Shawn T. W.
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2025
- Messages
- 1,493
- Location
- SW Missouri Ozarks
- Tractor
- Massey Ferguson GC 1725 MB - Kubota L5030 - John Deere Z960M
I got this crazy hair brained idea almost two years ago when I was putting in T-posts for my little orchard ... Sometimes I think there is more rocks than dirt ... I was using a manual T-post pounder, I put in about 25 or so ... I have mild carpal tunnel in both wrists ... That night I couldn't even hold a fork to eat dinner, and was a turning point from it being mild occasionally bothering me, to hurts me most everyday, most of the day ...
I actually did the last few by using the ripper on my Backhoe (BH) to get a hole started, but was really too big of a hole if I went too deep, then the T-post would be loose!
So I wanted to make a "spike" to save my wrists for more T-posts ... I ordered a 2" receiver hitch to put on my BH, and got some steel together to do it, but never the time ... Today I have a slow day, and was able to swing by yesterday afternoon, and will leave around noon today, so I decided today was the day!
Now, please remember I'm a truck driver, NOT a welder ... But I stuck some steel together today!
I started out with some 3/16" X 2" angle iron, made the basic spike out of that, then I took a piece of 1/8" X 1" angle, ground the backside of the angle so it would nest inside of the 2" ... Welded those together, then added another piece of the 2" after grinding it a bit to make it 2" square to fit in the hitch ... Then put a short piece of 1/8" thick 5/8" X1" angle to the outside to help make a slot for the fin that comes on the T-posts to stabilize them ...
This is from a project a few days ago, to give you an idea of the "soil" I have ... Most of the rocks are fist sized, but T-posts don't really like them ... !
Here it is ...
I basically used the down pressure of the main boom, and then "wiggled it" in like I was curling the bucket back and forth ... It took quite a bit more than I thought it would, but I buried it!
I was able to set the T-post in this far, shouldn't take much to drive the rest of the way, which should cause it to be tight ... We did get .22" of rain 2 days ago ...
I actually did the last few by using the ripper on my Backhoe (BH) to get a hole started, but was really too big of a hole if I went too deep, then the T-post would be loose!
So I wanted to make a "spike" to save my wrists for more T-posts ... I ordered a 2" receiver hitch to put on my BH, and got some steel together to do it, but never the time ... Today I have a slow day, and was able to swing by yesterday afternoon, and will leave around noon today, so I decided today was the day!
Now, please remember I'm a truck driver, NOT a welder ... But I stuck some steel together today!
I started out with some 3/16" X 2" angle iron, made the basic spike out of that, then I took a piece of 1/8" X 1" angle, ground the backside of the angle so it would nest inside of the 2" ... Welded those together, then added another piece of the 2" after grinding it a bit to make it 2" square to fit in the hitch ... Then put a short piece of 1/8" thick 5/8" X1" angle to the outside to help make a slot for the fin that comes on the T-posts to stabilize them ...
This is from a project a few days ago, to give you an idea of the "soil" I have ... Most of the rocks are fist sized, but T-posts don't really like them ... !
Here it is ...
I basically used the down pressure of the main boom, and then "wiggled it" in like I was curling the bucket back and forth ... It took quite a bit more than I thought it would, but I buried it!
I was able to set the T-post in this far, shouldn't take much to drive the rest of the way, which should cause it to be tight ... We did get .22" of rain 2 days ago ...
