Loader mounted post hole digger??

[hunt4570]

Well you aren't too likely to use the 4 in 1 and the PHD on the same loader at the same time.

HA!! ya think??

But is that enough juice to run an auger?

 

[RickB]

HA!! ya think??

But is that enough juice to run an auger?

8 GPM is more than enough. How much ya got? I have a customer running a MacMillen on the front of a NH TC35D; been doing it for years.

 

[hunt4570]

8 GPM is more than enough. How much ya got? I have a customer running a MacMillen on the front of a NH TC35D; been doing it for years.

I've not a clue in the world how much I got, how do you figure something like that out? New to me tractor.

 

[TomSeller]

The thing about too little GPM is not digging, but spinning the auger clean when you pull it out of the hole. Need a min of 1 rev/sec in my opinion.

 

[Mace Canute]

Most are easily reversible as to direction which can be very nice in a bind and the down pressure, up pressure and being able to make small adjustments with loader angle...

Hah! Get the auger stuck down a hole a couple of times and the extra cost for the ability to unscrew it suddenly becomes "quite reasonable"!

Less than optimum gpm hydraulic flow will just result in a longer time to drill a hole and sometimes a slower auger speed can be better. It's nice to be able to spin the it fast enough to clean the flights off though.

Part of my duties when I was a Lineman was to run a digger truck...set tons of power poles mostly in the 35 to 45 foot range, lots in the 55 to 65 foot range and even some up to 85 feet.

 

[Jkott]

HA!! ya think??

But is that enough juice to run an auger?

Pressure is the same on all the hydraulics isn't it? Should have enough torque anyways. My front loader quick disconnects are smaller than the rear, so the only difference should be flow rate, and we aren't talking high flow with 8gpm on a CUT vs 20+gpm on a skid steer. I'm not drilling holes for a living, so if it takes me a couple minutes instead of 90 seconds, I'm okay with that.

Whether you are using front or rear hydraulics, at least on mine, I can only use 1 function at a time anyways.

 

[TomSeller]

Pressure is the same on all the hydraulics isn't it? Should have enough torque anyways. My front loader quick disconnects are smaller than the rear, so the only difference should be flow rate, and we aren't talking high flow with 8gpm on a CUT vs 20+gpm on a skid steer. I'm not drilling holes for a living, so if it takes me a couple minutes instead of 90 seconds, I'm okay with that.

Whether you are using front or rear hydraulics, at least on mine, I can only use 1 function at a time anyways.

Pressure is similar on most tractors, and yes, due to that you will always have enough torque and be able to dig the hole. I much prefer a hydraulic auger on the FEL over a 3pt due to the safety, downforce and ability to reverse. I would never go back to using a 3pt. I can drill holes on the opposite side of a fence, which is really nice when replacing posts along the county road, property line, etc. Most manufactures list the RPM per GPM, I would just make sure you have enough GPM to spin clean the auger. If you are only digging a few holes, you can always jump off and clean it with a shovel.

 

[bdog]

I have dug in excess of 5,000 holes with augers.

Once you use something with downforce and the ability to reverse you will never go back.

In our dry hard ground a 3pt auger is nearly useless. They will just spin and spin and not go down. With down force on the loader you can dig them like butter. Now I have a skid steer and use it as my current tractor does not even have a loader. Before I got my skid steer and when I had a tractor with a loader and used it I just tapped the hydraulics for the auger into the quick connect loader connections for the bucket curl. I used the loader joystick the control the up and down and the rotation of the auger. It worked great and my tractor only had around 10gpm. On my skid steer I have around 20gpm and it is a beast.

 

[crackerjack222]

I have a JD 4430 with fel. I made a mounting bracket that attaches to the side of the fel bucket. The Lowe 750 hangs from that bracket. I installed a power beyond kit and a valve in the cab. Was not cheap, probably have about $2800 in it, but I have three augers, skid steer qa plate (my brother has a SS).
Works great. Have down pressure, speed control, reverse and can see the bit tip from the cab. I have drilled hundreds of holes with it. I would suggest, if you have hard ground, get the carbide bit teeth for the augers.
But....if I had a do-over, I probably would buy a post pounder instead, since most of the posts I am putting in are 2 3/8 or 2 7/8 oilfield tubing. Blackcat Fence Post Driver | Fence Post Driver System for Tractors Skid steer

 

[hunt4570]

So tractordata.com lists my tractor at a pump flow of 8.3 gpm and total flow at 13.2.. which do I go by?