Any easy ideas for a temporary mailbox post?

sixdogs · Oct 20, 2019

My mailbox post finally snapped off and I'm at a loss for a temporary fix. Any easy ideas? The "through rain, snow" or whatever thing apparently doesn't apply to a box and post laying in the ditch.

Either a combine hit it, which is most likely, or one of our local honor students figured out how to snap off a 4x4 PT post planted 5' in the ground. I can't dig another hole right away because I can't locate a borrowable auger and can't hand dig a hole in summer-baked clay. Not sure if I could drive a T post in.

Any ideas?

Tractor X · Oct 20, 2019

i'm on my 3rd box! more than likely farm equipment or extended mirrors. i moved the 3rd box back bout a foot and drove a T-post next to it. pisses me off people don't have the balls to fess up and make it right!
seen people drop a 4x4 in a 5gal bucket filled with concrete... a weeble wobble mailbox.

seville009 · Oct 20, 2019

If your post is still there, just get a sleeve/connector for joining two posts together (from the decking section of Home Depot for example), and use it to connect the two broken pieces together

sixdogs · Oct 20, 2019

seville009 said:
If your post is still there, just get a sleeve/connector for joining two posts together (from the decking section of Home Depot for example), and use it to connect the two broken pieces together

Snapped off at ground level but I'm going to take a look at that sleeve. That could be do-able.

Didn't find sleeve but look what I did find. A screw-in post. Maybe.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mayne-No-Dig-Ground-Screw-580D00000/100592729

LouNY · Oct 20, 2019

A five gallon bucket full of sand makes a decent temporary base,
or a spare tire and wheel with a pipe riser, could even pour a bit of concrete in the rim.

AllByteNoBark · Oct 20, 2019

LouNY said:
A five gallon bucket full of sand makes a decent temporary base,
or a spare tire and wheel with a pipe riser, could even pour a bit of concrete in the rim.

We have always used the 5 gallon bucket full of sand when needing a temp. Have built 3 houses and figured out you do not want the permanent mailbox until all the construction people are gone. The mailbox seems ot be like a magnet for them to hit and no one wants to confess it was them. With the 5 gal bucket no one ever seems to hit it. :confused3:

oosik · Oct 20, 2019

I put a 4x4 pressure treated post in a heavy duty plastic 55 gallon barrel and filled with rock. It has lasted over 25 years now.

ovrszd · Oct 20, 2019

Six, how about a piece of flat iron drove into the ground against the side of the post, then screws thru the flat iron into the upper portion of the broken post. Kinda like a splint??

MODOT (Missouri Dept of Transportation) used to knock mine down at least once a year. I always used wood posts. Last time they did it I had just cleaned snow away from it with the grader. Cleaned on both sides a 100ft of more so they wouldn't need to get close to it. I had just parked the grader and was walking to the house when the MODOT truck came along. Had a front blade and side wing blade on a truck. He never made any attempt to miss my box. Threw it clear up on the bank.

As soon as the ground thawed I dug a 16" diameter hole. Set a 8" 1/4" wall pipe in the hole and filled everything with concrete. Built a horizontal arm that clamps to the post so it can be adjusted if needed. No one has hit it since. Been in place 15 years now.

Isn't that odd how they couldn't miss that wood post, but never hit that steel pipe......

EddieWalker · Oct 20, 2019

Over the summer, my mail lady asked me why my mail box was across the street. I told her that when I built my house, the delivery lady at the time insisted that it go there because of union rules, too many left turns and it wasn't safe.

It was super hot, super humid and my post hole digger was broke down. Instead of fixing my post hole digger like I should have, I used an old 3/4 inch wood auger bit and drilled through the dirt. I've done this a bunch of times for T posts and figured it would work well for the mail box post too. It was still a lot of effort, but it worked and I was able to get down to where the soil was soft enough to dig with my clam shells.