Pint-Size Tractor Drills 12-In. Holes

Pint-Size Tractor Drills 12-In. Holes TRACTORS Conversions 28-4-34 Gene Sanders' 14-hp lawn tractor doesn't look like much but Sanders found the Power King tractor has plenty of power to dig 12-in. postholes. And rigging up the tractor to handle a full size posthole auger cost Sanders less than $200. "I picked up an old Deerborn 12-in. auger for $50, added a hydraulic cylinder to the 3-pt. hitch on the Power King for added lift, and picked up an old automotive 3-speed transmission," recalls Sanders. "I did have to shorten the 3-pt. arms on the auger about a foot to fit the tractor." The 3-speed transmission serves multiple purposes. The tractor didn't have a pto, but it did have a 5-in. dual V-belt drive pulley with electric clutch. Sanders ran the belt to a second pulley on a pto shaft he mounted under the tractor. Because he had to reverse the pto shaft direction, Sanders bolted the 3-speed to the frame and connected it to the shaft. A second shaft ran from the transmission to the post hole auger. "To start digging, I put the pto transmission in reverse," explains Sanders. "If I get hung up on a rock, I just put it in first gear and draw it out of the hole." Although the pto speed is less with the garden tractor than it would be with a full size tractor, digging has been no problem. With four 200-lb. weights on the front of the tractor, Sanders can put over 1,000 lbs. of downward pressure on the auger using the 3-pt. hitch. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Gene Sanders, 2491 North Portland Arch Road, Covington, Ind. 47932-8137 (ph 765 793-2982).

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