[Young Ed]

i saw one of those professional machines for fencing like this today


that made me think, with the old arc welder it shouldn't be all too hard to knock something similar up for the front end loader for our ford 4610 tractor. why is it all tractor post knockers are 3 point linkage mounted rather than front end loader mounted? is it a waste of time and money making something like this and pushing the posts in with the bottom of the bucket will work just as well?

i was thinking of casting a large concrete weight and then attaching a eye bolt in the top to clip a tractor mounted winch on and then run the winch cable up to large pulley up the top of the loader mounted steel frame and then down to my weight if this makes sense? would this work?
oh and i diagram can be produced later to great artistic levels!
Cheers Ed

[UPoneacre]

Depends on the state of the ground your knocking posts into, I suspect. The main reason for using the 3 point linkage is that most of the tractor's weight (on 2WD types anyway) is biassed towards the rear end for traction purposes, and that weight concentration makes it better able to resist the reaction forces involved when post driving, at that end.

[Young Ed]

driving into very heavy clay and the tractor is 2 WD
shouldn't be too hard to make it 3 point rather than loader mounted and we have one or two implements to measure the 3 point off
Cheers Ed

[UPoneacre]

I had a quick look at our neighbour's post driver this morning but that's hydraulic ram powered so it fits on his tractor's 3 point linkage and of course the hydraulic coupling is close to it. I'm sure you could fit your gravity rig on the 3 point and that sounds the way to go.

Don't forget to post some pics for us when you're up and running; best of luck

[Young Ed]

thanks all, will see if it goes ahead but an interesting one to think about for sure
i think i would need some form of guide rail to stop the big lump of concrete swinging about, any ideas?
Cheers Ed

[UPoneacre]

You could try a bit of scaffold pole or something similar with a steel rod hoop cast into your concrete block to fit around it but a heavier steel section would be better. The only problem I can foresee is in welding any brackets to scaffold pole- you'll need to grind off the galvanising first, but otherwise should be straightforward. I wouldn't make the pole too long otherwise it'll bend under load. Other than that any alternative steel section you can get hold of will do, SHS or RHS box section, even channel would do but you don't want to make it to heavy - you've still got to keep it within limits of your welder's capability and be able to manhandle to beast while you put it together.

[cloddopper]

Ed do you have the bucket for the front loader..
I recently saw a guy with a mini 1.5 tonne tracked digger using an inverted bucket to " capture " the post and press it in the ground then a gentle tap..tap tap etc & the post was put in the ground some 800 mm deep as easy as pie but of course the load being applied was not only the weight of the bucket and arm it was hydraulically assisted he did a couple of hundred metres of post whilst I was there.

 If you can get a load of weight equal to the capacity of your machine in a front bucket why not try using the gentle raise & gravity drop of the bucket to tap a few stakes in
 For the weight perhaps a water filled barrel ,sacks of wet  sand , wet bricks /concrete rubble or lumps of heavy scrap cast iron if you have some , lashed in or held back by some chain link fencing .


I wouldn't go making concrete up for the job
One thing perhaps that would be useful could be a locating shoe a few inches bigger than the biggest post diameter that can be bolted securely & centrally on the bottom of the bucket so that once you start  driving in a post it will not tend to slide sideways when the bucket strikes the wooden post.

Here's a nice front end knocker for a lot of work
 http://www.vectorpowerdrive.com/post-driver-mod5/

[Young Ed]

yes we have a bucket on the front end loader and we so well happen to have a small pile of crushed road planings that i could scoop up a bucket full
so yes i will probably try that then, cheers for the idea!
Cheers Ed