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post drivers

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T

TN cowpoke

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I am getting ready to start a big fenceing project on my pastures and would like to buy a good post driver. I don't really know much about drivers nor do I know which ones are good and which ones aren't. I would like to get some of you folks input on the good, the bad, and the ugly of these things. I have a buddy who has a King Hitter, and he claims that it is a good driver but it is awfully tall (high mast?). Our local CO-OP can get me a Shaver I think. Anyway, let me hear some of you folks opinions on different ones. Thanks in advance, Clay in southern middle TN
 
We used a Shaver for years & it worked great. No problems of any sort.


They all are are kinda bulky and hard to handle....but regardless of that....sure saves wear and tear on the shoulders and elbows doing it the hard way.
 
I, like Lilly know that the manual kind are awful ugly. I had a Danhauser that mounted on a three point when I contracted fence. I sold it with the business. I also left my finger in it. I now have three fingers and a thumb. Sure miss both :( :(. Had no other problems with the driver. It would drive a tie if I sharpened the end with an axe. Be careful, but they are superior to the manual ones.
 
We have a shaver and love it. Used Danuser for many years, but the shavers are a far superior unit.
 
I've got a worksaver driver used for about 6 yrs no problems. Would recommend getting the 100,000 lb plus driver.
 
I'm not smart enuff to have anything but a manual pounder. But it packs on a horse better than a tractor style does! :wink: My neighbors built 9 miles of fence a couple summers ago on flat country. They used an electric jack hammer plugged into a generator. They had both on a flat-bed trailer. Then they built an L shaped hanger with a cable support that allowed the hammer to hang 6 inches above the top of a t-post prior to being pounded. Somebody drove the truck up the line, one somebody stood up and guided the pre-laid posts and two somebodys drove them in. Worked slick for a bunch of somebodys. This nobody should'a taken some pictures.
 
I bought a Shaver HD-10 manual shift this spring. it's a pretty good unit. I think the King Hitters are superior, plus they have the rock spike option, but they are super expensive. Eventually I'd like to upgrade to one. I can drive 5-6" posts no problem, but for 6-7" I drill a pilot hole with my bucket mount auger. I may be upgrading soon and adding the pilot auger to my shaver driver.

Be carefull of the stabalizer legs when driving through a ditch, they can hang up easy and twist the heck out of the bottom part of the 3 point hitch frame. Fortunately it's not too hard to fix as the damage is fairly isolated.

Ask about making sure your tractor is set up with a direct hydraulic dump. Shaver does have adaptors so you can dump into your oil fill spout.
 
Thanks to everyone who replied to my questions about post drivers. I ended up ordering a new medium grade King Hitter yesterday. The top of the line driver from them was a little too pricy for my liking and I believe I can get along just fine with this one. The Shaver looked like a good unit but I decided to go with the Hitter. Maybe I'll be happy with it. Anyway, thanks again to everyone. Clay, in southern middle TN
 
I asked Kencove fence what freight would cost if I bought the Pilot Auger for the Shaver Driver.

Ben,
We do not carry the auger attachment any more. We received 2 from Shaver and they would only drill 18" into the ground. We sent them back and are not gonna carry them unless they can auger 3-4' holes. Hope this helps in your decision.

Thanks
Shawn
Click to expand...

I have emailed Shaver to see if they plan to do something about this issue
 
Recently at my cousin's place I saw some Bobcat fencing attachments which included 2 augers, one was about 4" in diameter while the other was a bit bigger (6 - 8"?) and they were at least 36" long.

The link shows a picture of a Bobcat like the one he uses to pull his post pounder around on the job and he can drill a pilot hole with the auger if necessary. It's a pretty sweet lil machine but it cost him a few shekels. He can carry a lot of tools, wire and stuff, including his different sized augers in the back of the Bobcat. Unhook the material bucket and substitute with any attachment you want. I guess when you are in it full time like he is, you can justify the expense. He has the one pictured in the top right corner.

http://www.bobcat.com/attachments/auger



What I used to do if the pounding was tough was use my old single prong, heavy square tube bale spear to punch a hole in the ground. Just tip it straight down and poke it into into the ground. Between the weight of the tractor and wiggling it slightly forward and backward, I could make a 36" deep pilot hole into some pretty tough soils in the summer time.

I can't do it anymore since I cut it off and converted it into a double prong spear for big squares. I don't miss it one bit though, because it was about the most useless thing I ever saw for moving big round bales, being too bulky to push into bales easily.
 
I had a friend dig a 100 holes for my corrals 4 ft deep in clay and rock with a skid steer mounted auger.It took him about an hour.With the skid steer mounted you can do some adjusting of your hole if you get into some rocks.
 

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