In the next 2 years i plan to add to garage(pole construction), build a couple porches, and do some foundation underpinning. That equals digging lots of round holes.
I have been renting the tow behind your truck augers for 20 years for work, and they suck. They hurt my back, and are heavy and unruly. Couple that with having to rent one 3-4 times for these projects at my own house, I’ve been contemplating buying a tractor
i can get a good running functional ford N series tractor for $1000 without looking hard, a 3 point hitch auger is $500, and a 12” bit is $200 if i have to buy new but chances are i can find a used one from a rental shop.
4 separate days of rental is $430 plus tax and insurance on the equipment, so call that $500 even. That leaves me on the hook for $1200, not counting tax benefits of buying equipment that will be used in my business for deck post holes and the like.
so after my maths, it makes sense because unless it blows up, the running tractor will always be worth what i pay, if it blows up it’s worth more in pieces. The big question is:
does an 8/9/2n have the balls to run a 12” auger bit down 42”? My dad has one, but is hesitant to do anything heavy with the 3 point because the case exploded at the top point, he welded it back together and made a huge plate that is likely 10x stronger than the original cast iron mount, but it’s his tractor and I respect if he doesn’t want it used as such.
Our 8N has put in tons of 12" post holes but we're on very sandy soil. The only drawback to using the 8N for augering is the lack of a live PTO. The only way to run the hydraulics is to turn the PTO. This can lead to a few butt puckering moments. Our other tractor is much larger and modern so it's taken over most of the 8N's duties. If you pick up one of the Fords for $1000 it'll do what you need it to do and you'll be able to sell it for the same money twenty years from now. Just be aware of it's limitations and remember that OSHA didn't exist when they were built.
In a word, yes. We have two 8Ns and they have the balls. They lack a 2-stage clutch, but for hole digging I can't see that as a problem. Dig slowly. PTOs don't have reverse. If you go too fast you will have a very expensive anchor.
The hard part is finding a post hole digger that's robust that fits one. Or maybe it's not a huge problem, but the ones I've used have either been for small tractors and broken, or for bigger ones and not broken. The 8 is kind of right in the middle and there is a lot of older/slightly sketchy equipment around for them.
My only problem with our 8Ns is the short 3-point bars. An auger shouldn't be an issue, but on my brush hog and finish mower I have to put a stopper on the lift. If I lift to far, the short PTO shaft slides out and I have a flailing bar of steel.
Living in Texas, my 8N (a 48 model) would be the wrong tool for the job. You'd have to have 500 pounds of rednecks hanging off a giant bar to weight the auger enough to get anywhere. The soil is just too hard for gravity to do the work of pushing an auger down.
Those are gravity down 3 point hitches with relatively short arms. That means the auger isn't pushing into the ground and it isn't going to have a ton of vertical travel. The 3 point on my tractor is the same way and if the soil conditions are good I run out of travel at @36" deep.
oldopelguy said:
Those are gravity down 3 point hitches with relatively short arms. That means the auger isn't pushing into the ground and it isn't going to have a ton of vertical travel. The 3 point on my tractor is the same way and if the soil conditions are good I run out of travel at @36" deep.
Good info. I don’t want to run out before the required 42”. The tow behind augers are the same way, and we generally have to dig, leave bit in, install 12” extension, finish dig, pull machine, pull extension, reinstall bit, remove from hole, start again.
That is a good point about the gravity-down 3-point. My auger must be really heavy. It cut through PA shale with relative ease.
