Posthole Digger Anybody used a Leinbach PHD?

[clovergamecock]

I have been pricing PHD's and the Leinbach is by far the most affordable at about $400 including a bit. The BH's are almost $1000 +$200 for the bit which is way out of my price range. Tractor supply has one for $600. Any first hand experience using the Leinbach? This is just for small acreage use nothing commercial.

Thanks
Wade

 

[RonMar]

I have a L7200 that works great. If you search this forum for "Leinbach" you will find other answers to this question as this subject has come up before. With the model I have, you also get a utility boom out of the deal. The gearbox easilly separates from the boom with a single pin. This makes getting it on/off the tractor a fairly easy 1 person operation without making up a special rig to hang it from. I keep the gearbox/auger and driveshaft standing in a corner of my pole barn and leave the boom mounted on the tractor most of the time for utility use, It has a hook on the very end and a eye welded on the top near the end(probably to hang the whole auger/boom assembly from a single point). I use the boom mainly for keeping my chain harrow behind the tractor when turning so it dosn't get hung up in the rear wheels and to lift it when I don't want to drag. I also use it to lift the front end of log/branch bundels I drag from the drawbar, so they don't hang up or dig furrows across the ground.

The auger gearbox seems plenty durable for occasional/residential use and mine digs very well on my around 24 or so PTO HP, but I have pretty sandy soil. The gearbox also has a handy feature, a molded in hole that runs parallel to the boom. Into this hole you can put a pipe handle that runs back toward the operator seat. This allows you to reach back over the seat and stop any swing and precisely place the auger point on the ground.

The 9" auger that came with mine has bolt-on teeth so they can be fairly easilly changed out or repaired if damaged.

I have done quite a few holes with mine over the last 2 years and have no complaints. In fact, I need a second 6' auger for an upcomming project. Anyone know of one at a reasonable price? Found one at agri-supply for $116 so far.

 

[clovergamecock]

Thanks Ron. I just need to find a distributor in the Charlotte NC area. You would think that sense they were built in Winston Salem I could find one but the only place I have found has them on back order and I really don't want to pay $150 for shipping the thing. Thanks for your input!

Wade

 

[EddieWalker]

I have had one for around 4 years. It's a solid unit and a great deal for the money, but the auger bit is a little on the cheap side. My soil is mostly clay with a few areas of iron ore. When it was brand new, it dug very well, but after awhile, it wouldn't dig at all. I sharpend the cutting edge and it got better, but then dulled out again. This was a constant battle until I welded on some special tips for another brand of auger. The cutting teeth are what seperate a good auger from a cheapy.

If I was to do it all over again, I would buy a post hole digger on the quality of the cutting teeth and nothing else. Spend a few dollars more for one that will drill the holes when you need them and not one that you will battle for every inch of depth and be miserable doing so.

I use mine for lots of things and consider it one of the best attachemnts out there after being able to mow and lift things with the FEL.

Eddie

 

[clovergamecock]

Thanks Eddie. Are the bits specific to the Leinbach or will other brand bits fit?

Thanks
Wade

 

[EddieWalker]

Leinbach doesn't have bits like the Lowe or Pengo. It has a removable tip/cutting edge that is basically a piece of metal ground down like a chisel. It's soft steel and will wear down in clay fairly quicly. I took mine off, ground it sharp again and used it like that for awhile. then it was just about gone, I welded on more steel and kept grinding it to an edge. Then Harvey mentioned pengo bits and how they work. I looked into buying another auger with those types of bits, but couldn't find one with the same type of attachement for my gearbox. I thought about cutting my auger off and welding it to another new auger, but changed my mind after priceing new augers. So I looked online and found some bits. The Pengo tip with carbide teeth looked really good, but the Pengo bits were going to be tricky to make work on a home made bracket. Lowe has some carbide cuttting teeth that just bolt on with cairagel bolts, so I went with those. Now my auger digs really good and I haven't had to sharpen it or mess with it since I made the modifications.

Eddie

 

[davidseaquist]

I had a Leinbach 7200. I bought it off of E-bay seemed like a good quality post hole digger. The bits are cheap and inexpensive. My soil is very rocky. IT was difficult to drill post holes withe any post hole auger I broke sheer pins a lot. The gear box has a standard 2" round shaft you could probably find old augers that would fit it if you are lucky David

 

[firemanpat2910]

I have one works fine. bought a 12" bit from TSC and it mounts on just fine. If I remember correctly the factory bit has 2 bolts and the TSC only has 1 but have not had any trouble in our drought hardened red clay.

 

[rgood]

Guys I am thinking about buying one of these - My land is Sand and in 50 years, it's still going to be sand - The holes should did easily, but I wonder if the abrasiveness will wear out this bit - Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[teg]

I bought the 7200 this past wk/ed from the company in Winton-Salem and it's $40 cheaper! I got the 12" bit and dug 9 holes for a cabin; lots of rocks and roots, only got it stuck once. I "pre-purchased" a 3 foot pipe wrench from Agri-Supply ($20) and reversed the bit out in less than a minute!!! (thanks to TBN for that bit of info.!)

It jumped around a whole lot and the guide bar (which came with it) came in handy. The 7300 (for $10 more) had a much bigger/stronger gearbox but it didn't have the guide bar. Glad I went with 7200.

The cutting edge didn't look that great and I looking into other with better cutters but for the price, you can't beat it.

If you ever get a chance to go to the Leinbach store... Just Do IT!!! It's got a ton of great stuff... Could easily have spent several hours looking around.