We have a similar Shaver post-pounder. I think ours is the HD-10 model, if I remember correctly. Ours has full hydraulic angle and tilt, as well as the pounding function. Bought it in rough but functional shape about 20 years ago at an auction. I rebuilt it completely and upgraded it both hydraulically as well as structurally. We used the hell out of it for the first few years, and now it mostly just sits in the barn collecting dust. Such is life with most specialty equipment. The biggest expense incurred with our pounder was in the fact that I had to change the hydraulic control valves over those that were convertible, so that it could be run on different tractors. That was necessary because we predominately use it on a John Deere tractor with a CLOSED-center hydraulic system. The pounder came originally with an OPEN-center valve that was formerly used with an IH, Ford, or possibly a vintage Deere tractor (a pre-1960's "New Generation" tractor). FYI, and beware to all... many new Deere's now have gone back to open-center hydraulic systems - I believe the change came right after the xx55 series tractors ceased production. (I believe that is accurate, but don't hold me to it.) Anyhow, an open-center valve, if used on the Deere, would (in a relatively short amount of time) destroy the tractor's hydraulic pump by causing excessive fluid flow leading to excess heat and massive pump cavitation issues.) Conversely, using a closed center hydraulic valve on a tractor with an open-center system will typically cause major damage to the tractor's hydraulic system in a matter of a few minutes or less as well. (Best way I can describe it in lameman's terms is that it's kinda like running your head into a brick wall at 100 mph... something will split or burst.) Why am I telling you all this? Because you'd be surprised how many people don't know about this stuff. Hell, I learned about it in college, and I still didn't realize WTF was going on right away when I first put the pounder onto the back of our 4020 Deere tractor. I only knew that something was wrong with the weird way it was operating, and I didn't continue its use until I found out why. Then, it all came back to me and the fun of spending money on the necessary hydraulic changes began. So, we now have somewhere around $1,200 - $1,500 into it plus several days of my labor with welding, painting, and plumbing. Boy, oh boy does it save time, aggravation, and money as compared to digging holes with a post-hole digger and setting them the old-school way! If anyone thinks that $1,500 sounds like a lot to put in posts... it's really not. Try pricing out a new pounder sometime... UGH!
Hi guys. I used a Shaver post pounder for years putting miles of fencing. We upgraded the rollers in the guides so they could be greased. I still have it but don't use it as often. Whenever you drive in your staples to hold the barbed wire, you should always leave a gap between the wire and the staple. In other words, don't drive the staple right into the wire. Driving it tight destroys the galvanized coating and weakens the wire. Also if an animal hits the wire, there will be no give in the length of the wire causing a failure. Otherwise, as usual, a good informative video. Thanks for sharing.
we pull ours just with the polaris 6x6...I wouldnt want to pound to many miles with the three point hitch pounder... thats a lot of backing up and turning... but I like how it works to hold the post close to the hammer. Good vid Ryan!!
We have a post that needs replacing but when they raised the road they put huge stone around the post so we're gonna have to take the excavator down to replace it
Terrifying machines, but I drove thousands of 3" and 6" steel posts and still have all my fingers. Sure beats digging a hole. Our soil is so rocky that you would never be able to drive a wooden post.
Quick questions: what size is the pounder, and what size is the tractor? Thinking of getting a 70hp Kubota, but I need enough size to pound 8 inch posts.
I don't think you know much about Texas, or Houston, since Houston is considered one of the 10 most humid cities in the country. As someone who has lived in Central Texas and has travelled all over the country (trying to hit all 50 states for a third time now)...it is humid as hell here compared to the rest of the country.
Kevin Willis,,, in the Virginia foothills we always sharpened the larger posts, say more than 6" in diameter and anything less would usually drive just fine with a blunt end. Some of those "pointed" posts I drove 25 years ago are still in use in the same spot.
well I sharpen mine too but I use locust posts, the treated posts now if you cut them aren't treated all the way through but sometimes it works because theres no oxygen if there deep in the ground
Pointing them helps them go in easier, but not enough to really matter in most soil conditions. The main reason you don't point them is because of surface area. The greater surface area of the point (the tapered sides, I'm referring to of course) allows for the ground to actually PUSH the post back out of the ground. Yeah, I know it's kinda hard to believe, but it is a proven fact.
