Pulling posts

[DSW]

A comment about jacks elsewhere reminded me of a post I did awhile back I thought I'd share that might help those of us who occasionally need to repair or replace fences and gates and need to remove posts.



I had to take down a fence damaged in the storm back in 2012 after Hurricane Sandy for a customer. Needed to pull a few 6x6 fence posts and thought some might find this useful, It's probably old stuff for guys like me who are used to running equipment or fence guys, but some others might not be aware of this.

Earlier that summer I also had a few 6x6 posts to pull and replace in a barn for a customer and picked up one of the HF farm jacks. I'd have preferred a better one, but I couldn't find one local when I needed it. Best $45 I've spent on a labor saving tool in a long while.

Anyways you wrap a chain around the post twice and hook up the jack and go to town. As long as the chain grabs, you can pull most posts no problem even if concreted in. You either pull the post out of the crete, or pull the crete right out of the ground. These posts were in concrete 3' deep and the posts themselves were creted solid with 4 pieces of bar in each one. It took me less than 5 minutes to pull each post. There would have been no way to easily get the post out by the house without destroying the concrete walkway. This way all I have to do is fill the hole and crete it over. Even the one in the yard would have been a royal pain even if you did dig it up. I'd guess each post weighed in excess of 400 pounds. Just getting it out of the hole would have been a nightmare. This way I just pulled it up and laid it over, then cut the 8' posts into 2' lengths with the demo saw and concrete blade.

On wood posts some times I'll nail a block to the post if I can't get the chain to grab and on steel posts sometimes you have to weld on a block. You can do the same thing with a machine if you have access to one. We used to pull posts, shrubs and small trees all the time this way with the trackhoe.


   

[D.O.G.]

Nice and easy. I have used a similar method, using an 8 ft 4x4 chained to it as a lever to lift posts out. The jack looks easier on the back.

[Frosty]

That's what we call a "Handyman Jack." Pulling fence posts is a piece of cake for a Handyman. They're a fine addition to a person's tool kit, you can level a house with a couple, pull a truck out of a mud hole with the addition of some chain, or just about anything needing some serious grunt.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[DSW]

Another suggestion someone posted up in reply to my thread elsewhere on  pulling posts that I hadn't thought of before.

 

He uses a come along and fixed point with a log to pull concreted posts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RGraff]

I've used the handyman system many times and works well.  I like your idea with the come-along too DSW, as long as a good anchor point is available.

[Mike Romo]

I learned this trick from my dad about 35 years or so ago.  Used it many times.  The uses of a Hi-Lift or Handyman jack are nearly endless.

 

The most specific and yet brilliant use was a trick taught to me in fire department extrication class nearly 20 years ago.  We used it to pop the door open on a wrecked car--base of jack against the window sill, lifting point against the roofline/top of window--jack and jack and jack and the door gets pushed down and out and will eventually roll off the Nader pin and pop open.  Not bad to see a fifty dollar tool do what a $10,000 set of jaws of life can do.  Ingenuity at its best.

 

I miss my dad.

[ianinsa]

DSW,  we used to use an old rim instead of a log as the greater the diameter the more 'lift'(large diameter logs are heavy)

 

ian

[Judson Yaggy]

Just ask the moderators to remove them!

 

We get a lot of rain here and even locust or cedar tends to have a rotten outer layer that makes pulling easier, plus the frost tends to pop things out of the ground if you wait long enough.  For putting them in I've found that the easiest way is to smoosh them in with the tractor bucket.  

 

That log trick is nifty.  

[arftist]

The log method when taken to an extreme can pull stumps as well.

As Ianinsa said, the larger the diameter, the more pulling force. A six foot diameter cable spool (rare but available) wood or metal will pull most stumps if one chains the stump to the drum, then walks the drum away. Tough stumps may require two walkers. 

[VaughnT]

Any thoughts on how to get an old guy anchor out of the ground?

 

Got one in the yard that's bent over parallel to the ground so it's almost invisible in the tall grass and she needs to go.  Tried pulling it straight out with a tractor, but no joy.  Tried pulling it back on itself, again no joy.  Can't unscrew it (if it's screwed in) because of the bent neck.

 

It would be decent medium-carbon stock for punches, I think, but I really just want to get it out of the yard so it's no longer a trip hazard.

[Dogsoldat]

aren't the guy wire anchors usually driven in at a perpendicular to the direction of pull ,  if that makes any sense

[DSW]

If all you want to do is get it out of the way, just dig down below grade and cut it there.

 

I can't remember exactly how we removed the last one we had to, but we had access to heavy equipment, so my guess is we either dug it up with the excavator or pulled it out that way with a chain.

[VaughnT]

Cutting it off below grade is probably the only solution.  Hate to lose all that stock, but that's life.

[madax]

sounds like what we call a deadman might be 8' eye bolt  through a 4'/6' chunk of power pole burried 5'/6' down in the ground. pull reallllly hard or dig it out could be in bedrock if grouted in it will not turn. hope this helps.

[aessinus]

If the Hi-Lift has the bolt-on adapter, they make a really stout, if somewhat short, bar clamp.

Edited August 28, 2016 by aessinus
can't type good