Well today I learned 5 things about post hole augers

[ning]

I bought a Land Pride SA20 ssqa post hole digger with the low flow motor. The low flow model requires 1500-3500 psi and 6-15 gpm flow. Medium flow motor needs 10-20gpm, and high flow 15-30gpm.
My Kubota L4060 is 9.4gpm total flow and the auger works fine, but it's slower in rpms compared to my previous PTO driver auger. The only disadvantage to the slower speed is that it doesn't sling dirt out of the hole like I'm used to. What worked best for me was stopping the auger 2 or 3 times and lifting the auger loaded with dirt out of the hole. Not really a big deal, just different.

On the BIG plus side, having down pressure made the work a breeze. I have a lot of chunk concrete from a demolished set of silos on my property. Without down pressure I was busting and removing small chunks by hand in almost every hole. With the new auger it either busted it up, or moved the concrete chunks into the vanes and out of the hole. I only had to pick one piece out of one hole that just refused to come out with the auger.

Is that made by Danuser? Sounds like the EP-6 specs.

Would you mind stating how much it cost? I find my 3ph phd to be very rugged yet unfortunately often useless here because of hard clay; I hung 240# of barbell weights on it early last summer and it was still just grinding away doing nothing at all. I'd imagine a loader mount one would be easier to maneuver into awkward areas as well.

 

[RjCorazza]

I believe Land Pride manufactures their own stuff, but I could be mistaken.
I paid $2600 for the ssqa auger, which was expensive, but worth it in my opinion. At the very least It was still less expensive to buy the equipment and materials than the quotes I got to have the fence demoed and reinstalled by a commercial fencing company. That was an eye opener.

 

[tpcannon]

As the old story goes....We were doing pretty well with the new fencing and making a new post hole about every 5 or ten minutes....sometimes longer..... until I drilled down through what appears to be an old set of bed springs.

That took up the rest of the day.

Bed springs and baling wire. Those things will mess you up.

 

[ning]

I believe Land Pride manufactures their own stuff, but I could be mistaken.
I paid $2600 for the ssqa auger, which was expensive, but worth it in my opinion. At the very least It was still less expensive to buy the equipment and materials than the quotes I got to have the fence demoed and reinstalled by a commercial fencing company. That was an eye opener.

No kidding.
I got bids to redo an ancient fence here a few years ago and my eyes almost popped out cartoon-style.
DIY a bigger and better fence than they'd bid for a third the cost... though two months of work, between land clearing (which they hadn't bid as they were just going to do the fence exactly where the old one was; this resulted in me being able to change the lay of the fence a bit and got another 1/10 acre inside the fence and got rid of a large poison oak patch).

I'm looking at doing about 2x that job soon to do most of the rest of our boundary real soon. The ground right now is pretty ideal for drilling, so I think my 3ph phd will do just fine, though I have some thoughts of renting a CTL with auger and drill all the holes in one day as I think it'll handle all the repositioning along a tight driveway better... I'll probably do a few with my setup first and see how it goes before adding $300+ to the bill...

 

[JethroB]

I’ve got a couple thousand feet of fence free to anyone who wants to come get it. Holes included. T-posts and 5 strands of barbwire. Shrubbery and various hearty plants interspersed also at no cost. Did I mention it’s FREE.

 

[oosik]

I've never had experience with post hole diggers. Except for the few holes for the posts on the carport. I have an old clam shell digger for that. All my posts are 145 steel T-posts. I do use a manual homemade driver for those.

80 acres - a mile and a half of barbed wire fence - 600 T-posts. Only two memories. Days of pain - joy when completed.

 

[ning]

I've never had experience with post hole diggers. Except for the few holes for the posts on the carport. I have an old clam shell digger for that. All my posts are 145 steel T-posts. I do use a manual homemade driver for those.

80 acres - a mile and a half of barbed wire fence - 600 T-posts. Only two memories. Days of pain - joy when completed.

Don't I recall something about boring holes for some posts and cementing them in? How'd you do that?
Also - what did you do for corners?

 

[oosik]

ning - your memory serves you well. Yes, some of my T-posts have been installed in bored holes. This coming summer I hope to complete this project. The neighbor has an air driven jack hammer. One section of my fence line goes over exposed lava bedrock. My wooden "L" posts are being replaced with T-145 steel posts. Installed in 2" diameter jack hammer bored holes. Once the post is installed - fill the remaining hole with a dry mix of sand and Portland cement.

One corner is three greasy railroad ties - buried deep and cross braced. One corner - an ancient Ponderosa pine. My NW corner - a 4'x4'x4' rock filled heavy wire mesh reinforced box. Called a gabion. My last corner - SW corner. Well - that's plum dab out in the middle of a large lake. I've tried driving in a 4" well casing. I've tried a gabion filled with rock. It's all been a waste of time. The ice takes them out every spring. I run the fence line - coming from both directions - out into the lake as far as possible. Usually the neighbors cows won't go out and around either fence line.

However - one year the big 'ol lake went completely dry. It's average depth - 6'. Man - what a mess. There were cows from four different ranchers running everywhere. I think most of them ended up on my property. I have no cows and the grass was green and waist high. Got a good trimming that summer.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I store my PHD in the ground. Dig down a foot or two and cut the tractor loose. Easy to reconnect when needed

Did that once, never again if you don’t use it often. Now mine is stored on a rack inside.

 

[m1garand762]

Just wait till you screw It in through roots and the only way out is to back it all the way out with a pipe wrench