Bad trip for the Digger auger carrier.

[JSK76]

First off this is my second Digger auger carrier I've owned, the last one went with my snowmobile when I sold it. I like it so much I bought another one and talked my buddy into buying one. This last week me and my buddy were up on lake of the woods out of Morson doing some fishing for 4 days and had horrible luck with the auger carrier. My buddy has his carrier mounted in the back of his Bearcat, mounted higher up on the sled so he can open a box under it, his came out while doing about 30mph for no noticeable reason. After looking things over everything looked ok with the carrier so we thought it was a fluke. Next day happened again, this time we tighten down the locking nut making sure it was very tight. Last day of trip, heading back from White Fish mine comes out and since mines mounted on the front of the sled I run it over, again about 30mph and I'm dragging it under the sled because the auger bit is tangled with the skis spindle. My sled veers hard left and and goes from 30mph to 0 in in about 3 seconds and I just barely save it from rolling. After taking sometime to get it out from under the sled I found I broke the plastic around the recoil and the air cleaner cover on my new $600.00 honda lite. Looked the carrier over and it seemed nice and tight with the auger in it but decided to give it a few turns on the lock nut to just for good measure. 3 miles latter guess what happens? My buddy's comes flying off for the 3rd time! Now he's ticked, and I feel he's mad at me for suggesting he buys one. He puts the auger back in the carrier and the latches is loose, like the lock nut backed off. He's understandably ticked at this point and over tightens the lock nut, whitch in turn bent his auger bit. I've had this carrier mounted on 3 different snowmobiles and on my four wheeler and this is the 4th year using one my buddy has had his for 3 years now, never had an issue before. I always have it tightened just so it just starts to put a bit of a bend in the drill shaft. The system is by far the best on the market as far as quickly attaching the auger to your sled or four wheeler but I really think it need some kind of safety backup. Auger coming off in the back is one thing but when it's in the front it can be downright dangerous. Anyone else have this happen to them?

[aanderud]

I've never had mine fly off other than the time I forgot to latch it down.

Did the whole auger carrier come off, or did the auger come out of the carrier. I couldn't quite tell from your description.

The reason I ask is that on mine, they delivered it with 2 bolts/nuts to secure the carrier to the snowmobile. I tightened it enough to start bending the metal and wasn't happy with how it felt, so I added 2 more bolts/nuts to make it really secure. With the full complement of 4 bolts/nuts, it seemed to hold on much better.

One other thing I noticed while doing a web search a week or two ago for some images was that some of the carriers must have shipped with 2 of the cam lock things...either that or this was a custom modification, I can't be sure. This two lock solution might help solve the issue if the auger flew off the carrier. See this one, for instance.

[Whopper Stopper]

Very interesting. I have had mine for three seasons or so and never a problem. I didn't know they went to a two cam lock, it would almost seem like over kill. I certainly would give them a call and tell them the story. I have dealt with them a couple of times and they are a class act. I am sure they would be interested in the feedback. It would also be interesting to know if anyone else has had problems.

Also glad to hear no one got hurt when the augers came loose.

WS

[kfk]

I've never had any trouble with mine either. I do strap it down on the auger end in addition to the cam but the cam has always held perfectly.

[JSK76]

I've never had mine fly off other than the time I forgot to latch it down.

Did the whole auger carrier come off, or did the auger come off

The auger came out of the carrier.

[Myrt]

Never had a problem either, thought about putting another cam lock on, but once I started using it two years ago it did not seem necessary. The two I've ordered for other guys this year did NOT come with a second cam lock, so maybe that one in the pic was requested or personally customized. Maybe not a bad idea? Digger Don is a great guy, see what he says.

Very odd to me it happened with both, and too bad. I remember searching for any of these problems before I bought mine and this is the first negative issue I have seen. I too have several buddies who now have these because of my testimony of the product. I really believe there must be a simple problem or solution, or we would be hearing lots of negative comments of guys busting hundreds of dollars of equipment.

[ChuckN]

A friend of mine lost his auger with a Digger. Don't know if it was user error or not as it fell off early in our ride. We put on lots of miles on sleds and this was the only mishap.

It's always good to take a small rubber strap for additional support in case the latch lets go.

My custom built auger rack (full cradle on powerhead) works flawless with one rubber strap securing it.

