PHD & Auger

[roy697]

Being new I am interested in your thoughts. I am thinking about a PHD & want your opinions on brands & prices. My soil is clay & has lots of rocks. (Western Kentucky)

[psj12]

I was considering a hydraulic PHD that you can bolt to the side of the bucket. This allows you to place it upfront where you can watch it easier. Being hydraulic it also allows you to reverse it should you become hung up on rocks or roots. With a PTO model you have to hand turn (pipe wrench) the drive mechanism backward. I saw somone on ebay selling them for high and low flow systems.

[roy697]

Well I don't have a FEL or BH yet. Good point about being able to reverse the auger if you have the hydraulic type.
I did read another thread where they put carbide teeth on their auger to cut down the wear.
Thanks

[GuglioLS]

Hey Roy,

Several of us members here on the forum have the Leinbach L7300. It seems seems to be a good heavy duty unit for the money. If you get a PHD, I strongly suggest making a stand for it. Connecting and disconnecting a PHD is a real bear without a stand, alternately you can hang it from a tree branch. Rocks and roots are no fun when digging post holes. If the rocks are softball size and smaller it wont be too bad, any larger it will be a real problem as the bit will cork screw past the rock and get stuck. When that happens plan on disconnecting the bit from the gear box, making some sort of manual lever to cork screw it out counterclockwise.

There is a real heavy duty TPH hydraulic unit made by Bell tec industries in Texas that will drill through solid rock, has down pressure and is reversible. Cost it big bucks unless you can find a used one or rent.

www.belltec.net/post_hole.html

Link to My PHD and Stand

Larry

[psj12]

Here's one on Ebay 390209502677

[roy697]

I don't have BH yet & I do not have that kind of money to spend right now. But thanks for the input.

[quicksandfarmer]

I have the L7300, got it from EverythingAttachments.com:
www.everythingattachments.com/L7300-Tractor-Post-Hole-Digger-p/lb-post-hole-dig-l7300.htm

Shipping was hassle-free.

Very basic unit. The "soil" here is mostly rocks with a thin packing of dirt in between. Rocks up to football size get lifted out. When I hit bigger rocks I go dig somewhere else.

I don't have clay, but what I would worry about is getting stuck. If you just plop it down while it's spinning it will drill itself in deep, and as others have noted you then have to screw it out by hand. The key is just to go slowly and lift it every couple of inches to clear the spoils.

I don't use a stand. I find if I take the auger off while it is on the tractor it's pretty easy to handle the rest by myself. The augur is just held on by two bolts. With the augur off the whole thing lies flat for storage too and takes up very little space.

[roy697]

I'll do some reading up on that model when I have some time.
Thanks

[bracabric]

Well it´s been quite some time since I bought my PHD and it was far from a success, but I have managed to give it a new lease on life. On the front of my Jinma 354 were four weights that I don´t need for the Tractor work that I do and I took them off along with the rear wheel weights, well, I fixed three of these weights to the top of my PHD and it completely changed it, at last penetration is no problem (still talking about the PHD) it behaves in the manor I had always hoped for. Two days ago I drilled 30 1 meter deep holes for a new fence in an hour and a half. Two years ago if someone had offered to take it away for nothing I would have been tempted but now I wouldn´t part with it for good money !! Yippee