Removing old fence posts

[tld]

I have a JD 4110 tractor with loader and 3 point hitch with box blade.

I have about 50 old fence posts that I need to remove. Hopefully they are not rotten.

How would you go about removing them? Previously I had wrapped a chain around them at the base and then hooked the chain to the loader and lifted them out. Is there an easier way? I know, sure beats jacking them out with car jack.

 

[murphy1244]

Have some one else do them. No I can't think of anything faster.

 

[smstonypoint]

I've used your method. It goes a lot faster with two people.

Steve

 

[stuckmotor]

I've left few post holes uncovered but, of those few, I've found a small animals trapped in a couple of them so, once you get the post pulled, please consider filling the holes immediately.

 

[stuckmotor]

Rows 4 and 6 have what seem to me to be good ideas.
post puller - Dogpile Images Search

 

[mjarrels]

Put a price on them and they will be stolen. Nothing but empty holes the next day.

mark

 

[jmc]

I've never done this but maybe on the ones not rotten, you could walk along them with a cordless drill and drive a 3/8" diameter or so lag screw into the side each post so that about an inch still sticks out to catch with the lip of the loader bucket.

 

[JimRB]

I use something like this using my 3 point hitch and a 2 foot chain. The two foot chain wraps around a 3x3x1/4" or maybe it is a 4x4x1/4" thing originally used as a hay spear holder but later used as a single shank root grubber. Northern Industrial Pallet Puller - 1-Ton - product summary - Bing Shopping

My front end loader does not have enough loader power and it tends to pull the back end up. Lot less drama pulling posts from the back end with my little 4,000 pound tractor.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

What kind of post are they?

 

[greasemonkeyok]

My best results are from using the 3 point much like JimRB, except I use a choke chain. Weld a chain hook on the end of a peice of pipe lagre enough for your chain to easily slip through. The open side of the chain hook should point toward the long (tracter) side of the pipe, and the chain hook should be running in the same direction as (parallel to) the pipe. Then hook one end of the chain to a sturdy bar across the 3 point.

Back up to the post, with the pipe/chain hook on the chain about two feet from the loose end of the chain; wrap the loose chain around the post and then hook it snug into the chain hook. Kinda like a noose around the post at the ground level, and when you pull up the chain slips through the pipe to tighten up on the post. The 3 point has enough pull to bring 'em up, especially if you repeatedly tug at it instead of trying to do it all in one continuious upward pull.

You'll still need two people unless you like jumping on and off the tracter.

 

[tld]

What kind of post are they?

Most likely cypress. Partially painted. At a piece of property I plan to buy.

 

[tld]

Put a price on them and they will be stolen. Nothing but empty holes the next day.

mark

Not until AFTER I pull them out and stack them up....

 

[tld]

I've left few post holes uncovered but, of those few, I've found a small animals trapped in a couple of them so, once you get the post pulled, please consider filling the holes immediately.

Oh yes. We have three Labs that love to run. One leg in a fence post hole and their competition days are over.

 

[RoMad]

My son was replacing fence for me and he just tilted the bucket down an hooked the fence with the hook that is welded on the top of the bucket and pulled them out with the fence.

My old neighbor puts his bucket pointed about 30 degrees down about a foot from the post, pulls forward and when the bucket hits the post about a foot down tilts the bucket up. kind of messy but he doesn't have to get off the tractor.

I usually pull them out with a nylon strap (choker). The nylon gets a lot better bite on wood than a chain does. I choke it around the post and pull them out with the loader. As someone else said, it goes a lot faster with someone helping, only problem is I always end up being the ground man while wife operates tractor.

 

[JimRB]

I also do choker chain for old round fence posts. I used that pallet clamp thing when pulling up broken square posts the horses have broken off at ground level.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

One thing I forgot to mention, short-link chain works much better than long-link chain for a choker. Likely you will have to order short-link because they do not normally stock it in most places.

 

[bcp]

Square chain will really bite into a post. You can often find shorter lengths in a hardware store as security chain. Three or four feet should be enough to go around a post. Add some normal chain to pull with.

Rigging Products, Inc. Sales Online: 3/8" SQ CASEHARDENED SECURITY CHAIN

Shop Schlage 5-ft Heavy Duty Security Chain Lock at Lowes.com

Bruce

 

[LindenBruce]

I don't know about wood posts. But, I have used my Hi-Lift and an 18" section of chain for T-posts. Just a few pumps of the handle and out they come. B.

 

[rd_macgregor]

If you want to re-use the posts, you're probably best off with a chain. I keep dreaming of a way to pull the posts without having to get off the tractor and hook the chain to each. One way would be with some sort of hydraulic grabber, maybe a modified bale grabber? Another would be to bolt a V-notched steel plate to the bucket and pull the posts like pulling nails.

Hmmm. I suppose another approach might be to cut them off at ground level, pound the stub down a couple of inches and cover each with a bit of dirt...if the posts are cedar, redwood (hah!) or PT, they'd probably be good for another decade before rotting/sinking down enough to leave much of a depression.
BOB

 

[Midniteoyl]

How about a 'j hook' attachment similar to this t post puller? I'm sure something could be fabbed up to work. Say, on the end of a boom attachment.. I dont do drawings, so imagination is required