The Ultimate Guide To Skid Steer Post Drivers
If you work on a farm or similar business, you probably already have a skid steer or excavator around. These pieces of equipment are must-haves!
How would it benefit your farm if you could use these machines for more purposes?
If you can double up pieces of equipment for multiple uses, you could save a lot of money, space, and time! You could be so much more efficient and get more done.
That is why Lawsen Equipment makes skid steer and excavator attachments that help you maximize your existing equipment and run your farm efficiently.
Today we would like to tell you more about one of our favorite attachments: the hydraulic post driver.
Ready to learn more?
Let’s get started!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What Is A Hydraulic Post Driver?
First off, let’s explain the basics.
Our hydraulic post drivers are an attachment for your skid steer, tractor, or excavator that helps you drive posts more efficiently.
Here’s how it works:
- Instead of driving your posts by hand (which consumes a lot of time and energy!), simply attach our post driver to your skid steer and take it out in the field.
- The skid steer provides the hydraulic pressure needed to cycle the driver. Each time the post driver cycles, it pounds on the post, driving it into the ground.
- Drive any type of post, from small t-posts to large railroad ties. The post driver does the backbreaking work of pounding the posts, and all you have to do is set the posts and operate the driver.
It can literally cut the time you spend driving posts into fractions! Plus, it saves you a lot of backbreaking work.
Just picture it: Instead of spending hours chipping out postholes and pounding posts, you could sit in the cab of your skid steer, chill and relaxed! Plus, when you are finished you’ll still have the energy to play with your kids or go to a social event instead of needing a back adjustment and a long nap.
4 Things To Look For
In A Good Hydraulic Post Driver
Everyone is going to tell you their product is the best. But what really distinguishes a good skid steer post driver from a bad one?
Here are 4 crucial features every quality post driver should have:
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Always allows for clear visibility
When you pound posts with a skid steer and a post driver, you are handling a lot of power. If you don’t respect that power, serious injuries can occur.
For instance:
- Pressurized hydraulic hoses can whip around uncontrollably if their screws are loose.
- Spilled hydraulic oil can result in burns.
- With all that moving machinery, there is the potential for crushed hands, arms, or fingers.
- Leaks in hydraulic hoses can spurt razor-thin jets of oil that go fast enough to pierce skin and cause injury.
- Posts can break under the strain of being pounded, and pieces of wood can go flying.
Now we aren’t saying these things happen regularly or that they will happen at all. But they DO sometimes happen to real people like you!
With all that risk, you want to be sure you have a clear view of what is going on at all times, especially if you are working with a two-person team, one in the skid steer and one on the ground. You want to be sure you know exactly where your people are at all times. You never want to be blind to risks or accidents, and you should make sure you have a decent knowledge of skid steer safety and hydraulic safety.
You don’t want to be responsible for farming accidents! Make sure your equipment allows for great visibility 100% of the time.
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Protected hydraulic components
Most skid steer post drivers are made of durable materials like steel, which means they are quite tough. However, they do have a weak spot: their hydraulic components. These components include the hydraulic motor, hoses, adaptors, seals, valves, and clamps.
Unfortunately, these components usually wear out quicker than the rest of the machine and need replacing.
Problems with the hydraulic parts of a post driver can be dangerous (as we mentioned in point #1), and beyond that, they are usually frustratingly expensive to fix.
For example, an inexpensive hydraulic motor may cost $800, and a simple coupler can cost upwards of $80.
As you can see, post drivers designed to protect the hydraulic elements can save you a lot of hydraulic maintenance, not to mention money!
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No extra gadgets or electronics
We’ve all seen that thing with the fun feature or neat gadget and thought, “That’s so cool! I want that.”
But in reality, cool extras are not always worth it. Remember, each extra gadget or moving piece is one more thing that could break or malfunction.
And with pieces of equipment that take lots of wear and tear like post drivers, those little extras can be more trouble than they are worth. More likely than not, you will just have to replace them frequently. Or they will break and never get replaced, and the extra money you spent on them will be wasted.
We recommend selecting a post driver that skips the extras and focuses on the more important things, such as safety, efficiency, and durability.
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Protects the post
A skid steer post driver is supposed to hammer posts quickly and efficiently.
But that goal is not being accomplished if your posts are constantly breaking or being driven in at an angle! If your post driver doesn’t drive your posts right, you are better off without it.
We highly recommend finding a post driver designed to protect whatever it is driving into the ground.
4 Benefits Of Using A Hydraulic Post Driver
Imagine having a quality skid steer post driver at your workplace. How could it change your farm or business?
Let’s look at a few benefits of using a quality post driver:
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Save time/money
Two things are always in demand at any business: time and money!
With a post driver, you can drive posts more efficiently, saving time and man-hours. Time saved means money saved, plus more time to put into other projects on your farm or business.
If you pound a lot of posts, your post driver can pay itself off in no time!
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Save strenuous effort
Driving posts by hand is a lot of strenuous physical work! Imagine sitting back and operating a machine instead of having to do all the backbreaking labor yourself.
