How to Install a Mailbox Post

How to Install a Mailbox Post

Using an Earth Drill to Install a Mailbox Post

If you’re wondering how to install a mailbox post, you’re not alone. Mailbox installation is a very common do-it-yourself (DIY) project many homeowners take on. For the least labor-intensive option, we suggest renting an earth drill to get the job done. Using an earth drill, like Little Beaver’s mechanical or hydraulic earth drill, will not only be more efficient than alternative methods, it will also reduce the strain on your back and other potential injuries.

Installing Mailbox Post

What You’ll Need:

  • Little Beaver earth drill with an auger 3 times
    wider than the post
  • Mailbox post (we suggest a 4×4-inch wooden post or
    two-inch diameter steel or aluminum pipe)
  • 50-pound bag of concrete
  • Mailbox
  • Bricks or stone for landscaping (optional)

After gathering the necessary items, we suggest starting by calling 811 to mark buried utilities and checking the manufacturer instructions that came with your mailbox model. Once you have your Little Beaver earth drill rental, make sure to read the owner’s manual or work with your rental center to learn how to operate the drill. Once you’re ready to go, watch our easy set-up video to see the step-by-step process for setting up the drill and disassembling it for transportation. You can also contact the Little Beaver team with any questions!

Per USPS guidelines, a mailbox should be placed six to eight inches back from the curb and 42 inches off the ground. Once you’ve found the right spot, you can start a pilot hole using the earth auger. This is a small hole drilled into the ground to help guide the larger drill for a more precise drilling location. Once the pilot hole has been created, it’s time to put the earth auger to work! After you’ve drilled to your desired depth, typically 20-24 inches, simply lift the auger from the hole and you’re ready for the next step!

Although it’s possible to install a mailbox without concrete, we suggest taking this extra step for improved security and durability. After preparing a bag of fast-setting concrete, place the post in the hole and pour the concrete into the hole around the post. Make sure to allow a few inches of space at the top of the hole and use a level to double-check that the pole is straight. If it has shifted, adjust quickly before the concrete dries.

After the concrete has set, it’s time to attach the mailbox to your post! Most manufacturers have their own instructions for how to get this done, so we recommend following those closely. Once the mailbox has been attached, don’t forget to add your address. If your mailbox is on a different street than your home, USPS requires that you put the full street address on the mailbox.

Even though your mailbox is technically complete after adding your address, you can always go a step further by landscaping around the mailbox before returning your earth drill to the rental center. Earth drills have many uses, including DIY landscaping such as planting small shrubs around your mailbox post.

Hydraulic Earth Drill Troubleshooting

Hydraulic Earth Drill Troubleshooting

Solutions to common hydraulic drill troubleshooting questions

Using a hydraulic earth drill can make your projects easier than ever, which is why we want to do everything we can to make sure it’s operating in peak condition. Whether you feel like your hydraulic earth drill might be losing power or the starter rope is becoming difficult to pull, you’ll find the solutions to these questions and more right here. 

Making the Starter Rope Easier to Pull

Hydraulic earth drill fencing

Using a hydraulic earth drill can make your projects easier than ever, which is why we want to do everything we can to make sure it’s operating in peak condition.

If it’s difficult to pull the starter rope on your hydraulic earth drill, check to make sure the quick disconnect couplings are fully engaged. Quick disconnect couplings provide fast and easy connection of fluid lines to easily start the drill. When they are not fully engaged, pulling the starter rope can be difficult.

The hoses can be easily connected without using tools. Connect the handle to the power source, attaching the return side first. This is the long hose that comes from the return line filter. Then, connect the pressure side of the handle to the power source.

Fixing Auger Turning Issues

When the auger turns fine in one direction but does not turn or turns very slowly in the other direction and stops when hitting the ground, your valve control linkage is most likely bent.

The valve control linkage is a small rod that connects the control to the valve spool. To fix this, straighten the linkage, making sure the flat part of the lever (the part you push or pull with your fingers) does not touch the handlebar at any time.

 

Improving Drill Power

If your hydraulic earth drill appears to have lost power, double check the oil that was used at the last service interval. Some retail or automotive stores sell multipurpose oils designed for tractors that are labeled “hydraulic oils.” These oils are not suitable for the Little Beaver power source because they have different additive packages. This can cause the hydraulic components to degrade faster and power to decrease due to friction and internal leakage. If you find that inappropriate oil was used, we suggest having your hydraulic drill checked by a reputable service dealer or calling us at 936-327-3121 and replacing the oil to avoid long term damage. It’s very important to always use the recommended grade when replacing hydraulic oil and to be sure to follow a schedule for regular oil changes.

If the troubleshooting solution you’re looking for isn’t listed here, take a deeper look into our service FAQs for hydraulic earth drills or check out the owner’s manual. If the answer to your problem still isn’t coming up, don’t despair! Contact us to speak with a member of our team for a personalized solution.

