Guys,,, just need a little advice for making a decent driver for harder ground.
I do make my own for water trapping, but I can’t seem to make a decent one for land trapping purposes.
I take 1/2 inch rebar and take a cutting wheel and cut it down the center to accommodate the washer and then I take a drill bit to round off the edges to seat the j hook.
It works great for softer conditions like you experience in water trapping…but it tends to seriously flare on me in harder type ground.

I know I can just buy one probably for 35-40 bucks …
But it is fun to make your own stuff and it doesn’t hurt to always have a backup.

Don't use rerod, Rerod is pretty soft, thats why you are having problems, Pogo sells just the working end that you have to weld to an extention, Or buy a 3' long steel rod and try that.
just

I make my own just like you do and I had the same problem and bought one. It didn't make a difference. The driver is not the problem, it is the ground. One thing I did was make a pilot driver first. I took a 3/4th in rod. cut a slot and welded in a 2" washer. then grind it to a point. I use this to make a pilot hole in hard or frozen ground. Then use the driver and pogo, works everytime!!!!

I just weld a 1/2” high strength bolt to the end of a 1/2” smooth bar. I get a 4” high carbon bolt from tractor supply or whatever y’all have.

You need a high carbon steel, or hardened rod, though the hardened, depending on treatment, may break... a grade 8 bolt will probably be easier and cheaper to use...weld it to a rod like said...

Pilot hole with a 3/4" wood bit.

Hey Foxx, why dick around making one of questionable material, buy a driver from F&T and not worry. I used nothing but pogos for over 25 years and I’d purchased 2 drivers from them (one as a spare) and never had to replace either. I drove plenty of pogos through frozen sand, plain old dirt, and frozen clay and all conditions in between and NEVER adversely affected either driver. Heck, I’d fold a pogo over onto itself and never affect the driver! They both will drive a pogo today as well as they did when I bought’em. I did upon purchase though. grind the slot larger with a 1/16” wheel on both drivers.

…. That was good thinking

Used to be you could buy just the tip for the washer/j hook and then weld however long of a rod to it. I bought a couple and made my own. Hard ground or frozen, then a pilot driver or drill is the way to go to save wear on the driver.

Bob56 good points. I had to do pilot holes with a hardened super stake driver here in frozen winter ground or I found myself ruining a lot of pogo drivers and bent up washer anchors. I finally quit using the pogos all together and went with a different setup so I didn’t need two different drivers. The pogos worked well for me on the water line with long cables and the long yellow driver I had. I made all my own anchors with fender washers and rivets bought bulk.
Rebar isn’t a good driver material it bends too easily.
Jim