Towable Post Hole Auger experience?

[kingston73]

I am in a new house and need to build a fence. I will be doing it myself and will need about 40 post holes. In my area of MA the soil is fairly rocky but I haven't dug a hole yet so I'm not sure how bad it will be. I have a manual auger but if it ends up being too slow/too much work I'm considering renting an auger. My local rental has a towable model that has the auger on one end the the motor counterbalanced on the other end, and it also has a tracked model and a bobcat/auger combo.

I'm wondering if anybody has any experience using the towable model of auger? It would be a lot easier and much less expensive to rent than the other 2 options. I know the bobcat would be the easiest and quickest method but it's also more than 3 times as expensive.

 

[DougA]

I have an auger on my Kubota and in sandy soil, it does a hole in 30 sec. In rocky soil, it can be an absolute nightmare if it hits a large rock. Small rocks get stuck in the auger and you bang them out with a sledge but a large rock you have to dig it out with a shovel - not fun. The only real difference in your rental choices is how hard you will get shaken when you hit a large rock. No auger will handle rocks very well.

A fence is the worst scenario because you have to put the post in the exact spot and if there's a rock, it has to come out. If the rocks might be more than 100 lbs., you will need something to lift them out and a Bobcat can do that. If your rocks are small, go with the towable.

I've done 100's of holes in rocky soil and you will get lucky most of the time, then bam, you'll spend an hour on one hole.

 

[Bad LP]

The bobcat option hands down. Don't even waste your time and money on any other options.

 

[greg13]

It will be like bench pressing 50lbs. for every hole, It's going to get old FAST.

 

[gzecc]

I and my wife did it 10 yrs ago in north central NJ clay soil. Not easy, but I'm sure much easier than the conventional two man auger. We did 30 holes in one day.

 

[Krogoski]

The wife and I did 35 10" holes in Indiana sticky clay in a couple hours. Greg13 is right, you will feel it for a couple days. The model we rented was hydraulic, when we hit a rock or root we were able to just reverse the auger to release the bind, then tackle the obstacle with a power hammer (rented at the same time) or sawzall.

 

[MDFisherman]

I rented a pull behind 1 man model with a 12" auger and did about 20 holes in less than 4 hours. It really wasn't that bad until you started hitting roots.

 

[hman]

Is the track machine what they call a mini skid steer? Toro Dingo is a popular machine.It would be way better than the tow behind unit,and not as expensive as the bobcat and won't tear up your yard.
The tow behind doesn't work that well in rocky ground.The other two machines will handle rocky ground better and will not beat you up.

 

[Sean McGillicuddy]

Do you need to have the tow behind attached to your vehicle?
if you do , think how you will line it up as apposed to just driving the others to the right spot. Also I'm thinking that the tow able is much lighter .. how will that feel when you hit those rocks. you will .. you're in New England!

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

I feel your pain. We needed to dig 30 holes for a fence here in CT. First we tried it ourselves with a posthole digger. Hahahahahahahaha! Then we rented a one-man augur....for about two hours. Took it back and got the two-man augur, and that got us about 6" deeper. Ended up just hiring a fence company. They sent out two guys of questionable citizenship with posthole diggers and steel bars, and they banged it out in one day.

We have more to do, and I would love to know how you make out with the tow-behind. Our previous fence was done on a crazy slope, the next piece we have to do is all flat. We were looking at renting one of these dudes: http://www6.homedepot.com/tool-truck-rental/Towable_Hydraulic_Auger/HD99-H/index.html

 

[DougA]

We were looking at renting one of these dudes:

That's what the OP is referring to. Works good in easy soil, lousy when you hit rocks/big roots. There have been a few threads on this plus one on a ditch witch. It's all the same problem, easy soil is a breeze, once you hit anything larger than a fist sized rock, they all have problems. The smaller the unit, the more the operator gets a good shaking. If it's a large rock the size of a turkey or larger, you have to dig them out by hand. When I hit something over 200 lbs., the choice is either to move the hole or spend a few hours digging it out. I lifted one out that was 400 lb last year. That's the limit to my Kubota for lifting.
As the rock sizes get progressively larger, you go from a backhoe to an excavator to dynamite. I have one beside my house that a Cat D7 hit when landscaping the yard. I was inside and felt the earth shake. The operator was shaken up too. The rock is still sitting there - it won.

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

DANG. I was hoping this would be the solution for setting posts in our rocky "soil". The two-man augur wasn't bad, but it was tricky/dangerous to run, and only got us about 30" deep. I thought this thing would be a safer, better solution, and get us at least 36" deep.

 

[kingston73]

I haven't even started yet so I'll let you know when I get to it. The nearest rental place has a bobcat/auger and a Toro Dingo both for the same rental price ($300 per day) or a towable auger like the link for $99/day. I'm going to try my manual first just to get a feel for how bad it'll be.

 

[DougA]

The two-man augur wasn't bad, but it was tricky/dangerous to run, and only got us about 30" deep. I thought this thing would be a safer, better solution, and get us at least 36" deep.

It will be easier to run than a 2 man but the same problems with rocks. The depth is determined by the length of the auger, any part of the bracket that will hit the ground and your ability to clean out the hole with multiple tries.

To get mine deeper, I dig a small trench beside the hole where the auger bracket hits the earth, then I usually do 5 or more digs with the auger turned off at the very bottom of the hole. I find that with the auger turning, too much dirt drops off the auger as you are raising it. That shortens the depth of the hole.

 

[greg13]

It will be easier to run than a 2 man but the same problems with rocks. The depth is determined by the length of the auger, any part of the bracket that will hit the ground and your ability to clean out the hole with multiple tries.

To get mine deeper, I dig a small trench beside the hole where the auger bracket hits the earth, then I usually do 5 or more digs with the auger turned off at the very bottom of the hole. I find that with the auger turning, too much dirt drops off the auger as you are raising it. That shortens the depth of the hole.

No one at the rental place has ever heard of an auger extension ??? We have 12, 24 & 36"