Fencing question: 4" auger or 6"?

[Jason Slocum]

Going to put up 8' game fencing on our new property and I was curious if we should use a 4" auger or 6" auger for drilling holes for the 2 - 3/8" 12' pipes. I'd rather just go with the 4" since were putting the pipe 4' deep with 1-2 bags of concrete in each hole but not sure if it would be strong enough. It's in Bee County with mostly sandy soil FYI.

Thanks for the advice!

Jason Slocum

[Tbar]

What kind of soil are you working in?

Sandy loam, black/red clay, rocky.....???

[Jason Slocum]

Its pretty sandy from what I can tell, but there's some rock and roots I'd have to deal with. I plan on going 4' deep with the hole and either 2 - 50lb bags of concrete or 1 80lb bag per hole for support.

[Big_gun]

rent a driver an push them into the ground...no crete... except maybe corners.. go with larger diameter there are the longer T post cost prohibitive?

[Big Lee]

rent a driver an push them into the ground...no crete... except maybe corners.. go with larger diameter there are the longer T post cost prohibitive?

This works extremely well. Corner post and braces need concrete only.

[Jason Slocum]

rent a driver an push them into the ground...no crete... except maybe corners.. go with larger diameter there are the longer T post cost prohibitive?

I'm putting in 12' 2-3/8" oilfield pipe. Climbing a ladder while holding a 50'lb driver and then driving them in is more work than I can handle. Plus most gas drivers won't do 2-3/8" round pipe.

[BrandonA]

Rent a skid steer with a still post driverr attachment

[Clearfork51]

A 4” auger will be a waste of tome and effort. It would only give you less than an inch of concrete around the circumference of the pipe if you got it perfectly centered. Driving the posts with a skid steer would be easiest. IMO.

[TexasTK]

If you are putting any of these in a wash out area I would drive them as opposed to cementing.

[dclifton]

i would go 6 or drive the line posts. Any braces and corner posts i would go 8in atleast. This is what we do just for 52IN field fence with barb wire on top. With 4in corners and 2-3/8 lines. 4 in corners i think we run 10in auger and 240lb of concrete usually atleast.

So i would go atleast that. I agree driving the posts will be tough at that height you still have to have a gooseneck built onto your driver to get it up that high with a skid steer. Plus driven posts in sand usually just stay a little to loose for my liking. In harder ground they work great.

[Big pig]

how many feet of fence

No augers.

Driven in

Corners driven here too with 2 7/8 h frames.

[GA Bowhunter]

I'm team driver.

I just finished up putting posts in for a 6' chain link fence in the backyard.

I have a one if these, so it came in handy:

[GA Bowhunter]

The very last post hit solid rock after 1" of clay. I tried setting posts 5' on either side, but that was solid rock too. The only rock I hit in the entire yard (other than a small plate sized rock), and it's in the middle of a run.

Hopefully this bit will work. Got it today. I spent 2 hours with a rotary hammer and got down about 8 inches.

It's 4" x 12" with a cool gold metal flake paint job.

[bloodtrailer28]

Drive em! That's what we did on ours although we had so much rock we did have drill some holes.

[60 Deluxe]

I bought a Belltec for my pipe posts. Used a 6" bit. I also paid $400 for one of the Chinese t post drivers. The bigger model. I built all the fence that I needed and turned around and sold both tools for exactly $100 less than I paid for them. My neighbor drives all of his pipe and 10' t posts with a skid steer mounted hydraulic driver. He put up about four miles of high fence in about four months with just him and one man doing the posts. He hired a crew to stretch and tie the wire. They made quick work of it. It wouldn't bother me a bit to drive everything. I took down eighty to one hundred year old fence that didn't have any concrete used. It was solid fence with the only problem being the corner posts weren't deep enough and pulled up slightly. Every gate on the place was angled up on the loose end. Four feet of pipe driven in the ground will stop that problem.