PHD - 1st Experience

MikePA · Jul 7, 2002

Today was my first experience using a post hole digger. My wife and I marked the 9 changes in direction around our 2.5 acre pasture late this morning and early in the afternoon the adventure began. What did I learn?

1. It is much, much easier to put the PHD on the tractor if you first remove the auger. I learned this the hard way. I have a Leinbach Model 7200 and it has two 'C'-shaped pieces of sheet metal around the top of the auger. These shields are held on with 2 bolts and wing nuts on each shield. Did I mention the corners of these shields are pointy? I have a 1 inch rip in the upper left thigh area on my jeans and a corresponding 'owie' on my leg. /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif This happened as I was wrestling with the PHD before I took the auger off. Lesson One - Take the auger off before installing on the tractor.

2. A push button drive shaft yoke isn't too much easier to install than a sliding collar. A little easier, but not by much. Lesson Two - Assume installing the driveshaft will be a pain and prepare yourself for it.

3. It doesn't take much to cut a shear bolt. On the third of nine holes I had to drill, snap went the bolt. It didn't seem to be struggling all that much, nevertheless it broke. The first two holes had some rocks which caused the auger to hop a bit, but nothing major. On the second hole I could not get the auger down to the gear box because of some obstruction. Since I forgot the digging iron, I didn't check it out. Lesson Three - Bring the shear pins, hammer, drift pin and digging iron with you, plus anything else you might need.

4. Having two people would have made it much easier. One on the tractor and one to position the auger and make sure it starts vertical and stays vertical. Lesson Four - Invite the wife to assist next time.

I had some shear bolts(12 of them) I ordered from Leinbach, but they were back at the house. Hmmm, I didn't bring the digging iron and didn't bring the shear bolts. No, I wasn't prepared. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Of course, I didn't have anything to drive out the old bolt, or a hammer to hit it with. I know what will be going in my toolbox next time!

The ground around here is so dry, it was like drilling in talcum powder. Sure would be nice to get some rain from Canada instead of smoke /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif. They've had to cancel fireworks because the smoke is so bad.

All in all, not too bad a day for a rookie. I'm alive, have all my appendages and only a small abrasion and a rip in my jeans. I lived to drill another day. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

lblair · Jul 7, 2002

Ive learned the hard way to mounting it. No ripped jeans or cuts but sure could have at any momment. It gets alot easy each time you use it. Keep your RPM's low and you shouldnt break as many pins. Let the auger work digging and dont rely on speed of it turning...youll get better as time goes on. Ive done many holes now and i luv digging with it. Its a joy having people pay me so they can smile. After they get done fighting with a manual or rented digger they cant believe what a job my digger does for the deck or pool posts. Ive done alot of drilling for pole barns too, My auger will do 48"deep. Ya gotta love it. Take care and happy drilling..., Larry

MikePA · Jul 7, 2002

It gets alot easy each time you use it.
That's encouraging since I have another 180 to dig! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 Keep your RPM's low and you shouldnt break as many pins.
One the first two holes I had the throttle just above idle. On the third one, I increased the RPMs to see if it would dig better. It didn't. Thanks, again.

My auger will do 48"deep.
Wow, how do you get it to go that deep? What size is it?

Old_Wanker · Jul 7, 2002

Having two people would have made it much easier. One on the tractor and one to position the auger and make sure it starts vertical and stays vertical. Lesson Four - Invite the wife to assist next time. 

Careful there now MikePA. You dont want anyone around that auger when it starts turning. No-one. Theres too many accidents when people get caught up in those things even with good intentions like holding it straight or trying to give it a little more downforce. Try adjusting your 3 point controls so that it comes down with a thump and then feather the hydro to and fro a bit until your straight instead.

TerryinMD · Jul 7, 2002

Mike,

When I first saw the subject, I said - now why is this man talking about a PhD - Doctor of Philosphy.... /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Sounds like you have your work cut out for you. I've only assisted in using a PHD once and the guy using it just let the machine do it's work - slow and easy. The only thing he did was to reweld a new cutting blade on his. He used sharpened spring steel. That stuff cut right through most anything.

Good luck.

