I'm looking to add a hydraulic post hole digger to my excavator attachments. Excavator is a takeuchi tb53fr, which is about 13k pounds. There is an auger unit off a digger derrick / pole truck that I can snatch up quite reasonable and I thought it might work good on my excavator. What do you all think of running that size head off a midi? Reason I'm looking at it is that I am looking at a job that entails drilling about 550 6" holes 2-3' deep for hi-tensile fencing. Also what kinda production can I expect with an excavator driven post hole digger?
I'm not sure what the flow specs are on auger heads for digger derricks, but every digger I've worked on have large units that have big hoses on them, tends to indicate that they consume a good quantity of oil flow, not sure if your TB53 pumps will deliver enough oil to efficiently drive the unit. It might, just don't know.
Scratch that digger derrick unit, found an older danuser w/ several bits for a song and a dance, ($500) was for an older case 580 c/d, so I'm headed to get that in the morning.
Nice find stumpjumper83. √
I.d. plate says its a H8200... It also has a case drain on the side of the motor, it least thats what I think the little 1/4" line is. What do I do with then when I hook it to my takeuchi? Do I need to run another line all the way back to the tank?
That must be an older model Danuser unit, most of the newer ones use motors that don't require a case drain. If that is a case drain, it really does need it's own dedicated line going back to tank. Case drain lines require little to no additional back pressure from other hydraulic functions. It's a very low pressure circuit, so you can get by with simply running a hose along the existing auxiliary piping tied off with zip ties.
I installed an auger unit on a PC60 some years ago and had a couple of issues related to the auger. The first issue is to get all the specs on the motor. You need max pressure it can run at along with minimum and maximum flow. The case drain line comes off the motor and basically relieves any pressure build up on the shaft seal. It comes out at quarter inch pipe but you should run one size larger hose or tube back to the tank. That is because there will be line resistance causing the pressure felt on the seal to be more. Also keep in mind that excavators usually run about 12 to 15 PSI of tank pressure where most of the derricks I've been around has the tanks vented to the atmosphere. I would suggest running at least a #6 tube or hose back to the tank. You can usually T into the case drains from the travel motors at the top of the swivel. I almost had to plumb in an auxiliary relief valve because the machine reliefs would not go low enough. Since this machine was going to drive rock core drills I got a two spool stack valve that had the reliefs incorporated in the stack. I mounted the valve to guide rail. The final issue was that you usually can run the auger both directions you can just plumb into both legs of the auxiliary circuit and run it off a solenoid valve or a pedal from the cab. If you have a thumb already installed you can install manual three way valves on the sides of the stick. The final issue is how you mount the auger to the end of the stick. Most I've seen are free just hanging off the end of the stick. It is fast that way but you will have to get used to keeping it vertical as you drill your holes. Good Luck!
Digger Derrick for use as screw pile machine Does anyone know if a digger derick can be used to drive screw piles??
It depneds on the torque of the unit. Usally to drive anchores you need high torque and lower speed. Mu drive head is 20,000 ft/lbs at 14 rpm