Trying to pick a GOOD gas powered Post Hole digger.

[kiwigtx]

Too lazy to dig around my garage to show what I bought about 2 years ago after hiring the same type a couple of times....
https://www.trademe.co.nz/building-...tm?rsqid=110cd19eac1a4f3fa30b1bd1f06e2852-001

Big block - 62cc of two-stroke power...works extremely well....one man operation, I have used it more than enough to cover the hire costs had I not bought it. Paid for itself after the second job. I'm no professional fencer...but I have done small retainer walls, repaired a heap of my boundary fences, and built small walls in my garden using this machine.

I intend to use it to plants shrubs eventually and sink the posts for a future deck. I also used it for about 10 hours worth of trenching, and cutting a bank away. Rather than hack away with a spade....I drilled a series of holes where I needed the trench (about 18" deep....then cut the edges, and scooped out the spoil...saved me a heap of digging and no blisters. I also used it the same way to cut away a bank infill at my house....drilled down in sections to loosen the bank, then scooped the spoil into my wheelbarrow. Labour intensive, but the space was too tight for a digger to get in. Saved me at least $1,000 in labour costs....and no need to hire a digger.

The shaft on mine has a quick release snap clip for attaching the augers and extension. The best tip I can give is when you are digging...don't get too ambitious with your depth. Take it slow, or you'll bury the auger. I know this from when I was an apprentice...the boss thought we could manage....every time he revved it...the darn thing just went deeper. Took a Hiab Truck to pull the damn auger out of the ground.

I also have a manual digger for cleaning out deeper post holes...especially after the machine we hired for our big retainer wall.....

Hard work using that one....but it is useful.

 

[khryslerkid]

 

[khryslerkid]

Did he say "cannabis"?

 

[khryslerkid]

Then you have Professor Gadget

 

[mopar 3 B]

rent one of these:

http://proqualitytools.com/towable-hydraulic-one-man-post-hole-digger/

I have gone that route. Any rocks or tree roots and your hand digging anyway. Not worth the trouble and expence.

 

[kiwigtx]

here's a sample of what I was doing Greg...

Started with hiring a counter-balance borer....difficult to use....and the space I used it was tight to the boundary, so was quite awkward...

used it on the first 7 posts in the start of my retaining wall work....

Small garden retaining walls....

Trench work as described above....

 

[kiwigtx]

Hired a professional with a big auger for the big retaining wall...of course I was on clay removal duty

Back fence repairs....corner post is 6" x 6" to take the strain....

small retaining wall inside double skinned fence - to allow me to raise my lawn a bit in the corner...

And here is that alcove that I drilled with the auger and shoveled out by hand...

 

[Kern Dog]

The method of drilling a series of holes then breaking off the areas in between...I have done that in several areas before....Demo work in construction, dirt work, cutting up a stump...

 

[moparedtn]

Those hand held can be apita sometimes. I even had a one man one called Earth Quake and it did ok in good soil. It only takes one rock or root to break a arm or leg.

True dat. Story time:
I got the bright idea back in the early 90's to escape the commute/rat race in the far south DC suburbs and instead run around installing what was then new technology - satellite dish tv for "Primestar".
My bright idea was to do this in my neck of the woods - the Winchester/Warrenton part of NW Virginia.
As in mountainous. As in all rocky soil...
I get tired of hand digging post holes and decide to get a gas one man auger. Tried one out at the rental joint and thought "hey, I can get twice as many installs done a day with this thing!" to justify the cost.

You know where this is going....

After about the fifth time the dang thing threw me across the yard like a rag doll, you'd have thought the lesson was finally learned - but nooooo!
My buddy had also joined the company and we schemed that if we did installs together, we could get one of those two-man augers. Yeah, that'd fix it! We could quadruple our installs!
A memorable day was spent with that thing throwing BOTH our scrawny asses across peoples' yards and cow pastures and such as it seemingly found every....damn....rock to hook on.
Sold that stupid thing to another installer the very next day...

I've drilled several dozen holes out here on the ridge using a 3-point I rent from the local co-op.
It's a larger (heavy as hell) unit than those you typically see in the ads - meant to be used on 50+ hp tractors.
I run it on my compact Massey 4wd tractor (Japanese 3 cylinder diesel, 30hp) and it doesn't care what it runs into.
Once you get all that mass spinning, it becomes a juggernaut and it's inherently safer because you remain in
the bucket, operating the controls. All that energy gets stored up in the auger and the tractor just comes along
for the ride.

 

[Richard Cranium]

I can see it now.............

 

[moparnation74]

I'm sure you are kidding but I have a hard time "using" people. If I hang around someone, it is because I like them.

Perfectly stated....what PRICK would chose their friends based on what they have to benefit oneself....A selfish prick that is!

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Cheapest way to do this..

 

[BeatersRus]

it took me a while to find the right guy,when i was getting power poles installed up at camp.
but after looking around i found a local 2 towns over who will drill as many holes as i need for 10 bucks a hole.
his only catch was there has to be at least 20 holes to make it worth his while.
he has the equipment,the know-how and the Experience to get things done Fast.
he uses a bobcat with a drill attachment and he went thru rocks tree roots and dirt like it was cake.
was worth every penny i paid him,and hell i even tipped the guy.

the only reason i suggest someone like this is,
at least if their equipment breaks You wont be the one paying for it.
plus,its helluva lot easier on the labor and the back.

 

[hawkeye]

This is what I use. I am too old/lazy to throw and pack the dirt in the hole.

 

[91r/t]

Here ya go buddy!

 

[DeltaV]

 

[moparedtn]

Perfectly stated....what PRICK would chose their friends based on what they have to benefit oneself....A selfish prick that is!

Well, I can't say what happens in other necks of the woods or with other people, of course....
but out he-ah (that's "here" for you non-southern folk) we sort of rely on each other a bit from time
to time and help each other out. For example, I'm useful to some of 'em when they need whatever
from me from my own chosen trade - or if a neighbor needs help with a field, I'll jump on the tractor
and come over or whatever.
One of my buds has a mini-ex and he brought it out recently because the highway department had damaged
my waterline, so we got that fixed lickety split - and I owe him one now.
Ain't no thang - we sort of look after one another when we can, that's all.
Yes, it still bugs the hell out of what's left of the yankee in me to accept a gift like that, but trust me -
they wind up getting the favor returned when they need me next time, too.

 

[moparedtn]

This is what I use. I am too old/lazy to throw and pack the dirt in the hole.

View attachment 783007

Those probably work better than about anything - if the wood is up to it, that is.
Seems like the store-bought pressure treated stuff ain't worth spit anymore, especially since the feds outlawed the use of some chemicals in it (like arsenic) years ago.

I've helped set many a dozen of the metal rod type fence posts using a neighbors' hi-lift, too. Sort of dangerous - hold the pole upright where you want it, bring the bucket on the hi-lift down on it and ram it on down.
Hydraulics, man, can't beat it - but things do go sideways once in a while doing
things this way, too. Gotta be up on yer toes.

 

[moparedtn]

Cheapest way to do this..

Oh man, that is soooooo anti-PC.

 

[66383]

Don't forget to call 811!