Pulling Fence Posts with FEL

[DanielTerence]

I plan on trying to pull out old fence posts this weekend with the FEL on my L2800. I have a tow strap rated at 10,000 lbs. Assuming the strap will work, should I position the bucket above the fence post OR near the bottom of the post - what will provide more strength? I'll also bump the post around a bit first.

 

[Jimbrown]

I have never used a tow strap but guess it will work I always used a chain. I put the chain at the bottom of the post. I am pretty sure the FEL has more power down low than it does up higher. I also find that the bucket curl is more powerful than the loader lift so I position it so I can curl the bucket up and get the first couple of inches of pull and then lift up with the whole loader.

 

[MadDog]

It probably depends a bit on what kind of post you are pulling. I have used a chain to pull 3-4" wooden posts without a problem. With metal tubular posts (like for chain link) the problem is probably going to be getting either chain or a strap to cinch up tightly enough so that it doesn't slip.
Either way, bumping it around a bit should help as long as you don't break it off short.

 

[rdln]

Assuming you have hooks on top of bucket put bucket just above post with curl cylinder half way out and wrap chain around post near top and use bucket curl to lift out.

If chain is at bottom post may flip over and smash something (chain attaching person /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif) after it clears ground.

For a stubborn post, do what my grandpa taught me, lay another post on ground at base of stuck post so that one end of free post is twice as far away from stuck post as other free end and wrap chain around both then lift long end of free post.

 

[California]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Assuming you have hooks on top of bucket put bucket just above post with curl cylinder half way out and wrap chain around post near top and use bucket curl to lift out. ...

For a stubborn post, do what my grandpa taught me, lay another post on ground at base of stuck post so that one end of free post is twice as far away from stuck post as other free end and wrap chain around both then lift long end of free post. -Steve )</font>

Am I understanding the second method correctly - tie the midpoint of a loose post to the base of the planted one, then lift one end of it to compound the leverage?

I like both of your methods. I soon learned that a direct lift on even a t-post simply raised a rear wheel without budging the fencepost.

Your first method, starting with the cutting edge of the loader on the ground, provides a lot of needed stability.

 

[rdln]

no, on the first method, the whole bucket is above the whole post.

the second method uses a 2:1 lever ratio advantage not 1:1 but my grandpa and I were pulling posts by hand. if used with tractor loader and post was stubborn enuff a broken or bent free post may result so in retrospect use a lever that is strong like bull.

 

[DanielTerence]

Good ideas - thanks - they are wood posts by the way

 

[JerryG]

I pull several T posts every year. I hook a chain to my bucket hooks . Then let the loader bucket down low, wrap the chain around the post twice, hook it back on it's self and then lift. Works good for me anyway.

 

[texasjohn]

I've pulled lots of wooden cedar and T posts with my FEL using grab hook centered on top of bucket. Chain is at Bottom of post. I put FEL a little off of the ground and tilted so both the top and bottom edge of the bucket are within about 4-6 inches of the post. After some experience you'll get the feel for it. Lift vertically up.

AND, be prepared to put weight, weight, weight on the rear of your tractor... because even with liquid in the tires they can come off the ground with a stubborn post.

Two options for a truly stubborn post. After getting the rear wheels almost off the ground, thus much pressure upward, place a tractor jack under the bucket and jack up... watch out, the post can jump out quickly. Or, use your 3PH as the lifting force with some sort of implement/cross bar on the rear to tie the chain to. Don't try to use just one of the lift arms.

When all else fails, break the post off at ground level. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[bota7800]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">(
AND, be prepared to put weight, weight, weight on the rear of your tractor... because even with liquid in the tires they can come off the ground with a stubborn post.

)</font>

No kidding! I just pulled a couple hundred t-posts. I was pulling a trailer to collect the posts so I did not have much weight back there. Most came out easy but a few (tough ones or slight slopes) made the tractor go for a ride. I went back and reinstalled my backblade.

I used a variation on the chain method. I got a Metal Post Puller from a local farm/tack store. It is just a 5 inch piece of steel with 2 holes in it. One hole attached to the chain, the other slipped over the post and grabbed on the up pull. Worked pretty slick most of the time. It was from Allen Tool Company, Hotchkiss, Colorado. I don't see a website on the packaging.

The posts came out in very good condition.

 

[Volfandt]

I pulled approx 40 deck posts using a similar method.

I used my cordless drill and screwed in a small 2x4 cross piece about a foot down then hooked the FEL under it, lifted it out of the ground then transported 'em to a burn pile. I chained a few that were to stubborn to pull in this way.
Only took a couple hrs, I was expecting alot more of seat time out of that project /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Volfandt

 

[surfster]

It isn't very tractor like, but I use a Hi-Lift jack (also known as a farm jack, lift-all,etc).
I use a piece of chain wrapped around the post, than wrapped over the lowered toe of the jack.
Operate the jack as lifting a truck to change a flat.
Out comes the post.
The jack will lift 7000 lbs. It would probably lift more, but they put a shear pin in it so you can't lift more. It doesn't come crashing down, you just can't lift anymore.
My Kubota lifts 750 lbs and cost me $14,000.
My hi-lift jack lifts 7000 lbs and cost me $60.
I feel stupid using it sometimes, but it is strapped near the rops at all times.
Did I mention it was indestructible?
I have used it horizontally but in the same manner to pull bushes and small trees- roots and all. Simply chain the top end of the jack to a tree or a tractor with choked wheels. Grab hook the chain to the toe of the jack, and the other end of the chain around the tree about a foot off the ground and "lift" the load. You can "winch" the whole tree, including dirt and roots all the way to where you've got the jack tied off if you want.
By the way, off topic now, the jack will lift the whole back or front end of a tractor (UNSTABLE -CAREFUL!!!!) if you are ever stuck.
I stuck the toe into the receiver of a hummer and lifted both rear wheels off the ground so the owner could build up underneath to get unstuck.
I didn't feel so stupid using it to pull posts after lifting a $80,000 truck with a $60 jack!!!
Hope that helps.

