[AT] Post Hole Digger

[Alan Nadeau]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Sloane" <mikesloane at verizon.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 8:13 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Post Hole Digger


> They flop around and never go where you want them to, unless they are
> mounted on the tractor. A lot of farmers rig up ropes/chains to hang
> them from a tree or barn rafter - once you lay them down, they don't
> want to get up.

We had an auger on my grandparents place.   After a couple sessions of 
wrestling with it we decided the best way to store it was to drill it into 
the ground about half the length of the auger.  In sandy soil it didn't rust 
up all that bad from being buried and it cleaned up after just a couple 
holes.    After it had set a while it could be a bit hard for the 3 pt. to 
lift out of the ground, this was on a JD 40.  The truck to that was to put a 
strain on it with the 3 pt. and give it a little nudge on the PTO and it 
would pop right out of the ground.

I've got a Johnson/Arps auger that was made for my JD 400 L & G tractor. 
It had the most god-awful hookup that could only be used on a tractor 
without a 3 pt.  Previous owner  had cobbed up a way to hook it up that 
pretty much guaranteed you would bend or tear up something on the tractor. 
Since you had to have a rear PTO (separate item on the 400). and since the 
most common rear PTO operated attachment was most likely a tiller, which 
needed the 3 pt as well I can't imagine why they didn't design it to work 
with the 3 pt instead of using its' own cylinder.   I remodeled it so the 
lower end of the boom hooks where the top link does and the 3 pt. hooks to a 
pivoting wishbone like a real tractor application.   If you guys want to 
talk about shaking and rattling try an auger with an 18" bit on the back of 
a 1,000 lb. tractor.   It still beats hand shoveling.   I do have 9 and 12" 
bits for it and they get the most use.