NCL4701
Well-known member
Equipment
L4701, T2290, WC68, grapple, BB1572, Farmi W50R, Howes 500, 16kW IMD gen, WG24
Background…
When I was a kid, my Dad had a project to replace the derelict fence to revive a pasture for cows. It was at the old place, and my fuzzy kid memory figures the size at about 30 acres. Most of it was a grass field that had been cut for hay for many years. It also included wooded areas and a creek so they’d have water and shade. He used trees for posts where he could. Used eastern red cedar posts cut off the property where posts were needed. Of course I and my brother (5 years my senior) were involved.
I was probably 9 or 10. I’d been driving the 9N for about a year but hadn’t run any PTO implements. To dig all those holes for those cedar posts, Dad bought a 3 point auger for the 9N. I don’t know if he bought it new or used, but I know it would be out of character for him to have bought anything that wasn’t at least half worn out.
There are a variety of tasks involved in cutting fence posts, installing fence posts, and installing barbed wire. At the age I was, I was physically capable of some of them, but not all. One job I was capable of was operating the tractor so that auger was my first experience with a PTO implement.
It never had a guard of any sort on it. My father gave me a two minute speech explaining if engine of the tractor was running and you got near the PTO shaft, it would catch you. If you were lucky, it would pull your arm off. If you weren’t lucky, it would ring you out like a big, bloody dishrag. He also reminded me the “throttle” was actually setting the RPM for a governor so even if it was idling no matter how strong you were or how much you fought, it would just keep feeding the engine more fuel until it finished ripping you apart. That was pretty clear and easily understood even for a dumb kid like me. I actually didn’t know PTO shields existed until I got a summer job that included bush hogging for a small utility company.
And yes, sometimes we had to push down on the auger to get it to bite in. *Do not recommend.* I wasn’t heavy enough to push it. Part of my job as operator was to keep my left foot hovering over the clutch pedal while staring at the auger. If it caught a root and started corkscrewing to China or some one or something got caught in the auger or PTO I was to hit the clutch to stop it. No one ever got caught in anything, but I had plenty of opportunity to practice emergency stops with rocks and roots.
After that project, we used it a few times, but for two or three holes it was easier to punch them with the standard clamshell manual posthole diggers.
I grew up and moved away. A few years after, Dad sold the farm and moved to the place we are now. He brought all his tractor implements with him, including the auger. Couple years after he moved, he built a pole shed to store pole shed type stuff. By that time, my wife and I were living one town over so I had the privilege of helping with the pole shed. That’s the last time I’m aware of it being used, and that was 37 years ago.
I’d seen the boom part of it a few times when looking for other stuff in the shed. Hadn’t seen the gearbox or drill part since the shed was built. Asked about it a couple years before Dad passed because it would have been nice to have for a landscaping project, but he said the cutting edges on the drill were worn out so it was useless without a new drill as the cutting edges weren’t replaceable. Hadn’t thought about it since.
When I was a kid, my Dad had a project to replace the derelict fence to revive a pasture for cows. It was at the old place, and my fuzzy kid memory figures the size at about 30 acres. Most of it was a grass field that had been cut for hay for many years. It also included wooded areas and a creek so they’d have water and shade. He used trees for posts where he could. Used eastern red cedar posts cut off the property where posts were needed. Of course I and my brother (5 years my senior) were involved.
I was probably 9 or 10. I’d been driving the 9N for about a year but hadn’t run any PTO implements. To dig all those holes for those cedar posts, Dad bought a 3 point auger for the 9N. I don’t know if he bought it new or used, but I know it would be out of character for him to have bought anything that wasn’t at least half worn out.
There are a variety of tasks involved in cutting fence posts, installing fence posts, and installing barbed wire. At the age I was, I was physically capable of some of them, but not all. One job I was capable of was operating the tractor so that auger was my first experience with a PTO implement.
It never had a guard of any sort on it. My father gave me a two minute speech explaining if engine of the tractor was running and you got near the PTO shaft, it would catch you. If you were lucky, it would pull your arm off. If you weren’t lucky, it would ring you out like a big, bloody dishrag. He also reminded me the “throttle” was actually setting the RPM for a governor so even if it was idling no matter how strong you were or how much you fought, it would just keep feeding the engine more fuel until it finished ripping you apart. That was pretty clear and easily understood even for a dumb kid like me. I actually didn’t know PTO shields existed until I got a summer job that included bush hogging for a small utility company.
And yes, sometimes we had to push down on the auger to get it to bite in. *Do not recommend.* I wasn’t heavy enough to push it. Part of my job as operator was to keep my left foot hovering over the clutch pedal while staring at the auger. If it caught a root and started corkscrewing to China or some one or something got caught in the auger or PTO I was to hit the clutch to stop it. No one ever got caught in anything, but I had plenty of opportunity to practice emergency stops with rocks and roots.
After that project, we used it a few times, but for two or three holes it was easier to punch them with the standard clamshell manual posthole diggers.
I grew up and moved away. A few years after, Dad sold the farm and moved to the place we are now. He brought all his tractor implements with him, including the auger. Couple years after he moved, he built a pole shed to store pole shed type stuff. By that time, my wife and I were living one town over so I had the privilege of helping with the pole shed. That’s the last time I’m aware of it being used, and that was 37 years ago.
I’d seen the boom part of it a few times when looking for other stuff in the shed. Hadn’t seen the gearbox or drill part since the shed was built. Asked about it a couple years before Dad passed because it would have been nice to have for a landscaping project, but he said the cutting edges on the drill were worn out so it was useless without a new drill as the cutting edges weren’t replaceable. Hadn’t thought about it since.
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. I got a laugh out of it. But if you want to see some stuff that really looks like clapped out 