 

[RonR]

We also call those jacks HandyMan jacks. They are good, but are unstable if you don't pay attention to what you are doing.

I've used mine to pull concrete out if fence posts rot off.

Used mine last week, along with some brackets I'd built, to raise and level a 3x10ft section of sidewalk.............

ron

 

[surfster]

Ron - I agree on instability, but the posts are usually stabilized by the hole they are in for the most part. As they come out completely, I just let them fall over to one side, pick up the jack and chain, and move onto the next post.

Amazing how they can pull up a block of concrete out of the ground without digging a large hole.

 

[RonR]

Ah, you are lucky my friend!

Every post I pull (in concrete), the post breaks off at the ground level, leaving me to dig out around it to place a chain on it, then use the jack.

Or do like I did yesterday--take a six foot pry bar and a 2x4 and go after it, prying it, usually in pieces, out of the ground. Yesterday's post was one I had some pros install ? years ago. They'd used their "fast" method: Auger a hole next to the existing concrete, pry the old concrete into the new hole, clean out the old hole, and set a new post.

Pic is about half of what came out the BIG hole I had to make--and it was near the base of an osage orange tree--so I figured I'd shear some bolts or get hung up with I augered it out. But I was lucky--went straight down and didn't hit anything significant.

After digging out one post yesterday, and setting two, I redid my bid sheet concerning post hole digging for my biz!

Ron

 

[riptides]

I'd pay carefull attention to bucket curl if using a chain around a hook (if you have one attached to the FEL).

Positioning of the bucket, hook and chain can do damage to the top edge of the bucket if your angle to the post as you lift is not just right.

Be carefull not to put stress on the top bucket lip.

-Mike Z.

 

[dooleysm]

One summer me and another guy removed 1800 flower poles from a cemetery. We used a chain with a rebar hook welded to one end. The other end was chained to the FEL. One of us drove a JD Gator and the other drove the backhoe. We got to where neither of us had to get off our equipment to pull a pole and load it in the gator.

After we pulled the poles we'd backfill the holes and seed them then take a sledgehammer to the concrete at the base of each pole. Last time I was at the cemetery, most of the poles were still in a big, mangled pile where we left them over 10 years ago.

I wish I had appreciated that project more at the time.

 

[surfster]

If ya get a REALLY stubborn post or one with a big chunk of concrete, you can drill two one inch holes through the post- one about a foot from the ground and another about a foot higher at a right angle to the first. Stick a once inch hardened steel rod (blown crank shaft maybe) into each hole with enough sticking out on both sides to wrap/grab hook the chain. You can even use it as a way to attach chain to the FEL, but as I have said, the jack has much more strength, hard as it is to believe.
Either the post comes out, the jack sinks (I put the base on a plank if needed) or the chain breaks. Usually the post comes out, concrete and all.
I suppose if the post is rotten the rods could pull through the post, but it's never happened to me. It would be like pulling the rod through wood. It isn't sharp, so it takes a massive amount of force to even "stretch" or "wallow" out the holes when pulling up on the rods.
But some days, Ron, it just isn't worth any amount of money to struggle with one that seems attached to something on the other side of the world!

 

[cisco]

Pulling a post can be an ordeal. I recently was asked by a neighbor to help him pull "a few posts around an old fence line" that he was having trouble with. Man, I had that manuver cold, having yanked out a bunch of old 3" round posts that had been stuck into the ground for some ancient fence line long before I bought my "country estate" (7.5 acres of scrub brush and brambles).
So, clueless per usual, I came over with my L3410 and FEL with a few hooks welded to the upper lip, plus a chain, length of 5/8" rope, cordless drill and 4" screws (in case I needed some fixed point on the posts to cinch into). Turns out the posts were 6X6", buried 3-4' into a couple of hundred pounds of concrete. So, when I got a good grip (rope, two 4" screws) around a pole and curled the FEL, the rear wheels of my tractor lifted off the ground (yup, I had a box blade attached - thought I was fully prepared, but NOPE). That, by the way, is not a particularly good sensation (rear wheels in the air), and kind of takes the bloom off the smile on my admiring wife who had come over to watch me "help the neighbor".
So, plan B (WHY must I always resort to "plan B") involved gently nudging the the first post (there were 9, and I was already depressed) forward with the FEL, then backwards, and then repositioning the tractor and trying side-to-side. So, I nudged the post each of the 4 quadrants. It had to be modest, say moving the post 3-6 inches at the top, or I would have been likely to break the old wooden post off. It worked - I could then pull the post and cement out of the ground. Good thing, as the next option was to chainsaw the darn post at ground level, go have a beer (or 2) and lick my psychic wounds.