Used a shaver post pounder for years. Did upgrades hydraulics on swing both directions. Heavier springs. Cranks took to much time. Plus added more weight. Mounted post pounder on a track machine on the side of machine. Only bad thing was did all the soft ground job and mud.😄 Pounded over 8000 posts a year.
Interesting... never seen a post pounder before. They're not used in our area. Only post hole diggers. Well, the county DOES pound posts in when they build water gates in the creek bottoms, but they use a track-hoe bucket to hammer down old utility poles cut down into posts for the water gate when they install them, in wet/boggy ground. Our clay digs nicely with a Danuser digger on the 3 point, and the sandy soil at Shiner usually does, so long as you don't hit a rock. If you do you just drill through it, sometimes have to stop digging, get a bar and sledge hammer, break up the rock some, and dig again. Wear out a lot of serrated edge kits for the Danuser auger too... but still cheaper than a Pengo rock auger with bolt-on teeth (like a backhoe bucket)-- those are about $800 last time I priced one, and the actual "rock augers" with rotating Stellite teeth are about $1400... (last time I checked a number of years ago). At least you don't have to backfill and tamp the hole (not that it's a big deal...) Later! OL J R :)
Hard work even with the pounder I guess. Tensioning the barb wire is a risky business? If it snapped it could cause some horrific injury? There is always work to be done keeping the farm in order - hard work, tiring work, but fulfilling and leads to a good life, far better than living in a city, slogging for a brute of a boss and then struggling home through traffic, road rage and unsmiling people.
OK, that is amazing. course dad wouldn't have allowed it. The only place in the world he was a perfectionist and not good enough for govt work was building fence. "hey Jay, drag that railroad tie out by hand and put it 1/2" further in the ground." there is one spot in a corral I built about 30 years ago that he always points out that I got that one post off just a bit
Nice driver/pounder we have a Shaver also. Works great I wish ours had the option to put hydraulic side to side with out having to use the crank action thats half my time spent turning that thing.
Did anybody else see the John Deere batteries advertisement before the video? That ad is not true, John Deere batteries suck! Also this is neat! Good to see that 4020 out doing its duty. Love that tractor!
I have a post driver just like yours mine is the HD 10. I drive post in with a blunt end too. I try to drive them in early spring when the ground is soft. If you ever get a chance to replace that barb wire with high tensile wire do it . I've replaced all my barb wire with high tensile fence 6 strand with 2 of them hot and it works great and not real expensive. Great videos keep up the good work ! !
I have the same driver as you guys. When I first bought it new, I had trouble with breaking the two springs. The dealer told me not to raise it all the way up when pounding. He said you get the same effect by lifting up a foot or so then releasing. Since then I haven't broken any more springs.
We had a neighbour loose an eye when a splinter came off a post he was pounding. It might be wise to wear some sunglasses or safety glasses when pounding posts.
Beats digging holes by hand. Do they make a puller, too? Pulled some once with chains on a front-end loader, spent most of the time resetting the chains.
Look like power poles to me. :) Now that's a post. I was thinking along the lines of 4 X 4. Someone help me? I can't remember Travis' friend's name. Is it Brittany? Also, I always love it when you get the old iron out for tractor work!
***** Thanks I knew she was his girlfriend but I didn't know they are engaged. Congratulations Brittany and Travis. I've got 43 years under my belt and they've been great!
We've got one and love it. Narrow end down and take your loader around every couple of years and push the posts back down in the ground. The moon makes extra work for us.
We’ve been trying to decide between an auger or a driver but we are going to have to use it for dual purpose like setting fence posts and posts for buildings like pole barns, is the driver limited to a certain length?
You can. All it takes is money. LOL Seriously though, if you keep your eyes open, you can usually find a decent used one at auction. Then again, they bring pretty good money at auction because it's getting harder and harder to find them since farms are slowing disappearing thanks to commercial farming and the lack of people wanting to be farmers nowadays.
