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Tips for my new Driver?

B

Ben H

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 20, 2006
Messages
1,738
Location
Gorham, ME
I purchased a Shaver HD-10 post driver with manual tilt and the three point mount. Somebody on here recomended the front mount over the 3 point hit for stability reasons. I wanted to mount it to my JD 6310 and have the use of the bucket so I went with the 3 point mount.

Sure enough, when you drop the hammer the frame of the driver tends to tilt a little towards the tractor.

I think at some point I'm going to get the auger attatchment, for now I'm going to try some pilot holes with my side bucket mount auger. I'm having some problems with rocks in our Maine glacier till soils. I either deflect off the rocks or shatter the post.

I also had to move the mounting plate up to the top set of mounts, the dealer put it on the center holes and the 3 point hitch couldn't really go down far enough, the blocks bent the bumpers down 1/4-1/2".

Shaver gave me a part number for a oil fill adaptor for the return, the dealer got it and said it must be for another tractor. They went with their first idea of T-ing into a return line behind the cab on the hydraulic system. Last weekend I noticed in my manual, then again on the Parts CD-Rom a place where you remove a plug near your hookups and put in a pressure free return hit. I'm disapointed that they went through the labor of rigging something up when the the tractor just needed the plug removed. I asked them why it doesn't cmoe from the factory with the return.

I've also had some problems with the nut/seal leaking on the top of the Ram, Shaver told my dealer to have me tighten the hell out of it, I did and it still leaks. They said to go ahead and put a bar or something on the pipe wrench, that I can't hurt it. I'm going to try that next.

Does anyone have some tips on how to make this thing work to the best of it's ability that they've figured out?
 
I saw your title and thought we were talking golf. Not that I would have had much to offer on that "score" either!

Your driver sounds a lot like ours with the manual tilt and such. #1 - Keep it oiled or greased! It will make a lot easier to adjust when you are trying to angle it on a sidehill.

I hear you about the stony ground - we have it too. I have tried driving both sharpened posts and flat-bottomed posts but I haven't noticed much difference when it comes to driving them in stony ground. The pointed posts may actually be worse for moving out of line than the flat ones. There's no easy way in some of our ground.

This is a good time of year for driving posts, but in the summer when things dry out, we may as well forget about it.
 
burnt said:
I saw your title and thought we were talking golf. Not that I would have had much to offer on that "score" either!
Click to expand...

When I saw the title about "Tips for my new Driver," I thought Ben H had a youngster old enough for a learner's permit to drive a car. :-)
 
Funny how we all had different thoughts from the title. I thought you had a car driver as maybe you had no licence or a limo or something like that. :? As for golf, a G-5 Ping would work well.
 
Ben H said:
I purchased a Shaver HD-10 post driver with manual tilt and the three point mount. Somebody on here recomended the front mount over the 3 point hit for stability reasons. I wanted to mount it to my JD 6310 and have the use of the bucket so I went with the 3 point mount.

Sure enough, when you drop the hammer the frame of the driver tends to tilt a little towards the tractor.

I think at some point I'm going to get the auger attatchment, for now I'm going to try some pilot holes with my side bucket mount auger. I'm having some problems with rocks in our Maine glacier till soils. I either deflect off the rocks or shatter the post.

I also had to move the mounting plate up to the top set of mounts, the dealer put it on the center holes and the 3 point hitch couldn't really go down far enough, the blocks bent the bumpers down 1/4-1/2".

Shaver gave me a part number for a oil fill adaptor for the return, the dealer got it and said it must be for another tractor. They went with their first idea of T-ing into a return line behind the cab on the hydraulic system. Last weekend I noticed in my manual, then again on the Parts CD-Rom a place where you remove a plug near your hookups and put in a pressure free return hit. I'm disapointed that they went through the labor of rigging something up when the the tractor just needed the plug removed. I asked them why it doesn't cmoe from the factory with the return.

I've also had some problems with the nut/seal leaking on the top of the Ram, Shaver told my dealer to have me tighten the hell out of it, I did and it still leaks. They said to go ahead and put a bar or something on the pipe wrench, that I can't hurt it. I'm going to try that next.

Does anyone have some tips on how to make this thing work to the best of it's ability that they've figured out?
Click to expand...

I guess my only advice would be to return the driver, and dig 'em with a spade and choppers'. If your real particular, do what a guy up the road here does, and puts a level on to make sure they're straight.
 
I thought about changing the title after I posted it, I figured it may get some people clicking on it not thinking of a post driver. If it was something else then I think it would have been in the wrong category.

I'm having some problems with rocks in our Maine glacier till soils. I either deflect off the rocks or shatter the post.
Click to expand...

I meant that as when I do encounter a rock, a lot of the posts go in fine. It's when I hit big rocks or ledge, yeah...the posts don't like that.

I think the auger is going to help in some cases, I just got my bracket straightened for the bucket mount and should have a new handle for the hydraulic control for the pounder in today. I had a 10 foot post leaned up on the driver and it fell over when I was lifting the 3 point hitch up, caught the handle on the way down, snapped it right off.

Idealy I would like to get a King Hitter with the rock spike. It looks like you're talking around a $9000 investment for that setup. We'll see how the auger/driver combo works first.

Shaver does say to keep the guides oiled but to NOT use grease, they say the grease will attract dirt and act like sandpaper.

I just watched the video on Shaver's website, it looks like I can see the hammer moving when you pick it up or drop it (fw/back) It appears I shouldn't try to line it up vertical, but angled a little when I set it up. From anyones experience, how many degrees from vertical has worked?
 
Now you are really getting technical! If I understand your question, it does help to let the top tip away from the tractor a couple of inches. This seems to draw the post in tight to the back of the "hammer" and keep it straight with less bounce, if you get what I mean.

I find it also makes helps to have the top of the post cut right flat. The slightest angle on the top seems to make the post act strange when driving into tough ground. Usually if I split a post, it was because the top wasn't flat and one side was taking all the slam of the hammer.
 
That does help, tipping a few inches away from the tractor. The first post I put in split because I had the driver straight with a level and by the post was a ways in the hammer only hit half the post. I"ll just have to play wth it to try out tipping it away from the tractor.
 

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