Using a quick hitch with a post hole digger?

[etpm]

I have been looking at quick hitch videos on YouTube and they look like a neat device that will help prevent back pain, at least in my case. But post hole diggers work a little differently since they don't use the top link. I have a YM2310 with a ROPS. There are 2 holes available for the top link. I'm wondering if the lower hole was used for the top link would the post hole digger top mount be able to reach over quick hitch and then use the top hole. Anybody know? Or maybe there is another solution that would allow me to use the post hole digger without removing the quick hitch? In the past I wouldn't have minded so much having to remove something like the quick hitch just to use one implement but my spine is really messed up and it's not gonna get any better.
Thanks,
Eric

 

[winston1]

Not sure you can see this well enough to help. Showing the adapter I made to work with my quick hitch. It also works with a posthole digger.

 

[bcp]

I don't have tractor access to most of my fence due to boulders. The rest is easy to dig, so I don't have a post hole digger.

But my plan, if needed, was to modify the PHD boom to fit the top of the quick hitch, and take the place of the top link.

The top link would be removed and the boom of the PHD would mount on top of the quick hitch and replace the top link.

Bruce

 

[California]

my plan, if needed, was to modify the PHD boom to fit the top of the quick hitch, and take the place of the top link.

I wouldn't chop up the PHD and kill its resale value. I wonder if you could pull that hinge pin, set aside the arch, and make a new hinge saddle bolted on top of the quick hitch.

 

[bcp]

I'm sure you could make an adapter. How complicated the adapter would be would depend on both implements.

Bruce

 

[Popgadget]

Considering that you would still have to remove the top link, it seems like it would be easier to use the arch that is already attached to the post hole digger than to transfer it to the fitting that you would add to the quick hitch.

 

[bcp]

Using the quick hitch meets the OP's desire to leave it on, and makes a lighter PHD to mount.

Some company should develop a PHD that works on a quick hitch. It would need some extra linkage to get a larger range of motion than a standard implement..

Bruce

 

[Popgadget]

I get that, but I’m picturing trying to wrestle the digger onto the mount on top of the QH while it’s flopping around without the top link.
Hopefully, I’m missing something in the design.

 

[California]

I'm sure you could make an adapter. How complicated the adapter would be would depend on both implements.

Bruce

A new hinge bolted on top of the QH to pivot that PHD arm, shouldn't be difficult to fabricate.

Here's a similar pivot point (a pulley actually) that I made for a spike harrow lifter. The cable goes over the pulley and down to the towbar, which makes the harrow lift twice as far as the QH rises. It's based on components from salvaged exercise equipment.

Just make something like this but heavier, equivalent to the top of that arch you set aside. But check the geometry first, a pivot point that high might make it impossibe to dig very deep. (So maybe make the pivot point underslung?)

I get that, but I’m picturing trying to wrestle the digger onto the mount on top of the QH while it’s flopping around without the top link.
Hopefully, I’m missing something in the design.

Hmm, just saw this. Maybe lay the QH all the way back, near horizontal, before slipping the hinge pin in to attach the PHD?

 

[bcp]

Mount the boom alone first, then reach down with it to pick up the gearbox. Then connect the auger. Or maybe the gearbox and auger could remain connected.

Bruce

 

[etpm]

I don't have tractor access to most of my fence due to boulders. The rest is easy to dig, so I don't have a post hole digger.

But my plan, if needed, was to modify the PHD boom to fit the top of the quick hitch, and take the place of the top link.

The top link would be removed and the boom of the PHD would mount on top of the quick hitch and replace the top link.

View attachment 709727


Bruce

Greetings Bruce,
I thought your idea would work but after looking at it some more I realized that it would severely limit the distance up and down of the auger. The boom is like a teeter totter with an off center fulcrum. The long boom must pivot at the end. and the arch must also pivot about the mounting pins because the angle changes as the boom moves up and down. But maybe the arch could be replaced with the quick hitch if a sliding connection instead of a pin pivot is used.
Thanks,
Eric

 

[TractorGuy]

I don't see any way to make it work. My finish mower even has driveshaft clearance issues with the quick hitch. If I lower the 3 pt too much the shaft contacts the cross bar of the QH. When I get it so it doesn't contact it doesn't have full float and picks the front wheels up on bumps. When it does that it leaves a spot of uncut grass.

 

[etpm]

I wouldn't chop up the PHD and kill its resale value. I wonder if you could pull that hinge pin, set aside the arch, and make a new hinge saddle bolted on top of the quick hitch.

I'm not worried about resale value, I intend to keep the PHD, along with the tractor and the other implements, until I die. then my son can have them. I know a lot of folks do consider resale whenever they buy a car or a piece of equipment. I'm not like that. I don't drive a car for a few years and then sell it when I buy a new car. I just drive the car until the wheels are about to fall off and then I give the car away. The PHD is so robust I don't think iI'll ever wear it out. It is rated for twice the HP of my YM2310. I do like your saddle idea it is a good one because I will need some sort of sliding joint if I replace the arch with the quick hitch.

 

[California]

... like your saddle idea it is a good one because I will need some sort of sliding joint if I replace the arch with the quick hitch.

I should have been clearer that the PHD would serve as the only top link, the normal one would be set aside. To mount, lay the QH back nearly horizontal then slip the hinge pin in between the PHD and the new saddle bolted on the 'top' of the QH. Then rassle the PHD into the tractor's top link fitting.

But verify all this with actual measurements. It might not work at all!