Ryan, you guys should put "caps" on top of those posts. Sheet metal, something, helps prevent rotting. Since the top is basically an open "pore", will sit there an absorb all kinds of moisture, hence, the rotting. Great video as always. Kinda wished I had one of those drivers, I do mine the hard way.
@@bombardier3qtrlbpsi what's so funny? You never heard of posts rotting from the exposed end? You do realize it's considered "end grain" and highly absorbent of moisture and yes it will rot even a hedge post.
I know theyre cheaper but seriously the steel braces are garbage, lag in a smaller cross post at 5 ft then crimp high tensile with a gallahger in line tensioner wheel and run it plug tight top to bottom. Not that im a fence god or anything i am a fulltime fence contractor. I get it, it works but i just hate seeing this ridiculous method of twisting wire on a brace.
We have a similar Shaver post-pounder. I think ours is the HD-10 model, if I remember correctly. Ours has full hydraulic angle and tilt, as well as the pounding function. Bought it in rough but functional shape about 20 years ago at an auction. I rebuilt it completely and upgraded it both hydraulically as well as structurally. We used the hell out of it for the first few years, and now it mostly just sits in the barn collecting dust. Such is life with most specialty equipment.
The biggest expense incurred with our pounder was in the fact that I had to change the hydraulic control valves over those that were convertible, so that it could be run on different tractors. That was necessary because we predominately use it on a John Deere tractor with a CLOSED-center hydraulic system. The pounder came originally with an OPEN-center valve that was formerly used with an IH, Ford, or possibly a vintage Deere tractor (a pre-1960's "New Generation" tractor).
FYI, and beware to all... many new Deere's now have gone back to open-center hydraulic systems - I believe the change came right after the xx55 series tractors ceased production. (I believe that is accurate, but don't hold me to it.)
Anyhow, an open-center valve, if used on the Deere, would (in a relatively short amount of time) destroy the tractor's hydraulic pump by causing excessive fluid flow leading to excess heat and massive pump cavitation issues.) Conversely, using a closed center hydraulic valve on a tractor with an open-center system will typically cause major damage to the tractor's hydraulic system in a matter of a few minutes or less as well. (Best way I can describe it in lameman's terms is that it's kinda like running your head into a brick wall at 100 mph... something will split or burst.)
Why am I telling you all this? Because you'd be surprised how many people don't know about this stuff. Hell, I learned about it in college, and I still didn't realize WTF was going on right away when I first put the pounder onto the back of our 4020 Deere tractor. I only knew that something was wrong with the weird way it was operating, and I didn't continue its use until I found out why. Then, it all came back to me and the fun of spending money on the necessary hydraulic changes began.
So, we now have somewhere around $1,200 - $1,500 into it plus several days of my labor with welding, painting, and plumbing. Boy, oh boy does it save time, aggravation, and money as compared to digging holes with a post-hole digger and setting them the old-school way! If anyone thinks that $1,500 sounds like a lot to put in posts... it's really not. Try pricing out a new pounder sometime... UGH!
Hi guys.
I used a Shaver post pounder for years putting miles of fencing. We upgraded the rollers in the guides so they could be greased. I still have it but don't use it as often.
Whenever you drive in your staples to hold the barbed wire, you should always leave a gap between the wire and the staple. In other words, don't drive the staple right into the wire.
Driving it tight destroys the galvanized coating and weakens the wire. Also if an animal hits the wire, there will be no give in the length of the wire causing a failure.
Otherwise, as usual, a good informative video.
Thanks for sharing.
when you putting the staples in you don't ram them all the way, you've got to let your posts move little bit or they snap and rot easier
we pull ours just with the polaris 6x6...I wouldnt want to pound to many miles with the three point hitch pounder... thats a lot of backing up and turning... but I like how it works to hold the post close to the hammer. Good vid Ryan!!
Down here in Mississippi we been having 105 degree days the past two weeks
Haha ice cream works but I always opted for a cold beer after fence building!
