How far can I lift front tires to gain depth on rear auger / Auger extension build

[skeets]

I hate you guys, now I have to go out and pull all my fence post andr e-dig all the holes I set by hand only 2 or 3 feet deep 30 years ago so the frost dont push them out of the ground. And FYI power poles are set up with a ton of different kinds of stresses compared to a fence post, don't over thing stuff. BUT thinking about it, I did hear about a man that set his posts 5 feet into the ground, and used power pole butts, but then again he was raising American buffalo for meat sales

 

[Timmer92]

I hate you guys, now I have to go out and pull all my fence post andr e-dig all the holes I set by hand only 2 or 3 feet deep 30 years ago so the frost dont push them out of the ground. And FYI power poles are set up with a ton of different kinds of stresses compared to a fence post, don't over thing stuff. BUT thinking about it, I did hear about a man that set his posts 5 feet into the ground, and used power pole butts, but then again he was raising American buffalo for meat sales

Myself and others may very well be overthinking it. However, I have direct experience of concrete footings buried 48" deep raising about 1/2" a year, give or take. I'm not sure why wood would be any different?

You might feel better that I'm only sinking the corners that deep. The 300+ wooden posts between are only going as deep as my auger will go - 3 ft.

 

[Russell King]

With the extended auger length, will the tractor be able to lift it out of the hole? What I am wondering is if you will be digging the hole with the auger and still have to clean the last one or two feet by hand. Which is still better than using the digging bar and manual PHD.

How will you get the extended auger completely out of the hole?

 

[bird dogger]

With the extended auger length, will the tractor be able to lift it out of the hole? What I am wondering is if you will be digging the hole with the auger and still have to clean the last one or two feet by hand. Which is still better than using the digging bar and manual PHD.

How will you get the extended auger completely out of the hole?

Depending on your tractor's lift arm length and set up, along with the adjustments on the auger frame itself, it's possible that it can be lifted out of the hole as a complete unit. But it sure helps to have an assistant! The angle that you're drilling changes fast as the depth increases and you need to back up or drive forward in increments to keep the hole vertical. and cleaning out any loose dirt left at the bottom is a lot easier than digging unmolested dirt that far down.

If your setup won't allow the auger to be completely removed....the assistant can unpin the auger from the extension and then lift it out once the tractor has been moved. If you're by yourself....you raise the auger up and place a board at ground level and between the auger's spiral cutter and unpin it yourself. the board keeps the auger from dropping back down the hole.

I built my extension to drill holes below the frost line for footings/posts on attached house decks.

 

[Creature Meadow]

That is certainly a consideration. I looked into it a bit, but I dismissed the idea for 2 reasons. First, we have so many projects going on I thought it was just too much additional work. Also, I was looking at buying a product to accomplish it and we would have needed a whole lot, as all of our posts are wood, not just the corners. I'm already way over budget and had to draw the line.

I'm hoping that because we live in sand it won't deteriorate as quickly. I might live to regret the decision, and most certainly will if I end up spending all of this money again in a few years!

I understand budget and time!

It does take time to apply the oil, I lay plastic down line up the post and slop it on, roll post then slop in on. Since I am not worried about it looking like a fine paint job it goes on pretty quick.

the oil I save in 5 gallon buckets so have near endless supply from my tractor, truck, mowers, 4 wheeler and even dump the hydro oil in with it.

Best of luck and hopeful it holds up for years.

 

[Timmer92]

SUCCESS! ....with some learning

I got the extension built. I had one pipe inside another, for a total 10 holes going across both sides of a pipe (20 holes counting each side of the pipe). 8 of 10 holes went great. 2 holes ate 4 drill bits and required 2 trips to different hardware stores. There was a serious consistency/quality issue with one end of the pipe. It was nearly impossible to drill through. I was using oil, and had already slowed down my drill press, but that didn't matter. It was hard as heck.

It took one auger hole to become efficient and learn some lessons. I did use clevis pins to make swapping easy. However, that displaced shear pins, so there may be some risk with that. I am in sand and am not digging near my woods-lines (roots), so I figured I'd be ok.

Someone above asked about lifting it out of the hole. When we started on the first hole, we drilled until the auger was buried, then added the extension, then drilled way down, then learned we couldn't pull it back up! That was a hard lesson. I had to dig the dirt off the top of it, then dig down beside it and get dirt of the blade. Lesson learned.

I'm not sure if it's the perfect process, but on the second and third hole, things went very well and rather fast, so we are sticking with it:

• Drill the hole twice with just the bit (no extension), pulling it out and pulling/knocking off the dirt each time.
• Lower the bit into the hole until the top blade is just above ground level, then put a board across the blade to hold it in place.
• Disconnect the head from the bit, raise it, and attach the extension. Doing the head first is key, as you can turn it to match the holes in the bit, whereas the bit is in the hole and turning that would be very hard.
• Lower the auger with extension down and connect it to the bit.
• Drill until the soil goes over the top blade. Raise it and pull/knock off the dirt. Repeat to desired depth.
• Lower into the hole until the top blade is just above ground level. Put a board across the blade to hold it in place.
• Disconnect the extension from the bit. Raise the head, remove the extension.
• Lower the auger and connect to the bit. Pull it out. Hole done.

We got 3 holes done before we got rained out. Doing the math, it looks like it takes 25% of the time (75% less) than digging 2/5 of each hole by hand. It's totally worth the time it takes to mess with the extension.

 

[Magicman]

You should not be concerned about the post bottoms because the rot will occur within a foot of ground level, and using concrete is a bad idea. Gravel/rocks will last the longest and if not available tamp the soil back in.

 

[NHSleddog]

When people ask why I suggest a hydraulic QA auger, I should point to this post as ONE of the reasons. I am easily over 700 holes at this point with my new setup and a bunch of the holes need to go 4' and over. If I had to mount and remove an extension for them the time alone would pay for the hydro.

Good that you got it worked out. If you have a lot more to do, I would highly recommend a hydraulic unit mounted up on the bucket boom.

 

[Timmer92]

When people ask why I suggest a hydraulic QA auger, I should point to this post as ONE of the reasons. I am easily over 700 holes at this point with my new setup and a bunch of the holes need to go 4' and over. If I had to mount and remove an extension for them the time alone would pay for the hydro.

Your modern, new fangled equipment frightens and confuses me! .....and I couldn't afford the HO at 5x the price of the rear auger. But it's a fair point.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

NICE... it works and you're having fun....building,bodging and diggin in the dirt !!
hmm.. great soil.. I don't see ANY stones, rocks or boulders...
You should write down and save 'How to auger holes' and tape to the extension,for future reference. Course with my 'filing system'... I'd never find the extension and have to make another......

 

[Timmer92]

NICE... it works and you're having fun....building,bodging and diggin in the dirt !!
hmm.. great soil.. I don't see ANY stones, rocks or boulders...
You should write down and save 'How to auger holes' and tape to the extension,for future reference. Course with my 'filing system'... I'd never find the extension and have to make another......

Thanks! The soil is indeed great from a perspective of easy to dig, water soaks in, etc. It ranges for medium-fine sand to fine powder sand for the most part, with a little bit of clay here and there. There are exactly zero rocks of any sort. For growing stuff, however, there aren't a lot of nutrients.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Find a local horse stable and acquire the 'pony poop' aka 'stable sweepings' !!! Add all your 'kitchen kompost' too !!! I add about 3 tandem truckloads of 'ponypoop' every year to the 1/4 ac veggie patch and EVERYTHING grows very well. This year carrots actually look like real carrots and taste GREAT.
You have to give back to the soil what you take out,neighbour never has and that garden is 'dead'.