Help me decide on post hole digger.

[jejeosborne]

Attached are pics of my options. 1st is a used setup with a 12" and 9" auger for $325.
2nd option a county line from tsc for $560 with taxes with only a 12" auger. As long as this older style will hold up I think o should hit that option. Opinions please.

 

[newbury]

You need to be careful posting things like that. If I was in your neck of the woods I'd advise you to get the tsc and the try to find the used one for myself

Go purple.

 

[grsthegreat]

Attached are pics of my options. 1st is a used setup with a 12" and 9" auger for $325.
2nd option a county line from tsc for $560 with taxes with only a 12" auger. As long as this older style will hold up I think o should hit that option. Opinions please.

id buy the used one....only if the seller includes a can or 2 of spray paint :laughing: :thumbsup: ..is that pink? or purple.

if i get a pink post hole digger, my tractor would hide.....wait, ill give it to the wife for xmas present


actually, theres little to hurt on a post hole digger. have him hook it up and test the gear box. if you buy drain and refill the gear oil. Mine is 10 years old, still works great and has drilled so man holes i actually wore out the auger. i had to buy a new one, as it was worn in 1/2 at the base.

 

[ayelvington]

Take the used on. PHDs hard to wear out, and that one looks like a good value with two augers. FYI: TSC ships their PHDs with dry transmissions, and the store will likely charge you for the lube. Be sure to add that to your cost.

 

[jejeosborne]

I appreciate your help. I will be purchasing the used one tonight. My concern was the design of the gearbox being so different from what I see on the new models and if there was a reason the design has changed. The 12" auger is new and has only drilled a few holes. The owner mentioned that he had to put a sleeve inside the new auger since the shaft on the gear box was smaller than the current standard. He also mentioned that this unit is much heavier than the new ones which I see as a positive in harder soils but a negative when pulling it out of the ground with my B7800.
Jeff

 

[gabeancounter]

That used one looks homemade? Took a rearend and welded a shaft on it? I'd pass on the purple barney. If you buy direct from lienbach for $400 with one auger.:thumbsup:

 

[bigbull338]

buying used can get you in trouble sometimes.if the stinger is wore out it wont grabb an start digging without weight on the digger.

 

[jejeosborne]

Ok now I am having second thoughts. I have to also figure about a 50 minute drive each way with my trailer at 10 mpg.

 

[bigbull338]

Ok now I am having second thoughts. I have to also figure about a 50 minute drive each way with my trailer at 10 mpg.

if you have any bushhog dealers close id go look at their PH diggers.they have a bear claw thatll grabb an digg like a son of a gun.an youll have a new digger.

 

[MMagis]

Not sure why people like to scare others into spending too much money. Go buy that used one, (paint it!) and enjoy. It’s made very well and will work fine.

 

[grsthegreat]

Ok now I am having second thoughts. I have to also figure about a 50 minute drive each way with my trailer at 10 mpg.

you dont need a trailer. take the augers off and put the entire unit in back bed of pic up. there not that heavy.

 

[TTTTTT]

You may find this interesting. Got one similar to the used one you are looking at. Check the shaft seal for leaking. If so, and it has the same type of seal I improvised a fix that was cheap and simple. I was also told the gear box was from an older rear end but it was very tight and very heavy duty. I filled it with diesel and let it soak for a few days and then filled with freash gear oil. After the seal fix all is good. Have done many holes and appears to be bullet proof.

Good luck Dave

Found an older but heavy duty 12" bit 3pt PHD earlier this year to do some immediate holes and for the future. When I got it, the gear box seemed very tight and other than a slight bend in the arm seemed good. Went to check/fill the gear box with gear oil and the shaft seal for the auger was leaking pretty good.



I did the 3 holes I needed for a cottage addition and other than breaking numerous shear pins and widening the already too wide hole for the shear pin, it worked well.

Before anything I filled it with diesel to clean up the inside gear box. I let it sit upside down for a few days to hopefully clean any sludge from everything
Finally got around to the repairs. After taking it apart, just the main arm from the gear box and the auger off (didn't take the gear box apart as it seemed good).