You guys work so hard ..you should open a patron account so we can all pay for you to go,on a vacation.. Seems to be the way to go these days..
In my opinion from experience farming is like a vacation if you love it
John Haas
why do you pound the post? we use a post hole digger/ dirt auger. also why don't you use hedge posts??
It's friggin hot at 91° heat index? Bitch please. That's still cool weather. 😂😂
You fellas don't wear farmer hats to often. They would probably mess-up your hair. Can't have messy hat head, right. LOL
We have a post that needs replacing but when they raised the road they put huge stone around the post so we're gonna have to take the excavator down to replace it
Terrifying machines, but I drove thousands of 3" and 6" steel posts and still have all my fingers. Sure beats digging a hole. Our soil is so rocky that you would never be able to drive a wooden post.
You didn't say you were pounding logs into the ground not posts. LOL.
IceCream??? Crikey, go have a BEER ;-)
I thought I had it good with my auger but that thing is amazing.
Quick questions: what size is the pounder, and what size is the tractor? Thinking of getting a 70hp Kubota, but I need enough size to pound 8 inch posts.
100 deg with a heat index of 115+ Will choke a healthy Horse, Cow or Human.
91 degree heat index that's it! I live around Houston where it gets over a hundred almost everyday
not as humid down there that will realy take it out of u fast
+Trevor Fout It's not the heat its the gosh darn humidity!
I don't think you know much about Texas, or Houston, since Houston is considered one of the 10 most humid cities in the country. As someone who has lived in Central Texas and has travelled all over the country (trying to hit all 50 states for a third time now)...it is humid as hell here compared to the rest of the country.
Great video! Were your post old tel. post? also do you own a post puller?
It looked like all of those posts had a blunt end, wouldn't a pointed end be easier to pound into the ground?
What are them duals off of in the start of the video?
if you cut the bottom of the post to a point first.. it does help it go in a lot easier.... just my opinion.... Thanks for sharing..
itll rot if you do that
we use to do it when we had hard or stony ground they lasted many many years....
Kevin Willis,,, in the Virginia foothills we always sharpened the larger posts, say more than 6" in diameter and anything less would usually drive just fine with a blunt end. Some of those "pointed" posts I drove 25 years ago are still in use in the same spot.
well I sharpen mine too but I use locust posts, the treated posts now if you cut them aren't treated all the way through but sometimes it works because theres no oxygen if there deep in the ground
Pointing them helps them go in easier, but not enough to really matter in most soil conditions. The main reason you don't point them is because of surface area. The greater surface area of the point (the tapered sides, I'm referring to of course) allows for the ground to actually PUSH the post back out of the ground. Yeah, I know it's kinda hard to believe, but it is a proven fact.
91 degree heat index? you boys wouldn't make down south.
I wonder if anybody if anybody has designed one of these to also double as a log splitter
Good idea for the steel braces to... I like that idea!!
What tractor does them "clamp on" duals go to in the back ground at the beginning of the video?
+John Haas no the 4640 has hub duals
Used a shaver post pounder for years. Did upgrades hydraulics on swing both directions. Heavier springs. Cranks took to much time.
Plus added
more weight. Mounted post pounder on a track machine on the side of machine. Only bad thing was did all the soft ground job and mud.😄 Pounded over 8000 posts a year.
You didn't get any ice cream for your dad? SMH
Interesting... never seen a post pounder before. They're not used in our area. Only post hole diggers. Well, the county DOES pound posts in when they build water gates in the creek bottoms, but they use a track-hoe bucket to hammer down old utility poles cut down into posts for the water gate when they install them, in wet/boggy ground.
Our clay digs nicely with a Danuser digger on the 3 point, and the sandy soil at Shiner usually does, so long as you don't hit a rock. If you do you just drill through it, sometimes have to stop digging, get a bar and sledge hammer, break up the rock some, and dig again. Wear out a lot of serrated edge kits for the Danuser auger too... but still cheaper than a Pengo rock auger with bolt-on teeth (like a backhoe bucket)-- those are about $800 last time I priced one, and the actual "rock augers" with rotating Stellite teeth are about $1400... (last time I checked a number of years ago).
