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Hydraulic Post Driver Always Stays Plumb
"It automatically plumbs itself so we can use it to drive steel posts on uneven ground with no problems," says Bob McIntyre, Rhodes, Iowa, about the side-mounted hydraulic post driver he made to mount on the rollbar of a Ford tractor.
The post driver hangs from a swivel bracket at the end of a 4-ft. long steel pipe that attaches to a hinging bracket on the rollbar. The driver consists of a long piece of heavy-duty angle iron with a block of steel welded to the top and a 30-in. long hydraulic cylinder attached to the back of it. The angle iron driver and cylinder hang from a strap iron bracket that's welded to a 6-in. piece of pipe that swivels back and forth on the end of the top cross arm. The top cross arm, which is braced by an adjustable 3-pt. top link, also swings back and forth.
To drive a post, McIntyre slips a post into the driver, holding it in place with a steel pin, and then extends the cylinder.
To pull a post, he just reverses the process. The crosspin catches on the teeth on the face of the post.
"It works much better than most 3-pt. commercial post drivers because it keeps the post straight even on rolling ground," says McIntyre, supervisor of the Iowa State Research Farm near Rhodes, Iowa The fans has 10 miles of fence on 1,700 acres of rolling pasture. "It automatically plumbs itself so I don't have to spend a lot of time making adjustments. Another advantage is that the post driver is off to the side of the tractor rather than behind it which eliminates the need to back up to the fence. I paid $100 for the cylinder. I built the rest of the post driver from scrap metal."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Rhodes Research Farm, Iowa State University, 1079 320th St., Rhodes, Iowa 50234-9706 (ph 515 493-2738).


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1992 - Volume #16, Issue #5