Backhoe Spike for T-Posts

[Shawn T. W.]

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 ...

 

[nyone]

That's a cool idea for an attachment. I have tried to bang them in with the bucket before and when the Tpost dosnt want to go it it just bends. This looks like it fixes that problem.

 

[nyone]

That's a cool idea for an attachment. I have tried to bang them in with the bucket before and when the Tpost dosnt want to go it it just bends. This looks like it fixes that problem.

 

[wp6529]

If you have carpal tunnel, you should absolutely get surgery for it. I had bilateral carpal tunnel that got bad to the point where just the vibration in the handles of a ZT mower would agrevate it and my arms would hurt for like two weeks, particularly waking me up at 3am where I would have to get out of bed and shake my arms around for several minutes to settle it down so I could get back to sleep.

Surgery was fast and easy, under 30 min in fact on the second hand it went so fast we had to wait like 7 minutes after it was complete to run out the clock on the Bier block. Healing was super fast, I was able to edge carry concrete pavers with my still bandaged hand two weeks after surgery. Do not get general anesthetic, it is absolutely not needed. Get just Bier block which is local for just the arm.

Post surgery discomfort was so minimal I didn't need any pain meds, not even ibuprofen. On the second hand (I did them 6 weeks apart) I was cutting a steak at dinner with the bandaged hand some 6hr after surgery without even noticing. The 3am arm numbness from the carpal tunnel was much worse than post surgery discomfort.

Don't go years with daily carpal tunnel pain when it is so easy to fix.

 

[Mrsig]

Very Cool! I just had to do a few hundred yard of 6 wire & new post. That would of made it easier.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Surgery is about $4K each wrist ... I'd rather spend that on another tractor!

Surprisingly it usually only bothers me when I'm on the road truck driving ... At home running either tractor or the Z-turn doesn't bother me!

This afternoon I'm gonna dig a "starter hole" then soak it good with water, then I have 2 more 6' ground rods to drive in ... Hopefully the spike and hole (can't go the full 6', as it's right next to my barn ... Hopefully there will be very little pounding involved, unlike the last one!

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Very Cool! I just had to do a few hundred yard of 6 wire & new post. That would of made it easier.

@Mrsig That is some high security you have there! Razor wire coils on top of your gate and 6 strand barbed wire!! Is it that bad where you live or is it just to send the message "leave me alone"?

 

[KWentling]

Surgery is about $4K each wrist ... I'd rather spend that on another tractor!

Surprisingly it usually only bothers me when I'm on the road truck driving ... At home running either tractor or the Z-turn doesn't bother me!

This afternoon I'm gonna dig a "starter hole" then soak it good with water, then I have 2 more 6' ground rods to drive in ... Hopefully the spike and hole (can't go the full 6', as it's right next to my barn ... Hopefully there will be very little pounding involved, unlike the last one!

Don't put it off too long like my Dad did. He lost most of the feeling in both hands, so much so that that he got a 2nd degree burn on the back of his hand from a hot exhaust manifold, and didn't even know it at the time it was happening. I had both of mine fixed at the same time. I had trigger fingers on both hands fixed at the time too, and they were more painful slower healing. Workers comp paid for all of it.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I'm not sure how it happened, it when I went to put the spike in today, the tip was bent! Of course it's only 1/8" X 1" angle ... I straightened it back out with a 2 Lb hammer!

I'm kinda glad I dug down first, as I hit a few 1' - 1.5' rocks that I dug out of the way! Got down about 3' on one, and 3.5' on the other one, so not a lot of pounding ...

The water made more of a mess, but I got the ground rods in below ground!

I don't currently have health insurance, but will be forced to in 5 years when I turn 65 ... Maybe then I try surgery, although my aunt said to try some cortisone shots first, which I might try for 10% the price of surgery ... I wear wrist braces at night, it's mostly from a bad habit of dangling my wrists over the steering wheel and shifter on my semi-truck for MANY years! I don't do that anymore ...

 

[Mrsig]

@Mrsig That is some high security you have there! Razor wire coils on top of your gate and 6 strand barbed wire!! Is it that bad where you live or is it just to send the message "leave me alone"?

I have a Ranch & big firearms range so I don't want any one on my land that is not paying me to be on it. But leave me alone works to.

 

[SmallChange]

A bale spear might be a good, sturdy, ready made spike.