At least you don't have to backfill and tamp the hole (not that it's a big deal...)
Later! OL J R :)
Post pounder works a lot faster on the skid steer. Mostly useless here as we have coral rock under a few inches of "soil".
Hard work even with the pounder I guess. Tensioning the barb wire is a risky business? If it snapped it could cause some horrific injury? There is always work to be done keeping the farm in order - hard work, tiring work, but fulfilling and leads to a good life, far better than living in a city, slogging for a brute of a boss and then struggling home through traffic, road rage and unsmiling people.
Looks like it doesn't strain the tractor I don't see it moving.
How would it do in clay and rock soils new post not replacement?
Still works pretty well. Takes a few drops but the only situations we’ve had issues were where there are large rocks underneath
Wouldn't a three point hitch auger be quicker and much gentler on the ears?
It would take longer and all the tamping they would have to do
lots of tamping!
OkieJake yes lol!
I hated fence work. Didn't mind any other farm work, shelling corn, baling, etc. but fence work...I tried eight ways to Sunday to avoid it every time.
OK, that is amazing. course dad wouldn't have allowed it. The only place in the world he was a perfectionist and not good enough for govt work was building fence. "hey Jay, drag that railroad tie out by hand and put it 1/2" further in the ground." there is one spot in a corral I built about 30 years ago that he always points out that I got that one post off just a bit
Nice driver/pounder we have a Shaver also. Works great I wish ours had the option to put hydraulic side to side with out having to use the crank action thats half my time spent turning that thing.
wish we could use something like that on our place. Shale ground won't allow it, I'm afraid. Heck, a skid steer mounted auger has trouble sometimes.
Did anybody else see the John Deere batteries advertisement before the video? That ad is not true, John Deere batteries suck! Also this is neat! Good to see that 4020 out doing its duty. Love that tractor!
I have a post driver just like yours mine is the HD 10. I drive post in with a blunt end too. I try to drive them in early spring when the ground is soft. If you ever get a chance to replace that barb wire with high tensile wire do it . I've replaced all my barb wire with high tensile fence 6 strand with 2 of them hot and it works great and not real expensive. Great videos keep up the good work ! !
I didn't realize that was a newer model post pounder. Just assumed it had been around forever
That was alot better than post hole diggers .we used one of them back in 1978 post pounder put in 9 miles of fence one way
Why not just cut the barb wire instead of uniting it?
Wasteful.. Easier than trying to connect 2 pieces together.
Lol nice post rammer, my dad is a fencing contractor and we have a Munro post rammer on a john deere 5090R
I have the same driver as you guys. When I first bought it new, I had trouble with breaking the two springs. The dealer told me not to raise it all the way up when pounding. He said you get the same effect by lifting up a foot or so then releasing. Since then I haven't broken any more springs.
We had a neighbour loose an eye when a splinter came off a post he was pounding. It might be wise to wear some sunglasses or safety glasses when pounding posts.
That is a great machine.
would think those post would drive easier with a point on them.i have built fence on farms for years
How come you don't use posts with a pointed end? That's how we do it on our farm and many others in New Zealand
Beats digging holes by hand. Do they make a puller, too? Pulled some once with chains on a front-end loader, spent most of the time resetting the chains.
dang that post driver is small. Ours is almost twice the size of our tractor and it's the smallest model.
dang I want one those. I wonder how will it would pound posts here in Colorado I have found some very hard ground around here.
Hey Ryan can you just do some silage vids where I live we have been done with silage for 2weeks now
anyone ever notice,all John Deer tractors come with a bungie strap between the 3 point hitch arms
well I like the use of bed rails for bracers never seen that before but it works what the pound per foot torque on the post driver.
my uncle makes postknockers its called WRAG Post drivers
Don't know about the rest of you, but head cam makes me dizzy, lol
good video like the vids where you work on small things
If you make a point in the posts with a chain saw they will go in a lot easier,just a tip
Seen lots of these sold at auctions. Always wondered how they worked. Pretty neat, though anticlimactic.