The Do-It-All Earth Drill

The Do-It-All Earth Drill

How Little Beaver Earth Drills bring versatility and efficiency to municipalities

Municipalities have their work cut out for them. Whether it’s city maintenance workers or general contractors hired to sustain parks in a city, town or borough, a day’s work can involve several industries’ skills rolled into one crew. They can be installing fence posts in the morning, replacing sprinkler lines mid-day and find themselves planting trees in the afternoon.

With this much variety, working smarter, not harder, is paramount to overall productivity. And having versatile tools that allow crews to better utilize labor, safely, while also outperforming other methods, can have a major impact on efficiency. Little Beaver Earth Drills can do just that. Our full line of earth drills enables safe one-man operation with nearly two times the productivity of other units. It’s just a matter of finding the Little Beaver earth drill that best meets your municipality’s needs.

Here are our two most popular earth drills for municipalities and how they can streamline work for grounds crews.

Mechanical Drills + Boring

Earth drill horizontal boring kitsIf your town or city plants a lot of small greenery, installs several fences or other tasks that require crews to dig numerous footings quickly throughout the year, our Mechanical Earth Drills may be right for you. Perfect for horizontal boring or fast, narrow hole drilling, these drills, like all our drills, allow for safe, one-man operation and have the speed to help crews excel.

With our mechanical drills, users can choose from augers ranging from 1.5 to 16 inches in diameter with 36- or 42-inch lengths. And with multiple gear reduction ratio options, crews can choose a mechanical drill with 360 RPM for loose, soft soils or one with a lower speed that is better suited for dense, rockier formations. With a mechanical drill, crews can quickly install a long row of shrubs and then shift to setting a pole for a basketball hoop in denser soil — all without missing a beat.

To further increase municipal staffs’ versatility, we make Horizontal Boring Kits for our Little Beaver Mechanical Earth Drills. These are available in a sidewalk kit, for boring short distances up to five feet long, and a driveway kit, for boring up to 50 feet. The horizontal boring attachment allows grounds crews to install everything from sprinkler systems and lighting wire to drainage pipes and more, all with an easy-to-connect attachment.

Whether horizontal boring or planting a row of shrubs, these tasks, and everything in between, can be accomplished with one crew member thanks to our industry-leading design. A centrifugal clutch and torque tube eliminate dangerous operator kickback and prevent jarring stops when encountering an obstacle. Additionally, the innovative torque tube redirects torque to the engine carriage instead of the drill’s handles. These features make for a winning combination that spares drill components and protects the operator’s safety, allowing crews to better utilize their labor.

But, if heavy-duty applications and anchoring are abundant and soil types are consistently rocky and dense, hydraulic drills might be a better choice.

Hydraulic Drills + Anchoring

Hydraulic earth drill installing - anchors for mobile homesOur Hydraulic Earth Drills, with their powerful torque, are perfect for installing anchors or digging holes for large playground equipment, awning supports, sizable landscaping and other tasks that require deep, wide footings.

These earth drills accommodate augers up to 16 inches in diameter with drilling depths of up to 35 feet depending on the auger. The seemingly endless auger options combined with rugged drill construction and increased torque allow crews to take on lighter tasks like planting landscaping and then quickly shift to heavy-duty construction, like installing support beams for a sunshade. This gives crews the flexibility to divide and conquer whatever their municipality throws at them.

And with the hydraulic drill line, crews don’t have to look elsewhere for anchoring needs.  Thanks to our innovative torque tube and precise auger rotation at low speeds, our hydraulic drills are perfect for anchoring. Our Anchor Adapters are available for various applications from anchoring poles and beams to installing tent stakes, making them a perfect, versatile solution for municipalities. By quickly snapping an adapter onto our earth drill’s high torque anchor handle, crews have a one-man anchoring machine to secure footbridges, large playground equipment and more — a much safer and more efficient option than anchor crankers.

The extensive tasks that await city maintenance crews and contractors every morning don’t also have to mean an extensive set of tools. With a little knowledge about the applications, crews can choose one Little Beaver Earth Drill to carry them through the day — safely and efficiently.

Increasing Versatility with Little Beaver Anchor Adapters

Increasing Versatility with Little Beaver Anchor Adapters

Hydraulic earth drill utility anchoring adaptor

Increase ROI with Your Hydraulic Drill

These days, everyone has a side gig — a profitable endeavor outside their normal operation that utilizes the skills and equipment they already have to increase productivity and income. In competitive industries like fencing and landscaping, this kind of versatility is the key to a successful business. Being able to do more with equipment you trust means more opportunities, increased productivity and faster ROI.

Across the country, contractors know Little Beaver products offer optimum power and portability in a single-operator package that won’t break the bank.  Whether it’s post hole digging, soil sampling, landscape or industrial fencing applications, they trust our Hydraulic Earth Drills to get the job done.

To help tackle even more projects and allow contractors to get the most out of their machines, we developed a number of attachment kits for our hydraulic earth drills. These accessories make it easy to switch gears from digging holes for fencing and landscape projects to anchoring for light utility and mobile home applications, as well as horizontal boring — increasing the operator’s versatility and potential.

Putting Utility Back in Utility Anchoring

One industry Little Beaver helps contractors explore is utility anchoring. With minimal investment — just a High-Torque Anchor Handle and Utility Anchor Adapter — your Hydraulic Earth Drill becomes a safe, efficient tool for utility applications.

Utility anchor adapter

The utility anchor adapter, used with Little Beaver’s anchor handle, hydraulic earth drill and torque tube, makes one-man installation of utility anchors possible.

The anchor is attached to the adapter and, using less than 60 rpm, quickly penetrates most soil types for a firm, lasting anchor. Little Beaver’s steel torque tube eliminates kickback, allowing a single operator to complete the job safely and efficiently. And thanks to the Hydraulic Earth Drill’s three-wheel chassis, the drill rig can go wherever it’s needed.

 As a supplemental job, utility anchoring offers contractors an efficient use of equipment and manpower. But even for utility companies, Little Beaver’s Utility Anchoring Adapter offers a safer, more efficient alternative to anchor crankers and hand setting. In less than two minutes, an operator can install a utility anchor with a hydraulic earth drill. In less than an hour, they can have an entire pole done and be on the way to the next. Compare that to the hand method which can take over half an hour to set a single anchor. So, whether you’re looking to expand services or just provide more efficient services, Little Beaver helps you adapt.

Bringing It Home

Looking for even more added value applications for your hydraulic earth drill? We also offer a Mobile Home Anchor for securing mobile homes to a foundation.

Mobile home anchor adapter

Paired with a high-torque anchor handle, the mobile home anchor adapter makes securing mobile homes to a foundation with ground anchors easy.

Like the Utility Anchor, the adapter works with our Hydraulic Earth Drill and High-Torque Handle to quickly and efficiently drive anchors through most soils. In as little as 30 minutes, a single operator can tie down an entire mobile home.

Then when it’s time to pull up stakes and move on, just hit reverse on Little Beaver’s Hydraulic Earth Drill and anchors are removed as easily as they went in. The reverse feature also proves useful with initial anchoring when encountering obstructions or the anchor needs to be removed for any reason.

Anchoring ensures the safety and stability of mobile homes in high winds and other inclement weather. Regardless of how often you perform this application, it’s important to properly secure every anchor every time. With Little Beaver’s Hydraulic Earth Drill and Mobile Home Anchoring Kit you have a reliable partner.

Maximum Versatility for Maximum ROI

Whether it’s a side gig or your bread and butter, Little Beaver Hydraulic Earth Drills and accessory kits let you do more. From anchoring to digging holes and all the groundwork in between, Little Beaver will help take your business where you want to go.

One Man Earth Drill Operation

One Man Earth Drill Operation

Little Beaver Earth Drills are designed to be safely operated by just one person. What does that mean for your business? More efficient labor utilization. Faster job completion. Fewer injuries. More profit on every job.

Check out the infographic below to learn how Little Beaver Earth Drills can double your productivity and maximize jobsite safety.

Little Beaver One Earth Drill Infographic
The Invention That Tackled Torque

The Invention That Tackled Torque

One-of-a-Kind Feature Improves Operator Safety

In the mid-1970s, Van Cox set out to solve one of earth drilling’s most punishing problems — auger torque. Cox, an engineer for Little Beaver, soon completed a design and secured a patent for what is now known as the torque tube. The one-of-a-kind invention protects operators from the harmful effects of a drill’s torque by transferring kickback from the auger to the power source.

More than 40 years later, deck builders, fence contractors, landscapers and rental customers continue to enjoy torque-free drilling as well as the labor-saving benefits made possible by safe, one-person drilling.

Mechanical earth drill torque tube

By transferring dangerous kickback to the engine carriage as opposed to the handles, one person can safely operate a Little Beaver drill.

The invention remains a defining feature on Little Beaver’s of mechanical and hydraulic earth drills, and it continues to make life easier for business owners and drill operators thanks to the many benefits of torque-free drilling.

Less Manpower: By transferring dangerous kickback to the engine carriage as opposed to the handles, one person can safely operate a Little Beaver drill. Most drills without torque protection require two operators for safe use. One-person drilling frees up the second individual to work on other tasks so jobs are completed in less time.

Fewer Strains: Kickback on traditional drills can jar an operator’s body, causing strains and injuries, which lead to time off and worker’s compensation costs. Even minor injuries, ones that don’t result in time away from work, can slow individuals down, decreasing overall production.

Easier Use: Since the torque tube absorbs kickback, operators don’t need to work as hard to control the machine. This significantly reduces fatigue while allowing operators of any age or experience level to easily handle the drill.

If you’re still not convinced of the benefits of Van Cox’s invention, see Little Beaver’s solutions for yourself.