount hydraulic unit for the front of his tractor.

 

[gstrom99]

Interesting setup. It looks pretty rusty, like he hasn't used it (or maintained it) much. Looks out of place against his (very nice) tractor. Video of the operation would be great...

 

[ovrszd]

The concept is that the tractor 3pt doesn't have to lift the auger out of the ground. Designed to be used on older tractors with minimal 3pt lift capacity.

Think of the brochure posted with the auger hitched to an old two lunger JD. My JD2210 probably has as much or more 3pt lift capability.

 

[mwayne]

Interesting setup. It looks pretty rusty, like he hasn't used it (or maintained it) much. Looks out of place against his (very nice) tractor. Video of the operation would be great...

It may not show up well in the pics but everything is greased and I smelled PB Blaster so he does take care of it. It certainly could use a coat of paint however. Unfortunately I was at work when he was drilling and didn't get video.