What's the easiest way to.....

[tc35dforme]

Re: What\'s the easiest way to.....

<font color="blue"> Think of a fence post as a friction pile </font>

Hmmmm .... as installed, the surface area of ground contact is 4 sides x the depth...by wiggling it back and forth, you will compact and displace the soil at the top and bottom sides of the 'pile' and decrease the surface contact thus reducing the friction...

We need to remember we're talking a 4x4 only 3 feet deep, not a 24" pile 24 feet deep.

 

[have_blue]

Re: What\'s the easiest way to.....

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( What's the easiest way to remove 4x4 posts? )</font>

Choke chain or choke cable is hard to beat. Just wrap the one end of the chain around the entire FEL and hook it to itself with a grab hook. hook the choke chain or cable to the first chain. If it hurts the bucket, the bucket wasn't any good anyway. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[MossRoad]

Re: What\'s the easiest way to.....

Do like Gatoroby said... chain and FEL. If you have a helper, be careful, but it would go a lot faster than doing it by yourself.

 

[GerardC]

Re: What\'s the easiest way to.....

I started pulling posts today. Here's what I did:

I took a piece of angle steel (approximately 3 feet long) that I had laying around and lag bolted it to the 4x4 with 5/16ths x 1 1/2" long about 47" from the top. I then pulled up to it, curled the FEL all the way back, squared off with the FEL, and just lifted them straight up and out. NO CHAINS, ROPE etc. were needed!!
Once cleared from the hole, I just gave it a little forward tilt and presto, they just gracefully slipped off and fell forward to the ground. See attachment.

Thanks to ALL for your input. Gerard

P.S. I'll try to get more "at work" photos posted. G

 

[GerardC]

Re: What\'s the easiest way to.....

Another view...

 

[Gatorboy]

Re: What\'s the easiest way to.....

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( NO CHAINS, ROPE etc. were needed!! )</font>

That's too bad that you had to take the time to lag bolt a piece of angle iron to the post. The chain (or strap) method would have been the fastest and easiest (hence the point of your thread)

 

[MossRoad]

Re: What\'s the easiest way to.....

31 posts X 2 lag bolts in = 62 bolts X 2 lag bolts out = 124 bolts to handle. Yikes! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Glad it worked for you. Did you at least try the chain or strap method? It really works well. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[GerardC]

Re: What\'s the easiest way to.....

Gatorboy and MossRoad:

Those are very good points and well taken but....

....I am using 3 pieces of angle steel.
My 15 year old son is helping me by installing them on the posts.
I pull one, drop it, and move on to the next one.
As I am moving to the next one, my son goes to the fallen one, (cordless drills are a wonderful thing) removes the angle, and then reinstalls it on another one (6th one down the line).
This way is safer to me as my son is not working directly around the tractor and I am not getting on and off the tractor all the time. Works well for us as we have a nice rhythm between us. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif G

 

[DaveNay]

Re: What\'s the easiest way to.....

Ahh....cheap labor....I gotta get me one of them sons one day. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Dave

 

[surfran]

Re: What\'s the easiest way to.....

Cheap! Not if he is like my 15 year old son. He eats three times as much as I do and only does half the amount of work!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif


Wouldn't trade either of my boys in though /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif