3 point pto post hole digger

[ritcheyvs]

Shear bolts are not run of the mill bolt you can pickup at some hardware store. and pending on PHD you get may require a specific grade of metal the bolt is made out of, to be a shear bolt. ((to strong of metal and shear bolt does not get cut)), ((too week of metal, and you end up going through sheer bolts left and right))

Shear bolts are often common bolt sizes (e.g. 1/2 by 3 1/2 course) but they MUST be the correct strength, as boggen points out. My rotary cutter uses a grade 5 bolt. When I tried a handy grade 3 replacement it sheared as soon as I engaged the PTO clutch. A grade 8 would likely destroy the gear box (or worse) if I hit the right obstacle.

Also, see table in this article for definition of various 3-point hitch categories:
Three-point hitch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Lloyd_E]

I have a Rhino auger - EPHD. Both 9" and 14" augers.
RHINO | Post Hole Diggers | 3 pt. Mount

I have drilled well over 300 holes for fencing and other projects. Used the larger 14" for sono-tube for a deck. They have double teeth on the bit which can be reversed when the outer sets wear. Heavy enough - but still can be man-handled to put in place on the tractor. Has a hook on the end of the boom for lifting if you remove the gear box/head. Great product.

 

[ron45]

Scott, Llyod, thanks for the help. I'm gettiing a good education here about many new things. Love it, you folks are the cats meow! Got everything bookmarked you guys tell me in a folder for safe keeping. Looks like I have a category one hitch.

 

[ron45]

Scott, Lloyd, thanks very much. It would take me a while to find out all this stuff. Thanks for the help.

 

[Gittyup]

I have a bushhog PHD with a 12" bit like Whistlepig's. No down pressure rig. Cuts holes easily here in my clay soil. Goes through shale pretty good. And big roots are simple cut right out of the way. Same with big AC power cable (not my fault). Miss Utility...... well they missed and I didn't.

Mine also uses common #2 bolts for the shear pin. Same thing you get at any hardware store for every-day use.

 

[Gil Case]

I never had use for down force, just the opposite, more up force. Once that auger gets a hold of a root or rock and screws itself four feet into the ground and will not come up you realize there is no reverse on the thing. Pretty funny if it wasn't such a PITA.
Get a BIG pipe wrench and do a manual reverse on the auger. Something like trying to get that Hydro filter off the first time you change it.

 

[ron45]

Thanks
Gittyup and Gil, Thanks for the help. Are there teeth on the front edge of the augers that cut thru roots and powercables? Some one had done an very nice job of adding one in a previous post. Now if you could just get a nano jackhammer on the front edge for those fist sized rocks.........

 

[Gittyup]

Using reguler #2 bolts for shear pins is a big advantage. Dealer mistakenly told me mine used these OEM shear pins. So, I said throw in a dozen with the order. They were $9 a piece! When I realized they were wrong for my PHD, I returned them. #2 bolts are about a $1. I put in about 500 feet of fence and several other holes for piers and still haven't broken a shear bolt. Must be lucky so far.

 

[stuckmotor]

Has anyone tried welding a bar to the boom of the digger then adding barbell weights or something similar until the boom supplied sufficient down pressure?

 

[dennis52]

It's a lot more expensive, but a SSQA front hydraulic PHD is really the cats A$s. All the down force you'd like, reverse, and easy to position. My dealer rents them and told me once you used one, you'll never use anything else.

When I asked my dealer about the front mounted hydraulic post hole diggers for my 45hp Kioti he advised that, being hydraulic, they were not capable of achieving the same power as a pto driven post hole digger.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

We've sold plenty of the Danuser EP6 auger drives for tractors. They will work on tractors and skid steers with a aux. flow range from 6 to 15gpm. I've never talked to an unsatisfied customer with a hydraulic auger drive as long as everything's matched up correctly. Most everyone orders them with an offset quick attach mount for better visibility on a tractor.

 

[kiotiken]

When I asked my dealer about the front mounted hydraulic post hole diggers for my 45hp Kioti he advised that, being hydraulic, they were not capable of achieving the same power as a pto driven post hole digger.

Well, my DK45 has a hydraulic transmission and it seems to have plenty of power, especially in low, so I'm not sure I agree that something can't be powerful because it's hydraulic. My dealer told me about the auger when I had a CK30 so I'm assuming a DK45 would be plenty. Even if it doesn't have the same amount of torque, I'm sure the advantages would more than make up for it. I need to drill some holes this spring. I think I can borrow a traditional PHD, but if I can't, I'll be calling my dealer to ask about renting one. My only concern is shared (and contaminated) hydraulic fluid with a rental.

 

[murphy1244]

Our tractors don't have enough gpm to run a hydraulic motor.

 

[kiotiken]

Our tractors don't have enough gpm to run a hydraulic motor.

ETA just posted that they sell them to owners with 6-15 GPM, the DK is at the top of that range. You don't have to turn it fast. I've never used one, but since my dealer rents them to Kioti owners and ETA says they haven't had complaints, I'd be inclined to think we could run one without any issue.

 

[murphy1244]

Read your book on our remotes it says to my understanding, to run cylinders only.

 

[kiotiken]

I'll have to look, but they ran my backhoe no problem and there's a lot of continuous flow between the 3 or 4 cylinders being used at the same time. The hoe is in constant motion and the remotes are supplying fluid to the backhoe if it uses it or not so I'm not sure what the difference would be supplying fluid to an auger. I personally would have no problem running a hydraulic auger, but then again, I'm not going to drill a thousand holes either.

 

[murphy1244]

I'll have to look, but they ran my backhoe no problem and there's a lot of continuous flow between the 3 or 4 cylinders being used at the same time. The hoe is in constant motion and the remotes are supplying fluid to the backhoe if it uses it or not so I'm not sure what the difference would be supplying fluid to an auger. I personally would have no problem running a hydraulic auger, but then again, I'm not going to drill a thousand holes either.

I'm telling you what the book say's. I didn't write it. The BH is cylinders working not a motor.

 

[Coyote machine]

I'm telling you what the book say's. I didn't write it. The BH is cylinders working not a motor.

Have to agree with Murph on this: backhoe is a cylinder operated implement and our tractors are designed to run them. Nowhere that I'm aware of does our owner's manual state any specs for running aux hydraulic motors- NOT saying it can't be done, BUT the HST tranny and fluid pump might sustain damage as a result. I'd be more concerned about that, than possible contamination from a rental hydraulic PHD. And, as far as contamination; I would have to believe our wicked expensive HST filter(s) would handle all but the most severe fluid contamination scenario.
Here's a question to add to the mix: Would having a reservoir of additional hydraulic fluid, like what I believe 'GRS thegreat' uses for his front mounted snowblower, help the situation, or is it more about the total output of the tractor's hydraulic pump in GPMs than it is about fluid capacity? I'm guessing the later...

 

[Redneck in training]

My guts feeling is that it has something to do with intermittent nature of operating cylinders as opposed to sustained operation of the motor. The throttling of fluid in the valve designed for cylinders might overheat it.

 

[Coyote machine]

My guts feeling is that it has something to do with intermittent nature of operating cylinders as opposed to sustained operation of the motor. The throttling of fluid in the valve designed for cylinders might overheat it.

Good point- that's where I was trying to steer in terms of the extra capacity reservoir that GRSthegreat uses for his hydraulics to keep the temp down by using additional hyd fluid to keep it from overheating when running hi demand implements.