my best mod for the Razor Edge Gator Digger

[dirtlooter]

My wife was struggling to get up from her digging, I had loaned her my Sampson digger previously to make it easier and it had helped but I needed the sampson myself. this getting older has its challenges and bad backs and knees are just a few of them. Another digger (we have three of them now) would be another 65 to 70 dollars. So after sleeping on it, I decided that I would figure out how to use one of the two Razor Edge diggers. After a quick inventory of tools and other items possibly useable, I settled on one of the three garden claws that I owned (garage sales). I knew that the shaft of the claw was a little undersized but not terribly so I cut off the claw portion. after removing the rubber grip, I slid the shaft inside the handle of the digger to get a measurement as to how much would actually be inside the handle. I then wire brushed (grinder) the paint off of the that portion of the shaft to be clean and ready. I then used a spray can of carburetor cleaner to clean out and degrease the inside of the handle. I planned to use JB Weld to attach but it would take too much for a single application so I mixed and put as thick of a coat on the whole section of the shaft going into the handle and let it set over night to harden. this coat made for a tighter fit but still had plenty of room to put more JB Weld in next. So the next step was to mix plenty of JB and using a flat screwdriver, I began coating the inside of the digger's handle as best I could. I had preciously had her to decide how she wanted the top grip handle of the shaft to face and now slid the rubber grip up the shaft so it would already be on the shaft and ready for later. I worked the shaft in all the way into the digger's handle and then filled in all of the unfilled areas with the epoxy. I stood it up carefully for a while to let the epoxy stiffen, all the while making sure that the top of the handle was turned correctly. After I was certain that the epoxy would not run out, I placed the epoxied end on a low heat source to speed up the curing of the JB Weld. after it was hardened, I drilled a hole through both the digger handle and the epoxied shaft to put a bolt thru. I put the bolt thru and tightened the nut at tightly as possible and then worked the rubber grip back down over it all. The bolt was just an insurance thing and actually holds the rubber grip in place. The little wife is totally thrilled and can actually dig easier now with it plus the getting up. this has and is enabling her to hunt and dig longer so she is happier. A happier wife is a happier life! this is easy to do and you may actually have a tighter fitting shaft or handle than this one. JB Weld when heat cured is very durable, just make sure of clean and degreased surfaces. Thanks for looking View attachment 1110907

 

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