Auger On An Excavator?

[winesalot]

Sorry this is a bit off the tractor topic but I don't know who else to ask.

I built some four foot high nine foot horizontal terraces with a dozer In to the hillside behind our soon to be winery building. I wanted eight foot horizontal surfaces so I made them nine knowing that there would be some material slugging off over time. Now we are thinking we may want to build some soldier pile retaining walls to hole the terraces in place. This will require angering holes right next to the base of the vertices part of the terrace. There is not room to turn a tractor far enough to get a standard 3-point auger up against that wall. I am wondering if anyone has ever seen an auger for an excavator and if you have used one? I own a Kubota 121-3 that is plumbed with a bucket thumb.

(Picture 1 is my terraces and picture 2 is an inter web picture of a soldier pile retaining wall like we are considering.)

 

[D2Cat]

Use one of these offset augers on a skid-steer. https://www.landpride.com/ari/attach/lp/public/manuals/317-215m.pdf

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Yes they make them looks like around 2K for the drive for it, and yes they work rather well!
It is the same unit as for the Skidsteer, it's just set up for the excavator mounts.

 

[rkidd]

I have used augers on excavators alot of times. They work extremely well on projects. Should be able to rent one no problem.

 

[winesalot]

Great answer everyone. Thank you. This helps.

 

[TRA]

Would the 3rd function on a B series run one of those by chance?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Would the 3rd function on a B series run one of those by chance?

No, you do not have enough GPM flow to run it.

 

[TRA]

No, you do not have enough GPM flow to run it.

I figured as much. Bah Humbug!

 

[maclean]

In hard soil you won't get the down pressure you want on an excavator mounted auger. Skid steer...

 

[Kennyd4110]

You can rent them at many places, the whole rig or just the auger.

 

[Russell King]

In hard soil you won't get the down pressure you want on an excavator mounted auger. Skid steer...

Why? Can’t the excavator exert down pressure?


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[maclean]

Why? Can’t the excavator exert down pressure?


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Yes...but at the end of the boom...you can only get so close...skid steers are much better.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Yes...but at the end of the boom...you can only get so close...skid steers are much better.

I take it you missed him stating he already has a Mini Ex, so I think it's much cheaper for him to get an implement that will fit his Mini Ex then to get a skid steer.

 

[BAP]

Yes...but at the end of the boom...you can only get so close...skid steers are much better.

That’s odd, how do the power companies make their pole holes accurate when their augers are on the end of booms on the trucks parked in the road? Plus, they drill through rock too. An auger on an excavator works great and is much easier to position and get into hard places than a skid steer.

 

[maclean]

Truck is heavier than a mini excavator...same lever action as our front loaders...further from the pivot point the less that you can lift. Same thing with an auger.

My neighbor was building his pole barn. We needed 30 holes...some 7' deep because his engineer (and code) called for the holes to be in undisurbed soil.

He rented a mini excavator. We struggled for four hours to get a hole augered. Try as we might we couldn't get enough down pressure to get a 24" auger to bite. Maybe it was the semi compacted gravel on top...it was wet and my neighbor thought it would help...most of it caved in as we augered. Maybe it was the heavy clay hardpan underneath. Eventually he called the rental place and traded for a skid steer.

And the skid steer worked great...just relating my experience.

I think an excavator of the appropriate size would work.

I think a boom truck digging 16" or less holes for power poles would work.

-Mac

P.S. any way to post videos? Other than uploading to YouTube?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

P.S. any way to post videos? Other than uploading to YouTube?

Nope, you will need to upload them to some site then post a link here.