Well today I learned 5 things about post hole augers

[Williy]

Many years ago a friend and I would just walk into
parties and a lawyer came over and started talking
to us he knew we were not rich like the crowd and
this guy came over and said he had a BS and the
lawyer said do you have a PHD behind it? he said
no and the lawyer said I though that your bullshit
was piled higher and deeper! the guy turned around
and left

 

[beowulf]

As for how to hang or store a PHD, I made a large "U" out of three sections of 3" steel pipe - connected by 90 degree elbows. Then I inverted the "U" and put the two ends into the ground about 18" or so - and added a bit of concrete. The bottom of the "U" - which is now the top is about 3 feet wide and about 4-5 feet off the ground. I hooked the PHD to that with a chain. Very maneuverable.

Now for the rest of the story - I rarely use the PHD due to the kind of ground we have here and the terrain where I seem to want to dig post holes. We have DG and rocks and such. When it is dry the dirt is too hard, when it is wet things don't work out that well. I found myself digging shallow holes, pulling out and chipping away with a pry bar, adding water, and using a post hole shovel - then reinserting the PHD and repeating. Not worth it and no longer even try to hook it up. I have since begun to use the "U" post hole hanger to hang chains and straps and have built a lean-to over it which now prevents access to the tractor anyway. I have found it is just not worth my effort to hook it up, align things, and not really be able to dig the holes efficiently. It never gets used now and I will be selling it - and the augers.

 

[neilkingent]

I'm not real fond of the phd

 

[r porter]

another shaver fanboy here!

 

[IndyJay]

42 to the pallet. He stacks them high.

Funny thing about holes... the higher you stack them the shorter it gets.

 

[Oz_Kioti]

But if you wanted different sized holes delivered, you could transport them one inside the other, yes?

 

[zzvyb6]

So, I dig an 8" hole, plop in a 6" post, and there's not enough dirt to fill in the remaining volume ????? So, I cruise our gravel road, bucket lip down a bit, scoup up some fill and redirect it to the problem at hand. Yes I move the tractor as the auger goes down. When it's all the way in, I stop the pto and gently lift the auger up. The last dirt stays on the flighting. Fence post are best installed in the spring when the ground is soft and wet. Park the digger in a hole. I have since moved on to a hydraulic motor with my auger bolted on it. Mounted on the side of the loader bucket. I can then see what I need to see without needing a neck stretcher afterwards, have the motor swiveled so I can keep it reasonably aligned, and use a big enough auger so that the post is straight up, the hole is just a hole, not a survey marker. When replacing a post, sometimes I use a battery drill to screw in a chain hook to lift out the old stub. Sometimes I just drill a new hole along side the old broken one, sometimes I just pound a steel post along side of a broken post and wire them together. To me, a fence is to keep animals in, and the rest of the neighborhood out. The real challenge is to drill a hole at an existing wire fence without wrapping the wire up in the auger. I use a tiling spade shoved in the ground to push the wire away from the new hole site. I no longer staple every wire to the new post because someday I'll be back and only want to pull out 3 staples, not 10.

 

[WRX]

I used mine to set a basketball goal for the kids. It would grab a layer of clay and pop the shear pin. I think I was trying to go too fast.

Mine has removable legs that support it for storage.

 

[michael.white]

I built a stand for my PHD out of some scrap wood, but I did buy some casters and use a ratcheting strap to hold it in place. I hooked up the PHD to the tractor then built the stand around it - lines up perfectly. I was not going to manhandle that thing into place a second time.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

I'm not real fond of the phd

I came real close to doing that on a couple of occasions. Now I go about 6 inches to a foot then lift to clear dirt and then down again. I run it at about 250-300 rpm on the PTO shaft. Easier to control that way.