Terry

Elkoboy · Jul 7, 2002

First of all, I'll second what Old Wanker said. Only use a PTO post hole digger from the tractor seat, or from a good distance away. No person is going to be able to react to, and/or overpower the auger should things go awry. There's way to much torque and power there for a person to affect manually anyway. Augers are made to be operated from the tractor seat only!!

Have the wife rest up so she can give you a back rub after your hard day's work instead! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

As for attaching and removing the PHD, that's an exercise in and of itself. Many people have found that it's easier to come up with either a rig to support or hold the unit, or a hole to drop the auger into while attaching or removing. I've seen some good ideas here on this forum, and I've one of my own, but they all work by supporting the entire digging unit, so that you don't have to wrestle with the heavy digger and auger while it tries to go every which way except onto the tractor.

I tend to break shear pins in streaks. But you're right - always have a bunch handy. If you're digging in rocky soil you're going to go through a lot of them.

I dig down about 8-12" at a time, then raise the auger to get some dirt out of the hole, then back down. I usually dig at low RPMs. If you run at too high RPMs you run the risk of threading yourself into clay, a root, or a rock, and having to spend time and energy extricating the auger.

To start digging in grassy areas, I often use a spade and remove the sod first. This gives me a good starting point, and keeps the auger cutting edges from getting clogged with grass.

I then move the tractor a bit forward and back to get the auger bit vertical (eyeballed, of course). Make sure your sway arms are tight to minimize the side to side motion.

BrettW · Jul 7, 2002

Wow, how do you get it to go that deep? What size is it?

this is getting way too personal!

MikePA · Jul 8, 2002

Careful there now MikePA. You dont want anyone around that auger when it starts turning. No-one.

I hear ya. She'd be well clear of the auger, standing near me on the tractor. I'm not sure I can convince her to assist anyway. When I ask for her help, she knows she will be performing an 'assistant' role which doesn't sit well with her! /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif Plus she tells me she has enough of her own work to do. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

MikePA · Jul 12, 2002

Well, I finished drilling the remaining 6 corner holes last night and I'm still learning.

1. I installed a new shear bolt, put the phd back on the 3ph and tried to finish drilling the same hole where I broke a shear bolt last Sunday. Guess what, I broke a shear bolt again /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif. I had the tractor at idle and was very slow lowering the digger into the hole. Before putting another shear bolt in and moving on to the next hole, I cleaned the hole out and there's a whopper of a rock down there that I will have to investigate with a digging iron.

2. I did discover that I can replace the shear bolt without removing anything from the tractor or taking the auger off. There are access holes on the safety shield that surrounds the upper U joint that provide access to where the shear bolt goes. All I had to do was raise the digger, tape the U joint to get the holes to line up, knock the bolt out and put one in.

3. I did all digging with the tractor at idle. The only time I had to raise the RPMs was when the auger got slightly stuck. I had to raise the RPMS so the 3ph hydraulics had enough oomph to raise the auger out of the hole.

4. In most cases when the auger would start to get stuck, the tractor would stall before breaking a shear bolt. Perhaps this is an advantage of a lower hp tractor?

5. With the clutch on the left, the 3ph lever on the right fender and the phd behind me, at times, I felt like <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.people.memphis.edu/~sherman/chronoWatergate.htm>Rosemary Woods</A> with the way I had to contort myself to control and watch what I was doing. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Anyone know a better way to do this?

6. The Leinbach phd has a rod that extends from the gearbox to the tractor seat that allows you to adjust the auger and stop it from swinging. the problem is the SMV sign gets in the way of reaching the rod. The rod is down too far to reach over the the top of the SMV so I had to reach around the SMV. A bit of a pain.

EdKing · Jul 12, 2002

the problem is the SMV sign gets in the way of reaching the rod. 

Mike, is your SMV sign bolted directly to your tractor ? All of mine (tractor, backhoe, quad, and trailer) are mounted with a quick removal plate. There is a clip that mounts on the vehicle, and a plate that mounts on the sign. I can switch them between vehicles and remove them to make operations easier. I remove the one on the tractor to make refueling easier, and the one on the backhoe while I am digging.