[JSK76]

I think one reason that we had so many problems this time and never before is the lake was very wind blown and the snow was harder then I've seen before, making for a rougher ride then in the past. Don't get me wrong it wasn't anything the carrier shouldn't be able to handle but in the past it was more powder snow.

[BassFisherman]

I just purchased one from the farm and it only came with one latch. Its hard for me to beleive they think the one latch is fine and gonna hold the auger on. I put alot of miles on using sleds fishing and i am FOR SURE gonna be throwing another strap on exspecially after hearing all of this.

[mtbucket]

Those latches, or cam locks as you call them, look like they are a hook type latching horizontal toggle clamp. You can get them with a positive locking lever option made by DE-STA-CO, Carr Lane, Brauer, Good Hand, etc. The ones pictured have a rubber coating applied to the hook, that you would probably need to add, yourself. With the blue handles, they may have come from McMaster.

[JSK76]

Bucket, you made me realize that I'm pointing my finger at Digger. I do think they has a great idea but it's actually the cam lock that's to blame. I wonder if I could find something like this with the pin going though it but heavy duty enough for holding an auger.

[mtbucket]

I am guessing that the supplied clamp is probably heavy enough, but I am surprised that they wouldn't use the positive locking option. I am a clamp peddler, and usually would recommend that style for situations with bouncing, jarring forces involved. You could probably find the same size, and likely same mounting bolt hole pattern, but with the locking feature. They have an additional spring loaded latch handle that must be actuated to release the clamp.

[aczr2k]

There should be a p/n stamped on the clamp, post it up here, should be able to find a locking one.

[JSK76]

The one on my digger right now is 70570 DIG

[mtbucket]

That number is a Jergens clamp. The DIG on the end means that it is a special for Digger. It may indicate that it is special because of the rubber coating on the hook, or may have a longer hook, or...? Jergens does not offer that clamp with the locking latch option. It is rated at 375 lbs. holding force. These non-locking clamps are sensitive to the hook contact point height in relation to the base mounting point, they must be in line or they may open under less force. The locking styles do not have that issue. DE-STA-CO does offer a similar size with the safety lock. 351B is a steel clamp and 351BSS is a stainless steel clamp. You would need to look at the dimensions of the Digger supplied clamp and compare to the DE-STA-CO clamp to see what the differences are, and what you might need to modify to make it work. DE-STA-CO also offers longer hook options for these. Carr Lane also has similar clamps in a locking style option.

[Fred_Bear]

That number is a Jergens clamp. The DIG on the end means that it is a special for Digger. It may indicate that it is special because of the rubber coating on the hook, or may have a longer hook, or...? Jergens does not offer that clamp with the locking latch option. It is rated at 375 lbs. holding force. These non-locking clamps are sensitive to the hook contact point height in relation to the base mounting point, they must be in line or they may open under less force. The locking styles do not have that issue. DE-STA-CO does offer a similar size with the safety lock. 351B is a steel clamp and 351BSS is a stainless steel clamp. You would need to look at the dimensions of the Digger supplied clamp and compare to the DE-STA-CO clamp to see what the differences are, and what you might need to modify to make it work. DE-STA-CO also offers longer hook options for these. Carr Lane also has similar clamps in a locking style option.

Wow, you definitely know your clamps! Good info, hopefully someone at digger reads this thread and maybe they'll find themselves a new clamp consultant/salesman and you can make their auger carrier even better.

[Myrt]

I replied earlier that I had never had an issue with my Digger auger carrier, but last week on Lake Winnipeg my auger also came out of the carrier. Thankfully and suprisingly my Solo 3hp was not harmed at all. This happened on the way in for the day, after I put it back on I noticed it would move forward on the carrier after bumps. I assumed this was able to move forward because with the 20 inch extension on, which we needed in some places, the flighting was far enough down that it did not stop the auger from moving forward, for a quick fix I put a vice lock pliers behind the the second shaft resting spot, walaah, 5 more days of fishing and no moving forward or coming off! My thinking is that when the auger moved forward it dropped the head off the resting bracket for the head, bringing the auger shaft down enough that there was no pressure on the cam lock, which then bounced out of place. Without seeing that I can't say for sure, but after vice lock applied we had no further problems. So from here on out I will figure something out, hopfully more secure than vice locks, when I'm running extensions.