Trouble using posthole digger New to tractors. L185 and Danuser Digger F-8

[Brassie]

I cleaned up the auger with a wire brush. The tooth is not broken, but it is not real sharp anymore. One tooth cuts the inner track and one tooth cuts the outer track. The teeth on the other sizes of augers are all different. I will have to sharpen this one.
File? Stone? Grinder?

 

[Vlach7]

Unless you have a SPECIAL sharpening blade for hardened metal, I would use a plasma cutter or cutting torch with a quick cool down to retain the temper.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Grinder, it's not going to be carbide or tungsten.
Most auger cutting teeth are AR400 or AR500 steel

 

[Grandad4]

It also helps to have an "observer" off to the side to direct you as the hole is bored. Depending on how your linkage is set up....as your depth increases you may need to back up/pull forward a bit to keep the auger bit vertical as you bore.
In post #10 it looks like your auger is not vertical as you were going deeper. If not vertical....that will also stop or slow your boring process and possibly bend an auger.

The need to move forward or back a bit as the auger drills in is important with a small tractor due to the shorter 3 pt links.

 

[Ktrim]

Move the top link (main bar) to the bottom of the three holes.

Put a shale bar between the gear head and the round cross bar above it. Use this to apply down pressure as the auger is turning. Usually gives you the little more oomph that it needs

 

[jyoutz]

An 8' high fence with 24" deep holes? I hope there's no wind where you live...

It’s less about wind and more about the tension of the wires. 2’ holes isn’t going to cut it if the 8’ fence is stretched tight. I constructed a 8.5’ deer fence around my garden. I used pipe corners and cross braces set about 40” in the ground with an 80 pound bag of concrete mix per pipe. The line posts were 10’ t-posts driven about 20”. I used stacked 4’ rolls of field fence to reach 8’. Eight foot rolls of fencing are just too much to handle and stretch.

 

[jyoutz]

Put a shale bar between the gear head and the round cross bar above it. Use this to apply down pressure as the auger is turning. Usually gives you the little more oomph that it needs

Also, you can add water to the holes, let it soak in, then try again.

 

[Brassie]

Put a shale bar between the gear head and the round cross bar above it. Use this to apply down pressure as the auger is turning. Usually gives you the little more oomph that it needs

My Dad bought land and a tractor while I was in the Navy. He used to jump up and down on the auger to help it dig. My Mom heard him screaming and ran to help. She shut down the PTO and called the ambulance. His lower legs were all scar tissue.
I won't do that! I just might use a shale bar and I might attach some weight to add downward pressure. What is a shale bar? Pictures please? Pictures of a shale bar used this way please?

 

[Firefight100]

the other thing is make sure you are not bottoming out on the drive shaft. In the pics that looks like it may be a problem.

 

[Ktrim]

My Dad bought land and a tractor while I was in the Navy. He used to jump up and down on the auger to help it dig. My Mom heard him screaming and ran to help. She shut down the PTO and called the ambulance. His lower legs were all scar tissue.
I won't do that! I just might use a shale bar and I might attach some weight to add downward pressure. What is a shale bar? Pictures please? Pictures of a shale bar used this way please?

Shale bar

 

[Brassie]

Shale bar

Nice looking bar. I have a similar one that came with my new place. Thank you!

 

[hope to float]

the other thing is make sure you are not bottoming out on the drive shaft. In the pics that looks like it may be a problem.

This looks like it could be the issue. Well spotted

 

[Brassie]

I had to step away from the fencing project for a while. Those cucumbers demanded I pickle them. So I did! I had to learn how first. It’ll be another week or so before I try any, No feedback on success or fail until then. Every one did seal!

Thank you all for all of the help. I managed to did most of the holes I had already dug deep enough. There are still a few problem holes to deepen, but I added the rest of my needed small holes to the deep enough list with only a few more problem holes.
So I have about a half dozen smaller holes to finish up with the water treatment and the shale bar. Then I get to dig big holes for gates, corner posts and extra support here and there. I got more completed holes dug yesterday than in all of the previous time. WooHoo!