Not only is this faster, it means you will have more energy for other projects when you finish driving your posts.
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Increase safety
In the farming business, safety should always be your first concern. Statistics show that every day about 100 farming employees suffer an injury. You cannot be too careful!
Buying a quality post driver designed for the safety of the users is one more step you can take to keep your employees and family safe.
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Maximize your existing equipment
Having a skid steer post driver on hand means your skid steer becomes even more useful to you!
And the more versatile and useful your existing equipment is, the fewer pieces of large equipment you need to have around, which saves you time, money, and space around your property.
P.S.did you know you can get forklift extensions to make your forklift more useful? If you didn’t know this, check out these forklift extensions!
3 Types Of Post Drivers
Are there different types of post drivers?
You bet there are! All post drivers are designed to drive posts, but there are several different methods for doing this.
Here are the three most common types of post driver attachments.
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Drop Hammer Post Drivers
The drop hammer is the most straightforward and “caveman” type of post driver attachment. It features a free-fall system that utilizes the force of a falling weight. It doesn’t use springs, hydraulics, or a return line. The weight simply drops on the post and drives it into the ground.
Drop hammer post drivers are effective and can effortlessly drive posts into all types of terrain. They are often used to break up concrete as well as drive posts because they pack so much punch. However, it’s hard to control that dropping weight and drop hammer post drivers can result in split or cracked posts, not to mention human injuries!
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Breaker Style Post Drivers
Breaker style post drivers work similarly to drop hammer drivers, only they are a little more sophisticated and employ mechanisms that allow more control over the weight that drives the posts.
Some breaker style drivers even have interchangeable heads, so you can use the driver for different purposes. For example, the driver might have a post-driving head and a breaking head for concrete or tough, dry dirt.
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Vibratory Post Drivers
Vibratory post drivers are designed to protect the post you are driving. They don’t utilize falling weight to drive the post in, as it sometimes splits or cracks the post, especially in rocky soil.
Instead, vibratory post drivers use a series of small taps to drive the post. It’s almost like the post is being vibrated into the ground.
Vibratory drivers can be safer for your fingers as well as the posts since there aren’t so many heavy, free-falling objects!
You can also get interchangeable heads for vibratory drivers, so you can use them for other purposes such as breaking up concrete.
Bonus tip: Whatever style your post driver is, it’s useful if it has a tilting feature. The ability to tilt allows you to pound posts straight on sloping terrain.
What Makes Lawsen Post Drivers Unique?
Now we know a bit about hydraulic post drivers and how they work.
What makes Lawsen’s products unique in the world of post drivers? Let’s take a look at that next!
Here are 5 things that make Lawsen post drivers unique:
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Vibratory
At Lawsen, we make vibratory post drivers designed to protect both the user and the post being pounded. Since there are no falling weights involved, there are fewer opportunities for crushed fingers and hands and less chance of the post splitting and breaking.
Vibratory drivers allow you to pound posts quickly and safely, especially on stony terrain where the post may encounter rocks. With a drop hammer driver, the post could get caught between a rock and a hard place - and shatter! But with a gentler vibratory driver, posts don’t shatter as often.
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Easy to use engineering
We believe simple is better.
Post drivers should be designed with the user in mind. That is why Lawsen engineers our post drivers to be simple and logical to use. They are easy for anyone to use and don’t have a lot of bells and whistles that could break or malfunction.
Instead, our focus is on efficiency, durability, and ease of use.
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Protected hydraulics
Like we said before, issues with the hydraulics on a machine can be both dangerous and expensive! We don’t want you to have to deal with a lot of those issues.
Lawsen post drivers are designed to protect the hydraulic components. That way, you don’t have to spend a lot of time and money fixing your machine, and you can focus on more constructive work instead.
Our post drivers are also protected with a powder-coat finish to keep them looking new for years!
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Made in Ohio
Could you find a cheaper, off-shore model of post driver?
Yes, probably. But the problem with buying off-shore equipment is that sometimes it’s hard to source replacement parts quickly. If you are on a timeline, this can be really frustrating!
If you want to cut down on stress, it’s better to buy an American-made product. That way, you can fix it easily and quickly if it breaks. Plus, by buying on-shore you support the American economy.
Lawsen products are made right here in Ohio, USA!
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Provides easy visibility
As we said, post drivers pack a lot of punch. When driving posts, you want to be sure you can see exactly what is going on at all times.
We kept this in mind when we designed our post drivers. With our vibratory drivers, you should be able to closely monitor everything going on while you drive your posts. We know you wouldn’t want it any other way!
Conclusion
How would it change your farm or business if you had a safe, efficient, and durable skid steer post driver?
We are willing to bet it could make your business run more smoothly and efficiently, saving you time and money.
If you want to pound posts safer and faster, take a look at our post driver models today! We have several different models tailored to different needs.
We also carry other skid steer or excavator attachments:
What could you do with your skid steer or excavator?
Get a quote today if you are interested.
We look forward to hearing from you!