The shaft seal was an older type and new I wouldn't be able to find an original part...so how to adapt



Found a standard 1.5" trailer axle seal for about $7 and now how to adapt. The millwrights were busy at work, so i found a local machine shop to mill a 1.5" hole half way into an appropriate sized 1/2" piece of steel to the depth and OD of the seal.



The rest even with my welding skills was fairly easy...

Dry Fit





Welded



Although not in a real augering job, the new seal is good with no leakage. Easily replaceable, although I bought a few spares to have around.

The next repair was the auger bit itself where the years of wear had widened out the 3/8" holes for the shear pin. I cut 2 small pieces of 1/2" steal with 3/8" holes already drilled and carefully lined up the existing holes and welded them on.



Final Pics - Minus the touch up paint from marrs putting it back together




So far looks good other than the seal on the other shaft has a very slight drip although i may have slightly overfilled the gear box.I will drain some off and recheck.


Enjoy Dave

 

[daBear]

I don't even need or want a PH digger but I would jump on the old one.

 

[Pete Judd]

I have found that I can borrow one, It seems that once you drill your holes, it becomes a unused thing in the back yard.

 

[Brad_Blazer]

The used, homemade digger has no guarding and an extra long shear bolt for good measure. You might think you'll never have a helper to keep the hole straight but the practice is common. The absence of guards in most used machines was a big part of why I bought mine new.


http://www.lni.wa.gov/Safety/Research/Files/71972010FaceAgriNarr.pdf

http://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/...75_FarmerTractorPostholeAugerEntanglement.pdf

 

[MMagis]

The used, homemade digger has no guarding and an extra long shear bolt for good measure. You might think you'll never have a helper to keep the hole straight but the practice is common. The absence of guards in most used machines was a big part of why I bought mine new.


http://www.lni.wa.gov/Safety/Research/Files/71972010FaceAgriNarr.pdf

http://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/...75_FarmerTractorPostholeAugerEntanglement.pdf

You didn't have an extra plastic pop bottle laying around? The reasons people come up with to spend extra money.

 

[jejeosborne]

I made a decision right or wrong. I went with the new one. MMagis your comments are dead on with the financial advice. The reasons I went with the new one are that I noticed oil stains around the seals and didn't want to try to find parts for something with no model numbers or try to correct as TTTTTT did. I wanted something common for replacement parts. A second reason is because I hopefully will be using this for many years in the future and not just in the short term. I saw no reason for the 9" auger when you have a 12" and the auger on the CL model had a screw stinger attachment and two sets of replacement cutters 180 degrees apart as opposed to just one set.

On a side note, I was very impressed with the quality of the packaging the County Line model came in. It was on a custom pallet with every item bagged in plastic.

Thank you all for your comments. Everyone had very valid information which helped me one way or another.

 

[bigbull338]

you very rarely tear a PH digger up.only break sheer pins.an you might twist a shaft if you dont know what your doing.we just bought a new PH digger a few months ago because we are planning on doing alot of fencing in the future.an wanted 1 that would digg holes that wasnt wore out.

 

[grsthegreat]

I made a decision right or wrong. I went with the new one. MMagis your comments are dead on with the financial advice. The reasons I went with the new one are that I noticed oil stains around the seals and didn't want to try to find parts for something with no model numbers or try to correct as TTTTTT did. I wanted something common for replacement parts. A second reason is because I hopefully will be using this for many years in the future and not just in the short term. I saw no reason for the 9" auger when you have a 12" and the auger on the CL model had a screw stinger attachment and two sets of replacement cutters 180 degrees apart as opposed to just one set.

On a side note, I was very impressed with the quality of the packaging the County Line model came in. It was on a custom pallet with every item bagged in plastic.




Thank you all for your comments. Everyone had very valid information which helped me one way or another.

congrats on the new post hole digger.

the 9" comes in handy for 4x4 posts, while the 12" is good for 6x6 posts. Also, in some soils its nearly impossible to dig with a 12" auger, but the 9" will work easier. We have alot of decomposed granite and rock here, and a 12" is nearly impossible to dig with. In sand you can use a 24" hehe