Anyone ever use a one-man post hole digger?

Hello all, have the day off and planning to dig 4 holes to install some 4x4 cedar posts @ 36-40" deep. was gonna do it with my sadistic clamshell type, or my manual augertype (which is quite handy), but the thought of it isn't pleasant. can wait til the weekend and rent the 2-man with a friend of mine, but hoped to get 'er done today. ran across this at my local rental centers website, and wondering if anyone had used one, and if any comments on it? any and all input appreciated

 

torture if you have hard ground... there are some one man style machines with the motor on a little cart and a boom to the auger head. This controls rotation instead of trying to do it with your body.

 

It really depends on what type of soil you'll be trying to get through. If it's granular, you'll probably be fine. If it's tightly packed, sticky clay, you'll likely want the 2 man version. Either way, you should have someone spot you with the one man. Those things are far from the safest machines in the world and can hurt you pretty badly if you're not careful.

 

For just four holes I think I'd just dig it with a regular post hole digger. You must be building something to want to go that deep. But IMO I wouldn't rent an auger for four holes.

 

x2.......if you were doing a fence line I'd rent one but if its just 4 holes I'd just manual it. Like said before.....if its hard or rocky shit you aint getting through it withoug a breakbar and hard work anyway. If its soft......then 4 holes shouldnt take you longer than an hour each if you are going 36" to 42" to get below frostline.

 

X2. Save your $ and do it with what you have

 

x4.

I used to put in fences when I was in college. 4 holes wasn't worth the time to get the stupid post hold digger started. If the ground was hard, I could do it faster with the post hole diggers anyways.

 

Consesus is man-up and go manual. gotta say, terrific advice. called the rental store, and even they stated, due to the clay here in illinois, the one-man can be a real bear, and recommended the 2-man. i'll just keep reminding myself, "it's only four holes".............lol. thanks, fellas for the input TW rocks!!!

 

My thoughts as well, sounds kinda deep to me for 4x4s.

 

yea, the manly one.

 

Use the clam. I did 30+ holes 3' deep for 4x6's and I hated every second of it.

 

hahaha I concur with the general consensus...

The one-man, uber-manly, post-hole digger:



It'll probably take longer but you'll save some cash and get in nice workout.

 

the depth would really depend on the overall length of the cedar posts the OP is installing.

 

This.. Tried this in Az with our hard ass dirt/clay.. About broke my back using it. Ended up hiring someone to come out and do it for me.

 

Not really, frostline depth prolly the most important thing to consider, avoiding heave. The utility department just set some forty foot power poles in a industrial park, near a buddies warehouse, all of 6ft. deep.

 

Lots of flat rocks about 6" to 8" here in NB. I installed 35 posts and had to dig 2' holes with a shovel and pry bar out some of the rocks just to get down deep enough for the post. Then drop in the post and backfill. Even a 2 man post hole digger would send someone flying when it hooked on a rock so we took it back after 3 or 4 holes LOL. Was a lot of work but I did it over a bunch of weekends so it didn't seem too bad. Four holes shouldn't take too long. That one man post hole digger looks painful!!!

 

yes really,

it also depends onthe soil type you are digging in.

btw...those utility poles...much of their verticle stability is from the wires.

 

Sure it depends on soil type, and of course the wires themselves support the utility poles a great deal. But putting a 16ft 4x4 ten ft in the ground don't make the 4x4 post itself any stronger than say a 10 footer 4ft in the ground.

 

agree