Fence post broken at concrete. Shoot me now!

[Rolltoptx]

I'm going through a divorce and have to maintain a 64 acre horse facility by myself. I should also mention I'm a 30 year old 120lb woman. I've learned to do a lot of crap on my own but this one is giving me a really hard time.

I have a wooden post and ramm flex fence around my outdoor arena that is also bordering pastures. Electric was down and somehow the horse broke the post off just below the concrete (how the F is that even possible?!). I've dug a giant hole around in and managed to break off large chunks of concrete but I still can not get the whole thing out. FYI I have black death clay soil. There are also railroad ties along the bottom to the inside of the post to keep footing in place which also make it an extra pain in the azz.

I've tried a sledge hammer to a pry bar around the edges... I've put water in the hole and tried again. I've tried drilling holes into the remaining wood post to see if I could just rip out the chunks of wood. (I've attached a photo).


Any ideas?

 

[Birdhunter1]

Leave it all in the ground and dig a hole for a new post next to it and reattach fence to the new post.

 

[sweettractors]

I have seen people burn the wood out? Ken Sweet

 

[joeyd]

I know nothing about horse fencing and had to look it up to see what flex fencing was. If you have access to more fence I would just bury the existing hole and put a new post in on both sides of the broken one. I would evenly space the posts between the existing posts to make it look more uniform. You will know it is "off" or put a gate in if that is possible, but unless you get a way of extracting the original post it might be your best choice.

 

[Snobdds]

The eaisest is just move the hole over by a foot and either buy longer rails and reattach.

The harder way is to get a hammer drill with a SKS bit and just break up the concrete, if the new fence post has to be put back in the same hole.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Things like that are why I have a backhoe. Lacking that piece of equipment, the advice given to put in two post, one on either side, is the best thing. Even if you get the old post dug out, you will have a huge hole to have to fill in with concrete when you go back with a new post.

Sounds like you need to get one of those battery operated fence chargers with a solar cell to keep it charged OR get a different horse that doesn't wreck your fences.

 

[dickfoster]

Things like that are why I have a backhoe. Lacking that piece of equipment, the advice given to put in two post, one on either side, is the best thing. Even if you get the old post dug out, you will have a huge hole to have to fill in with concrete when you go back with a new post.

Sounds like you need to get one of those battery operated fence chargers with a solar cell to keep it charged OR get a different horse that doesn't wreck your fences.

Yep having a backhoe makes a lot of stuff a lot less complicated.
For what it's worth I don't think putting wood into the ground is good idea with or without concrete. As soon as it's in, the clock is ticking. I put concrete into the ground then put the post on top of that along with post anchors and rebar pins glued up into the post. That way it's more or less permanent and no water can soak into the wood. It doesn't matter whether or not it's pressure treated of what kind of wood it is either. Sooner or later it's gonna rot if it goes in below the ground.

When I do put wood in the ground, I first coat it with roofing tar and wrap it in plastic, pond liner is good, then throw rocks and dirt in and tamp it really well all around. That way no water can get to the wood and it'll last a whole lot longer. It's also a whole heap easier to replace when and if it comes time.

 

[oldnslo]

If you still have the 80 HP Hew Holland hook a chain to the 3 Point hitch and lift the concrete out. 3 PH on an 80 hP tractro will lift a lot. Just be very careful that you don't lift the front end of the tractor to high.

 

[rox]

Hot charcoal briquettes, get 'em hot on the grill then carry them over. So as not to get bored, bring marshmallows & a lawn chair. I assume you want to get the wood out so that you can reuse the sale concrete with the hole in it?

 

[Industrial Toys]

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