Skid Steer Post Driver Works Like A Jackhammer

Skid Steer Post Driver Works Like A Jackhammer FENCING Miscellaneous Montana fencing contractor Floyd Yoder looked for a simple and hardworking fence post driver to mount on his skid steer for several years but could never find one he liked One day he was driving posts into the ground so hard he thought he’d need a jackhammer to get the job done That spurred him to start building his own driver Yoder’s first machine was twice as large as the one he had been using Still it didn’t have the power he needed so he refined and rebuilt it during the next 4 years When neighbors saw how well his machine worked they wanted one Now Yoder’s company manufactures 3 drivers with 500 750 and 1 000 ft lbs of energy All of them work with a unique jackhammer-type action that typically hammers posts at the rate of 800 pneumatic blows a minute The 500-lb model is made with a 5/8-in plate steel frame and the 2 larger models have 3/4-in frames Oil flow of 8 to 16 gpm is needed for the model 500 12 to 21 gpm for the 750 and 14 to 26 gpm for the 1000 Yoder’s Montana Post Driver handles wood steel pipe and T-posts equally well His largest model which weighs 2 000 lbs mounts on skid steers 75 hp or larger All 3 models are made of heavy duty steel and have only 2 moving parts and a single grease fitting The domed hammer holds a post securely while the operator views the plumb line to center level and align the post before its driven The plumb line also serves as a depth gauge In addition to its ruggedness and simplicity other important aspects of the driver is its ability to set and drive posts on either side of strung wire All parts of the driver are above the post and won’t interefere with the wire as posts are set When the driver is mounted on a skid steer the steel frame doubles as a rack to carry several posts to a job site Yoder says his driver has a low center of gravity so it rests on the ground when it’s removed from a skid steer He says some competitive models are top heavy and need to set against a building or frame so they remain upright when disconnected Yoder is proud of the fact that he sources the steel and other parts for his machine from the U S The hydraulic drive unit for example comes from Arrow Head Rockdrill in California Suggested prices are $11 000 for the model 500 $13 000 for the model 750 and $15 000 for the model 1000 Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Montana Post Driver 2514 Gold Creek Road Gold Creek Mont 59733 ph 877 539-0317; www montanapostdriver com

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