I have 6 inch diameter round pressure treated lumber fence posts that were driven a couple of feet into the ground with a piledriver.
How do I yank them?
I’ve tried a chain to a front end loader (not enough torque.)
I’ve tried wrapping a chain around the post and making the chain go up and over a four by four placed at an angle to act as a lever then attaching the other end to my pickup truck (I sink the lever into the ground.)
I’ve tried using a floor jack.
These are some serious posts and they are in deep.
I have never tried this for such deep posts, but in removing posts, I would use a garden hose and stick it into the ground driving it about 6 inches deep and I would let it run for about 5-10 minutes and then with it still running starting pushing and rocking the post to work it loose. Try it on one and see if it works at all. If so repeat 17 times. If not, let me know and I will save some water.
The Post Puller claims to be able to pull them out with the concrete plugs still atatched. But I would think a front end loader would be able to beat this thing.
Yikes. I have clay soil and haven’t had much trouble lifting most posts straight up. (I was not able to pull any out with the truck even in bulldog. The angle was wrong) I agree with What Exit?. Soak and wiggle. Then hitch and lift.
Two things. They are in very deep. To dig each one out I’d have to start 3 feet away or so and dig a great big hole. I’ve tried to dig one out and I’ve gotten a hole about two feet deep in a circle a foot away from the post.
That took an hour, and now I can’t get any deeper with the shovel unless I want to go back and widen the whole.
I thing the piledriver fattened the end of the posts as it drove them. The one I dug partially I can rotate at a 45 degree angle in a big circle, but I still can’t pull it.
You can’t rock them back and forth after some digging?
I’ve pulled posts with concrete sunk 3’ into mainly clay. A bitch of a job, but can be done. How many posts are we talking about?
Of course, if you aren’t replaceing them the lazy man’s route would be to saw them off below grade and leave them be.
On occasion I’ve had posts that my hydraulics wouldn’t pull out either. But surprisingly, two guys each with a prybar, working on opposite sides, were able to pop 'em out.
I’ve pulled heaps of posts, use your 3 point hitch. Put the lift rod in the hole in the lower arm furtherest from the tractor to give the maximum leverage, and you may want to adjust the length of the lift rod so that you are using the best part of the arm’s arc.
Wrap the chain around the post a couple of times and then over the arm, closer to the tractor gives you more leverage, but less distance lifted. As long as your chain (and lower arm) are strong enough, you can put all the hydraulic force on to lift it. Make sure the pull is straight up to start off with. The rear tyres can go a bit flat, then gently rock the tractor back and forth, just a couple of inches should be enough. You may need to reset the chain lower a couple of times to get the post out. Don’t keep the hydraulics under load for more than say 10 seconds, it’s hard on the pump and heats the oil, I generally raise and lower as I rock the tractor. It’s the rocking as you lift that gets thing happening. You can increase the rocking distance as the post lifts, but don’t snap it off.
As the post comes out it will tilt toward the tractor and foul the mudguard or your forehead. (You are looking behind to see what you are doing, as well as checking the kids don’t get in front as well?) It may come quicker then you can react. (The tyres rebounding from being 3/4 flat accounts for this :smack: )
If you have a helper fitting the chain etc, take the tractor out of gear while they are nearby, standing in front/behind of the wheels etc. Your foot can slip off the clutch.
Now the size of the tractor matters too, I’ve used 45hp plus size machines to do this, it’s not the hp, but the larger the tractor, the more lift they have. The 60hp one could lift about a tonne. If you have a 20 hp tractor, you mightn’t be able to use it to lift out 6" posts.
I’ve drilled a hole through the center of the post and passed a short but stout length of chain through same, and hooking that onto/around the lifting leg of a high lift jack. I’ve got a pair of high-lifts that you could borrow, if you’re anywhere close to lower central bohunk.
Old timers used a home made fence post puller. A length of chain, a large fire place log as a fulcrum, and a long lever something sizewise like the post you are trying to pull. No fancy, expensive machinery or gadgets. Just a little brain power and not too much brawn. Out they come, easy as pie. Try it, you’ll like it.
OTOH try to split some Osage Ornge hedge row logs to make two fence posts out of one. Tried it, didn’t like it, couldn’t hand saw it so used them full size for a small garden plot.
For a low tech option, I have used the soak and wiggle method, but only as step 1. Step two involved nailing a small block of wood near the bottom of the post, then using a length (about 5 feet) of 2X4 as a lever, against the block, to pry them up. My Father and I only had about 10 posts to remove, but this method worked very well for us.
If it matters, they were 4X4 redwood posts, burried 3 feet deep, very clayish soil.
Alternatively. Dig down a foot, cut the post off with a chains saw, bury the stumps and forget them; if you’re replacing an existing post/panel fence, start the new one with a half panel so that the new posts will not coincide with the locations of the old ones.
It sounds like the bottom ends are seriously mushroomed for you tractor to not be able to lift them. The next thing I would try would be to dig (using post-hole diggers) a hole adjacant to the post on the side next to your tractor as far down as you can. Then wrap your chain as far down as you can. Lift with the tractor and rock forward into the new hole at the same time.
Unless the ground is red clay, the water trick might help, too.
