Thread: Digger - Auger advice please

HNY all,

Had a moment of potential genius - thought…

I realised I could possibly use my digger/auger as a winch.
I bought a little Cat digger a while ago to do a bit of work around home and it has an Auger with a few drills.
The question for someone knowledgeable.

Would the bearings cope with the load if I positioned the auger horizontally and made a winch with an extension? So it had. A kind of reel at the end with a rope which I could wind on & off.
I assume the auger & bearings are designed cope with a more vertical load than horizontal which it would be under, if I use it in such a way.
I want to bring a kayak up & down a cliff into the sea. So perhaps 30kg weight.
It that works then perhaps my inflatable which would be 60-70kg with outboard.


Cheers Mike

Might be a silly question here, but without seeing the site, could you just use a pulley on a permanent overhanging outrigger and wind the auger vertically like a capstan? It would save the machine from having to be close to the edge.

If I was in a small machine, I wouldn't be all that keen on swinging the boom out over the side of a cliff with a boat hanging off it. The snap back if you stop winding half way down, could rock the machine forward and downward.

Yeh that is an option and was my initial plan.
I thought I would drill and concrete in a post with a sort of crane I could swing out. Already bought the winch.
But when I was drilling some retaining wall post holes and I had the drill out spinning it horizontally to free the dirt I suddenly realised I had a ready made easier option.

I wouldn’t go to close to the edge, and would anchor with the blade in front.
But as you’ve pointed out, there is a risk/danger. I think with the kayak very minimal. But the inflatable is a different matter.

the horizontal load will create load on the front bearing causing play and prematurely wear the internals of your hydraulic motor in the auger

Just make and permanently mount a winch drum with the same fitting as your augers. Then you just drive up, connect to the drum and the mounting will take all the load.

Also I've got some suitable self alining bearings/mounts that you can have

Originally Posted by No good names left

Just make and permanently mount a winch drum with the same fitting as your augers. Then you just drive up, connect to the drum and the mounting will take all the load.

Also I've got some suitable self alining bearings/mounts that you can have
Attachment 289949

Thanks for the kind offer.

@7mmsaum
Could you post a link to the thread you posted on border winches please.
I can't find it.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

@7mmsaum
Could you post a link to the thread you posted on border winches please.
I can't find it.

I have 750 metres of rope down to a red stag here



Will have a look for the link now

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....57/index3.html

If you wanted to be really clever, you could just use a barrel of water as a counterweight. Dropping the 30kg kayak down, lifts the barrel plus 25L of water back up (assuming 5kg empty weight of barrel). You just need to pull the difference in weight of whatever is coming up, if the upward load is more than the downward.

If you have a supply of water at the top, you can set it up so gravity will always do the work for you.

If you are lifting kayaks and boats on the regular, I reckon setting up a permanent crane will be less faff than making a winch attachment for the auger if you take into account that once the crane is done, you don't need to start and run the machine every time you want to go on the water.

answer is it depends. And only the manufacture will be able to give you that answer and for obvious reasons he will say no.
if its direct drive some hydraulic motors have decent double roller bearings with some separation on the shaft, others don't.
many augers use a planetary and while they do have big bearings on the output shaft they may not handle side loading.

Other option as you have the hydraulics is a hydraulic winch. That will shift anything, will be constant speed,
Z

I would have thought an auger would be strong enough to do what you propose. Our unit which swaps between a 3.5t and 6t machine is the most abused bit of gear we have, multiple operators and drilling holes of all sizes thru all kinds of ground and still going strong after 7 years, all we have replaced are hoses, usually damaged when the uncouple and drop the head on them or drag the head.
Drilling a hole puts a rotational force on the bearings anyway.