Thread: Ford post hole digger

Might be the angle of the photo (stolen from the internets), ours never comes near to being overcentre even with the ram fully extended.

Regards,
Tote

Well I tried moving the hoop about 1.5" further forward ( which is as far as it can go ). I lifted it and saw the bloody thing was still going to go over center So I thought "bugger it" and lowered the thing back to the ground ........................... Ok, ok, that is what I tried to do, instead I moved the damn lever the wrong way and the bloody thing came crashing down again (grrrrrr).



with the damn thing laying on the ground with the linkage over center again ... I grabbed a length of wood and marked the center line of the linkage pins. The black texta lines .... Look how much it needs to come forward ... damn... I moved the hoop forward to where you see it in the picture above. This issue is its only bolted on with two bolts. It needs four. But the frame narrows and it gets closer to the tractor.





So that is about perfect. I've been scratching me head for a while. How on earth do I get around this.





See where the damn holes are.... anywhere else I can would weld attachment points to the frame... But I can't cut holes up through the side wall of the frame for the bolts.



from beneath. The block the U arms swivel in. It's cast iron, so I can't drill new holes in it ... and I can't weld it. The fix should be simple, but when I can't weld or drill the attachment block, I'm running out of ideas fast! You can see the ford blue there ... I'll pressure wash it and paint it back blue someday.

seeya,
Shane L.

What about turning the top pin hitch up the other way, this would give you more lift on the boom and maybe you wouldn't need to lift as high and risk going over centre. Photo 7 implies that the multiple holes might be designed to allow this.

Regards,
Tote

Originally Posted by Tote

What about turning the top pin hitch up the other way, this would give you more lift on the boom and maybe you wouldn't need to lift as high and risk going over centre. Photo 7 implies that the multiple holes might be designed to allow this.

Regards,
Tote

I did think of that earlier on .... You know, I'm going to try it



the reason I didn't try that first is I think it's going to end up wedge in the hinge over the top link (I think the top link floats on that upper pin for draft control ?).

I'll give it a go and let you know! Maybe I just need to grinder/cut a recess into it for clearance

seeya,
Shane L.

I agree, flip that front gooseneck over so the front of the frame is as low as you can go. Moving the lift point further forward on the frame is definitely not a good idea, you don't want it much further forward than the weld in the A-frame- sure there's no stress whilst auguring but it'll over-stress the frame when bouncing along with the thing lifted.
It may well be intended for a tractor with different geometry in the 3pl pivot / attachment points. Worst case is that you'll need to fabricate a different U-frame to better suit your tractor.
If you still struggle after flipping the gooseneck, there's a tractor forum with a wide knowledge base here: TractorByNet.com - Compact Tractor Forum

There was a discussion on storage of those augers on there a while back, seems the go is to make a frame to hang it by the gearbox end so you can hook up / unhook without wrestling with the weight.

Another couple of thoughts;
1;in the photo above where you show the cast iron block, it looks like the U-frame has bent over time, giving the frame more spread and less height. If you can pull the sides of the U closer together- so that your 3PL lift arms end up with less spread- this will gain you height. I would imagine you could come in a fair bit, it only needs enough width to clear the drive shaft.
2;not sure from your posts whether you tried with the lift arms on the higher attachment point at the tractor end- this would give less maximum height of the lift but would move the arc of the outer ends of the arms so that once above horizontal, the ends will be further aft for a given height, might be enough to make a difference.

Thanks Guys,

well this is what has worked .... Well "sort of" ... it will still go over-center if I lift it too high (I'll just need to be careful not to lift higher than is required).



I have moved the "block" the linkage arms attach to forward one width (ie: the front bolt holes, are now the rear bolt holes, and I need to drill two new holes for the front).



Just flipping the top link over didn't work (well it had plenty of clearance, but didn't lift enough). So I put the bottom bolts in and tapped it with a hammer until it was as verticle as I was game to go. This causes the post hole digger to move closer to the tractor, and the front of it to move down. So your pulling the arms further forward (so they lift higher before going over-center) and the front sits lower, so it lifts higher. Does that make sense at all ?

Anyway, its now working with only 4 new mount holes drilled in the frame. Nothing is bent anywhere, these are a very strong overbuilt unit. Nothing like the chinese ones sold these days with a bit of bent water pipe as the frame.

seeya,
Shane L.

Seeing your latest side on pictures, I'd suggest the tractor that thing was made for, had much longer lower arms for the 3PL. Are your sure the lower arms on your tractor are correct?

Could you shorten the tractor end of the top beam and re-drill the holes for the top link mount?

Could you weld a plate to the underside of the beam in order to re-attach the hoop mount at a better spot?

Don.