# Auger problems with compact tractor



## Molonio63 (Aug 10, 2010)

Hello, 
I am trying to use an auger with my Yanmar 2200 tractor on dark dry soil with few rocks and i am having a lot ot trouble. My hydraulic lift arms on the back of the tractor are not working smoothly, when i move the lever, they may not react quickly, jumping later instead in a jerky kind of motion. It makes a screeching sound at the end of the lever range and it may not have enough strength. I wonder if someone can provide advice in the following.

1- Does anyone know what the screeching and jerkyness of the hydraulic lever arms is caused by and how to solve it2

2- The auger gets jammed in the soil if i go past the small grooves at the tip and into the larger ones by more than a couple of inches. 

3 - The auger seems to have a lot of dangling movement in all directions (the lift arm moves sideways, and the whole structure seems to be very loose) is this normal or should it be more tight?

4- Is it adviseable to put some water in the whole to soften the soil or does that make it more sticky and difficult?


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

You should have a bit of side to side and lots of front to back movement. You should have tensioners on your 3 point arms to prevent excess side to side movement of the 2 lower arms. Unsure about the squealing. Does it only do it with the auger, or with other attachments as well? Can you provide a photo or two of your setup to allow us to see if something obvious jumps out at us?


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

How large an auger are you using on this?


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## Molonio63 (Aug 10, 2010)

Thanks a ton for the replies. Here are some photos (please click on pict below and then you can click on the pictures on the website for larger view). 
I wonder if instead of pins i need to use nuts and bolts in some of the joints. But i am asking for any advice on digging with a tractor auger because it is my first time using this and the main problem is that i can't dig hardly at all without getting stuck. I have to go down a bit and as soon as it starts catching i have to lift or it gets stuck. I dug another hole that went beautifully well in a more sandy area, went to 4 ft deep in no time. This black soil i am working on now is difficult but 2 hours to go down barely an inch is not going to do me any good. I tried the old manual post hole digger and it is hard stuff (very compact soil but no rocks, it is a bit moist and doesn't crumble easily). I am not sure about the best technique for manipulating the auger in this situation. For example, is more PTO speed/less power better?



The screeching could be air in the hydraulic lines, but this is not the main problem i think. It does it with or without load toward the end of the range of movement. Maybe i need to bleed any air out of the hydraulic oil? 

I was thinking on using a combination, use the tractor until it gets hard and sticking in the hole, and then try manual digging from there but at 2.5 feet it is hard to make any progress even manually with a post hole digger. Is there a better manual tool?

I have 19 more posts to dig so any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

Not certain, but the length of the mechinism looks a bit long for the tractor. In other words, I would say that the auger is canted off the 3 point arms a bit too much. I believe this auger is to a larger tractor. Anyone else seeing this?


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## caveman (Oct 14, 2010)

Couple things I would look at; PTO speed (540 or 1000?) Engine RPM's while digging? ( enough to maintain 540 at the PTO?)
From my experience, that tractor should be able to handle that auger up to about the 3 ft mark. Maybe not much after that simply because of lack of HP. Also, it shouldn't give a tremendous amount of cavitation while digging. Some, Yes, but not a lot.
You might want to check or top off hydrolic fluid too.
Good Luck!


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

I was gonna mention that you should keep pulling the auger up every 6 inches you go down, as opposed to going all the way down then bringing up all that dirt.


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## Molonio63 (Aug 10, 2010)

Once i started digging about 6 inches at a time and then pulling i was able to get the work done. It was a learning experience. I had to be really careful or it got stuck but i got better at anticipating it. Thanks for the advice to all of you.

I do run it at about 1000 RPMs. The power i lack is not in the PTO but in the lifting. Perhaps it is too long for my lift arms in this tractor.


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

I think so. I was at work thinking about my last suggestion and thought it might help.


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

Just looking at your photos again......Have you tried moving that top link back? You have in the photos, a few more holes and perhaps this would make it easier for the lift to pick it up, so long as it cleared the ground (unsure if you have it lifted up all the way in the photos). Just a thought.


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## Molonio63 (Aug 10, 2010)

It barely clears the ground as it is.


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

Bummer. Well as long as you got a system worked out, you'll be able to use it.


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