Mailbox studded T post ideas needed

[DuckSlayer1017]

A lot of people by me will put up a pallet or plywood a few feet away from the mailbox. They usually hold them up with a couple t posts. The idea is the snow hits the plywood and not the mailbox.

 

[Newtocvt]

I live in Wisconsin also and our township has very specific mailbox ordinances.

15. MAILBOX AND NEWSPAPER BOX PLACEMENT
Placement of mailboxes or newspaper boxes within the town road right-of-way shall meet the following standards:
Mailboxes and newspaper boxes shall be placed so the front of the box is aligned with the outside edge of the gravel shoulder.
The post shall be placed a minimum of 24 inches from the front of the mailbox. The box may be on a swing arm.
The bottom of the mailbox shall be between 42 and 48 inches above ground level. The recommended minimum height is 46 inches to allow snowplows to remove the snow.
No landscaping is allowed around base of mailbox post
All mailboxes and newspaper boxes shall be placed on the same post to avoid unnecessary posts where possible.
Mailboxes serving neighboring houses shall be grouped together where possible.
Mailbox posts should be constructed to break away at impact. Acceptable standards include:
Pipes two inches inside diameter or less.
Square wood supports four by four inches or less; round wood posts 4 ½ inches or less in diameter.
Metal channel posts not more than two pounds per foot in weight.
Imbed supports no more than 24 inches into the ground and do not imbed in concrete.
Do not use anchor plates with metal posts. Anti-twist flanges are acceptable as long as they do not project more than 10 inches into the ground. These should be attached to the metal post or pipe with 2 3/8 inch muffler clamps.

 

[ruffdog]

I live in Wisconsin also and our township has very specific mailbox ordinances.

15. MAILBOX AND NEWSPAPER BOX PLACEMENT
Placement of mailboxes or newspaper boxes within the town road right-of-way shall meet the following standards:
Mailboxes and newspaper boxes shall be placed so the front of the box is aligned with the outside edge of the gravel shoulder.
The post shall be placed a minimum of 24 inches from the front of the mailbox. The box may be on a swing arm.
The bottom of the mailbox shall be between 42 and 48 inches above ground level. The recommended minimum height is 46 inches to allow snowplows to remove the snow.
No landscaping is allowed around base of mailbox post
All mailboxes and newspaper boxes shall be placed on the same post to avoid unnecessary posts where possible.
Mailboxes serving neighboring houses shall be grouped together where possible.
Mailbox posts should be constructed to break away at impact. Acceptable standards include:
Pipes two inches inside diameter or less.
Square wood supports four by four inches or less; round wood posts 4 ½ inches or less in diameter.
Metal channel posts not more than two pounds per foot in weight.
Imbed supports no more than 24 inches into the ground and do not imbed in concrete.
Do not use anchor plates with metal posts. Anti-twist flanges are acceptable as long as they do not project more than 10 inches into the ground. These should be attached to the metal post or pipe with 2 3/8 inch muffler clamps.

It looks like a highly regulated town......

 

[mapper]

Those rules are to keep the vandals from injuring themselves when they destroy your mailbox. I like my neighbors "decorative" mailbox holder, it's on a 2" steel square tube post, the mailbox holder looks like a small clapboard house - made of 1/4" steel, weighs in about 250#. :laughing:

 

[ericm979]

Those rules are to keep the vandals from injuring themselves when they destroy your mailbox.

Or so drivers or motorcyclists who drive off the road aren't killed by the mailbox.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

A piece of 1.5" PVC pipe fits snugly over a t-post. Put a floor flange on the top, screw a rectangle of plywood to the flange and the mailbox to the flange. Cheap, durable, and looks a lot better than t-post too.

White plumbing PVC will degrade in the sunlight and become brittle with time. You can paint it, or use gray electrical PVC which is UV resistant. I don't know if the flange would come in gray.

 

[RBA50]

BCP has the right idea. Set your post back a couple feet from the road, use a cantilever support for the box. When I lived in heavy snow country, I had a pipe in the ground, with another pipe that fit over it, which had the mailbox support on it. ( Kind of an L shape.) I made an angle iron box support so it was little bigger than the box on the front and sides. That way if the plow hit it, it hit the angle iron support, not the box. The two pieces of pipe had a hole drilled through that lined up, and a piece of 3/8" wooden dowel went through both pipes to keep the arm in place. If the plow hit the box support, the dowel sheared and the support swung out of the way. Never had another damaged box after that. Probably had about an hour in construction time for the supports,etc.

 

[aczlan]

I will have to take a picture of mine. I have a 1 inch OD piece of pipe with another pipe that fits loosely over it. The outside pipe has the end cut at an angle and I have a bolt welded to the inside pipe so that the bolt is at the high point of the angle cut into the end when the mailbox is facing the road. That way if it gets hit, the mailbox will spin around and end up facing the correct direction.

Aaron Z

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Concrete base in ground, 3" pipe flange bolted to base, 3" EMT conduit box connector, 3'' EMT post. Hit the post and it pops out of the connector. That is my last attempt to satisfy all the rules. Nobody has hit it yet. We don't have the snow fall a lot of you and the OP have. If we get 6" it is considered unusual.

Ron

 

[mapper]

Or so drivers or motorcyclists who drive off the road aren't killed by the mailbox.

After you've had to replace your mailbox several times a year, you start to take some measures to protect it. I made arrangements with my postal carrier to deliver in front of my shop where they can turn a full circle and not have to back up. So far our successive mail delivery drivers have been cool with it. Some of my neighbors aren't able to do that.
In thirty plus years on my road no one has ever run into a mail box. Where mine was located when it was on the road there was a very deep ditch right behind it, if you ran into the mailbox you were going into the ditch!