What Equipment Do I Need to Install a Fence?

A fence is hundreds of holes that have to be plumb, then panels that have to move. In friendly soil a skid-steer auger is the production tool. In Wasatch cobble the auger becomes a very expensive stirring stick and the E35 takes over. Vinyl and cedar still need a trailer; they do not need a telehandler.

Equipment for installing a fence

Primary machines

Skid-steer auger

Primary

Auger on S550 or T550 class. Tracks if you care about the lawn.

Production holes on a long, relatively clean line.

Skip it when you already know the line is cobble, roots, or old concrete. Start with the mini.

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Mini excavator (E35 class)

Primary

E35 with thumb. 305.5 is usually more machine than a residential fence wants.

Rocky holes, corners, grade steps, and pulling old posts with a thumb.

Skip it when a test hole showed clean soil and the auger is already on the loader.

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Optional / nice to have

Dump trailer

Optional

6×12 is enough for most residential lines; 7×14 if you are replacing a long run.

Spoils and leftover concrete, plus hauling panels.

Skip it when you can spoil in a back corner the owner already designated.

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Compact track loader

Optional

T550 class. Wheels only on a dry, sacrificial strip.

Carry panels, move spoils, and host the auger without wrecking turf.

Skip it when the auger is on a wheeled skid you already have and the lawn is going to be re-sodded anyway.

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Typical pairing

Clean soil: T550 + auger + 6×12 dump. Utah cobble: skip the auger day and go E35 + dump. Do not rent both “to be safe” until the first hole tells you the truth.

Holes

Call 811. Then decide auger vs mini from a test hole, not from optimism. Post-hole attachments on a T550 fly down a back property line. Corner posts, grade changes, and rock are excavator work. A Barreto trencher is not a post machine.

Material and spoils

A dump trailer keeps spoils from becoming a new berm along the neighbor’s lawn. Panel packages on an Airtow or dump beat a pickup that can hold eight pickets.

What not to rent

Booms and scissors are not fence tools unless you are also doing a tall privacy screen on a retaining wall and actually need height. Compaction of each post’s concrete is a shovel and a rod, not a trench roller.

FAQ

How deep should fence posts go?

Whatever the manufacturer and the wind load say — often a third of the post height in the ground, deeper at corners. We size holes, not engineering. Check HOA and city height rules while you are at it.

Can I use a walk-behind trencher for a fence line?

Only if you are pouring a continuous footing, which most residential fences are not. Posts want holes, not a slot.

Old chain link in concrete?

Thumb on a mini, not an auger. Budget time. The breaker attachment is for actual slabs, not every stubborn post.