At first I thought that this post was a just another day in the life of a farmer but it was assume.
what tractor did those clamp on duels go on at the beginning of the video
too slow
Look like power poles to me. :) Now that's a post. I was thinking along the lines of 4 X 4. Someone help me? I can't remember Travis' friend's name. Is it Brittany? Also, I always love it when you get the old iron out for tractor work!
***** Thanks I knew she was his girlfriend but I didn't know they are engaged. Congratulations Brittany and Travis. I've got 43 years under my belt and they've been great!
we have to auger out our holes post pounder wont work in our clay soil
what kind of camera do u have
We've got one and love it. Narrow end down and take your loader around every couple of years and push the posts back down in the ground. The moon makes extra work for us.
I never thought I'd figure out what brand our post pounder is. Thanks Ryan
91 degrees.... in S.C. we'd be looking for our coats....Here we can use antifreeze to start a fire
LOL, sucks to be you guys down there!
Cut the ends at a angle it will help go in an faster!!
We’ve been trying to decide between an auger or a driver but we are going to have to use it for dual purpose like setting fence posts and posts for buildings like pole barns, is the driver limited to a certain length?
yes, the HD-8 is eight foot and HD-10 is ten foot.
@@TheKajunkat according to shavers website the number represents the size of post, they are all limited to 10ft lengths
@@WilliamsonRidge you are correct, I remembered it wrong. Thanks for the correction
ugh wish I had this. I have to use a 3pt post hole auger to dig the hole and put the pull in and back fill it. very slow process
You can. All it takes is money. LOL Seriously though, if you keep your eyes open, you can usually find a decent used one at auction. Then again, they bring pretty good money at auction because it's getting harder and harder to find them since farms are slowing disappearing thanks to commercial farming and the lack of people wanting to be farmers nowadays.
How many round bales do you use a year
too slow we drive a post 9 feet long in 30 seconds
Ruben Labastida cool story
what are your dogs named
what are your dogs named
Must be some soft dirt.
Thanks, learning so much from you guys.
wear your seat belt
Now thats handy
Ryan, you guys should put "caps" on top of those posts. Sheet metal, something, helps prevent rotting. Since the top is basically an open "pore", will sit there an absorb all kinds of moisture, hence, the rotting. Great video as always. Kinda wished I had one of those drivers, I do mine the hard way.
😂😂😂😂ok
@@bombardier3qtrlbpsi what's so funny? You never heard of posts rotting from the exposed end? You do realize it's considered "end grain" and highly absorbent of moisture and yes it will rot even a hedge post.
Should of got a protech
Put your seatbelt on!
+M.A. Hartsfield I did right after I shot this but I didn't throw that part in ¯\_(シ)_/¯
That is such an awesome tool
I know theyre cheaper but seriously the steel braces are garbage, lag in a smaller cross post at 5 ft then crimp high tensile with a gallahger in line tensioner wheel and run it plug tight top to bottom. Not that im a fence god or anything i am a fulltime fence contractor. I get it, it works but i just hate seeing this ridiculous method of twisting wire on a brace.
hi
thank you for good videos.
Would it not be easier to drive the poles if you pointed the bottom of them? Keep the video coming
+Chris Gorman Yep, not usually necessary unless you're pounding into rocks however.
+How Farms Work was just wondering, all the posts here in Ireland are pointed. Thanks for getting back to
who is Ryans mom has she ever been in a vid??
+John Haas maybe she doesn't wanna be filmed maybe cuz her job or just she wants to be private
Are Ryan and Travis brothers
Farmer Green yea
why no points on the end of the posts?
Unnecessary, and pointed posts actually push back out of the ground easier.
Beats digging post holes.
Sure does!!!
no hole,just right into the ground?
+1na row That's how it works!
+How Farms Work we have always took a chainsaw and made a pointed end, but also we have some rocky soil
who's the girl at 7:05
+John Haas who's Brittany
+zack k. believe its travis girlfriend
Must be good ground....I can't imagine that working in the hard pan we have here
that's not how I was taught to put posts in the ground