Driving ground rod with bucket?

[vvanders]

Setting up the electric fence in our new place tomorrow, got about 1800' to eventually hot wire so stepped up our ground rod game a bit and grabbed 3 6ft grounding rods to drive tomorrow.

I've done them the old-fashion way with sledge hammer and garden hose. Planning on soaking the ground a bit, regretting that I left my hammer drill back at the house we're going to be selling soon. Assuming I get a few feet going is it worth using the loader to help them along or am I just asking for a bent ground rod? Soil here is mostly sand so I'm hoping things shouldn't be too complicated.

Also heard of the hydro-pipe method which is my backup if things end up not going too smoothly.

 

[RjCorazza]

No harm in trying, but I suspect the rods will go caddywampus real quick. For the few rods I have sunk, I have used those hand held post drivers.

 

[Thomas]

You won't have that hand on feeling if hit hard object might bend the rod...iron bar to start the hole would help.

 

[Diggin It]

I don't have anything with a loader yet, but am shopping. This is one thing I was wondering about being able to do, but for T-posts. Thought about maybe combining a conventional manual T-post driver to keep it straight and the loader to provide the downforce. Not sure if you can raise/lower the bucket to drive, or just force it down.

 

[LouNY]

A loader makes a poor post driver,
it doesn't have the speed for an impact like a sledge hammer,
and until you get quite large you don't have the mass to just shove a post or rod unless your ground is very soft.
I have picked the front end of a 100 horse tractor loader up on a T post.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have driven T post with some success as long as I didn't hit a rock and the ground was wet. Summer time it isn't recommended since the ground gets like concrete after a long drought.
I wouldn't try to drive a ground rod with it though. First you will likely bend the rod and second you may punch a hole in your FEL bucket.

 

[sdef]

No harm in trying, but I suspect the rods will go caddywampus real quick. For the few rods I have sunk, I have used those hand held post drivers.

The only successful way I have done it in a reasonable amount of time without damaging something. Typically I place some kind of heavy metal "cap" over the top of the ground rod to keep it from being too deformed. I also suggest you slide the ground wire clamp, if one piece, onto the rod first in case the end you are driving from does get mushroomed.

 

[chim]

Early in my life as an electrician, we drove many 8' ground rods with lighter sledgehammers - probably 8-pounders. A heavier sledgehammer was difficult to use while standing on a stepladder to get it started. It was a pain as a one-man operation because the rod swayed quite a bit when struck till it was pretty well into the earth. We'd often have an accomplice try to keep the rod steady. For some reason, the guy who steadied the rod often wanted to hold it with an old pair of pump pliers.

 

[the old grind]

BTDT, abd result for me is been that somewhere around half-way driven that bend will happen. That said 3-4' is as deep as I've ever driven on my own ten. Sandy soil with plenty of gravel.

I've been lucky as often as I backed off just in time to prevent bending. Success for me always requires finishing with a sledge. Ground rods (eg: 6' steel, copper plated) are a real bear to straighten, once bent, and to drive a second time.

 

[Birdhunter1]

I sunk 10' ground rods in three different areas along my fence and one near the fence charger. There are four other grounds rods around my place at building and panels and all I've ever used was a few gallons of water in a bucket and a 20 oz Estwing framing hammer. Start a little divot with your ground rod in the dirt, pour some water in, pump your ground rod up and down, once in a while pour more water in and eventually you have about 12" sticking up out of the ground. This is all in heavy clay soil, no sand, this process works very well for me.

 

[RandyT]

I sunk 10' ground rods in three different areas along my fence and one near the fence charger. There are four other grounds rods around my place at building and panels and all I've ever used was a few gallons of water in a bucket and a 20 oz Estwing framing hammer. Start a little divot with your ground rod in the dirt, pour some water in, pump your ground rod up and down, once in a while pour more water in and eventually you have about 12" sticking up out of the ground. This is all in heavy clay soil, no sand, this process works very well for me.

That is how they install the electrical grounding rods for breaker boxes in my area.

 

[PA hayseed]

I've put in a bunch of tposts and some u posts with my bucket. I do it for my garden fence and my snow fence (which comes out after winter and then reinstalled the following late fall). I have lots of rock and shale on my property and I haven't bent too many post. T posts are much stiffer than u Posts though. I think the big difference is that the T posts and U posts don't get driven too far into the ground whereas a grounding rod by it's very nature needs to be int he ground. I imagine you are talking about the new type of copper clad steel grounding rod? Those are kinda stiff, I put two in the ground in my yard, but I don't know how many you would bend in 1800'.

MY .02, if you push anything into the ground with the bucket, 1) level the bucket before applying down pressure, 2) adjust the angle of the bucket once you start driving (FEL has an arc motion), 3) use the reinforced part of your bucket, 4) get the tractor on a straight line to follow the line of posts before you begin so you are more efficient and only back up a little for the next post, 5) take into account any rolling terrain as it will also change the angle of your downward pressure.

 

[shooterdon]

I sunk 10' ground rods in three different areas along my fence and one near the fence charger. There are four other grounds rods around my place at building and panels and all I've ever used was a few gallons of water in a bucket and a 20 oz Estwing framing hammer. Start a little divot with your ground rod in the dirt, pour some water in, pump your ground rod up and down, once in a while pour more water in and eventually you have about 12" sticking up out of the ground. This is all in heavy clay soil, no sand, this process works very well for me.

Great way to do it. I would have used a post driver.

 

[Inspector507]

I tried installing T-posts with my bucket with limited success. They would either bend or end up going in at an angle. Used a T-post driver after that.
Back when I did electrical work we used a homemade ground rod driver. It was a piece of 1" rigid pipe welded to a piece of steel that was 8" in diameter and 4" thick. Slide the pipe over the rod and slide up and down driving it in. Then we went to an easier way. Boss bought a Hilti TE 52 rotary hammer drill and a rebar driver attachment. That worked the best. Get the drill on the top end of the ground rod and use it on hammer only and it pounds it right in in just a few minutes.

 

[swnoel]

This is what I use to put in posts and ground rods... $30!
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-3-in-x-9-in-x-24-in-Metal-Fence-Post-Driver-901147EB/205960880

 

[oosik]

If your ground is soft enough that you can push a ground rod in with the bucket - then its going to be very easy to drive with a T-post driver or sledge.

 

[Jchonline]

I sunk 10' ground rods in three different areas along my fence and one near the fence charger. There are four other grounds rods around my place at building and panels and all I've ever used was a few gallons of water in a bucket and a 20 oz Estwing framing hammer. Start a little divot with your ground rod in the dirt, pour some water in, pump your ground rod up and down, once in a while pour more water in and eventually you have about 12" sticking up out of the ground. This is all in heavy clay soil, no sand, this process works very well for me.

+1. I have used the same method with great success.....unless you hit rock

 

[Diggin It]

We'd often have an accomplice try to keep the rod steady. For some reason, the guy who steadied the rod often wanted to hold it with an old pair of pump pliers.

I get a sledge in my hands, you don't want to be within a 100' of me. Trust me.

 

[Diggin It]

Start a little divot with your ground rod in the dirt, pour some water in, pump your ground rod up and down, once in a while pour more water in and eventually you have about 12" sticking up out of the ground. This is all in heavy clay soil, no sand, this process works very well for me.

+1. I have used the same method with great success.....unless you hit rock

Yup, and I have more red rock than clay or anything else. Water doesn't dissolve rocks, but a point driven by a sledge will break through them.

 

[vvanders]

Well seems like there's a consensus to just do it the old fashioned way. I'm always looking for and excuse to use to use the Ford but sounds like more hassle than it's worth.

Thanks for all the replies!