Any easy ideas for a temporary mailbox post?

[sixdogs]

My mailbox post finally snapped off and I'm at a loss for a temporary fix. Any easy ideas? The "through rain, snow" or whatever thing apparently doesn't apply to a box and post laying in the ditch.

Either a combine hit it, which is most likely, or one of our local honor students figured out how to snap off a 4x4 PT post planted 5' in the ground. I can't dig another hole right away because I can't locate a borrowable auger and can't hand dig a hole in summer-baked clay. Not sure if I could drive a T post in.

Any ideas?

 

[Tractor X]

i'm on my 3rd box! more than likely farm equipment or extended mirrors. i moved the 3rd box back bout a foot and drove a T-post next to it. pisses me off people don't have the balls to fess up and make it right!
seen people drop a 4x4 in a 5gal bucket filled with concrete... a weeble wobble mailbox.

 

[seville009]

If your post is still there, just get a sleeve/connector for joining two posts together (from the decking section of Home Depot for example), and use it to connect the two broken pieces together

 

[sixdogs]

If your post is still there, just get a sleeve/connector for joining two posts together (from the decking section of Home Depot for example), and use it to connect the two broken pieces together

Snapped off at ground level but I'm going to take a look at that sleeve. That could be do-able.


Didn't find sleeve but look what I did find. A screw-in post. Maybe.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mayne-No-Dig-Ground-Screw-580D00000/100592729

 

[LouNY]

A five gallon bucket full of sand makes a decent temporary base,
or a spare tire and wheel with a pipe riser, could even pour a bit of concrete in the rim.

 

[AllByteNoBark]

A five gallon bucket full of sand makes a decent temporary base,
or a spare tire and wheel with a pipe riser, could even pour a bit of concrete in the rim.

We have always used the 5 gallon bucket full of sand when needing a temp. Have built 3 houses and figured out you do not want the permanent mailbox until all the construction people are gone. The mailbox seems ot be like a magnet for them to hit and no one wants to confess it was them. With the 5 gal bucket no one ever seems to hit it. :confused3:

 

[oosik]

I put a 4x4 pressure treated post in a heavy duty plastic 55 gallon barrel and filled with rock. It has lasted over 25 years now.

 

[ovrszd]

Six, how about a piece of flat iron drove into the ground against the side of the post, then screws thru the flat iron into the upper portion of the broken post. Kinda like a splint??

MODOT (Missouri Dept of Transportation) used to knock mine down at least once a year. I always used wood posts. Last time they did it I had just cleaned snow away from it with the grader. Cleaned on both sides a 100ft of more so they wouldn't need to get close to it. I had just parked the grader and was walking to the house when the MODOT truck came along. Had a front blade and side wing blade on a truck. He never made any attempt to miss my box. Threw it clear up on the bank.

As soon as the ground thawed I dug a 16" diameter hole. Set a 8" 1/4" wall pipe in the hole and filled everything with concrete. Built a horizontal arm that clamps to the post so it can be adjusted if needed. No one has hit it since. Been in place 15 years now.

Isn't that odd how they couldn't miss that wood post, but never hit that steel pipe......

 

[EddieWalker]

Over the summer, my mail lady asked me why my mail box was across the street. I told her that when I built my house, the delivery lady at the time insisted that it go there because of union rules, too many left turns and it wasn't safe.

It was super hot, super humid and my post hole digger was broke down. Instead of fixing my post hole digger like I should have, I used an old 3/4 inch wood auger bit and drilled through the dirt. I've done this a bunch of times for T posts and figured it would work well for the mail box post too. It was still a lot of effort, but it worked and I was able to get down to where the soil was soft enough to dig with my clam shells.

 

[ruffdog]

I have some of these brackets that fit on t-posts. They sell the vertical and horizontal ones that can be used for mailboxes and bird houses.

Mailbox T-Post Bracket 86116383 | eBay

T-Post Bracket 9 (Vertical) "4-Pack" Makes attaching to a T-Post Easy 86726 | eBay

 

[atsah]

Temporary? A five gallon bucket with cement and post.. We have a problem here with snowplows hitting boxes, I put a power pole in the ground with a couple of cross arm braces then, built a steel box to put the mailbox into and put the box on swinging chains, if they hit it with the wing, they won't do it again.. They tend not to hit it anymore..

 

[seville009]

Use one of these - Oz Post - quick and easy

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Oz-Post...zed-Steel-Mailbox-Post-Anchor-30700/205142238

 

[wheelbuilder]

A guy on the main drag from me has one on an I beam.
I've used the 5 gallon pail, even sand works for that. I've also seen cross shaped metal that you'd pound into the ground. It has a tapered piece at the top that clamps a 4x4 kit has dogs you drive down). That makes replacement pretty easy, unless the metal gets hosed.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I would get out my drill, a large bit, and something like a piece of rebar, or a piece of gas pipe, or even a piece of PVC. Just drill about 6 inches into the piece in the ground, insert the gas pipe, drill the top piece, and set it on the pipe. Of course you would have to match the pipe to the hole size wise, but I think this would work for awhile.

 

[bigtiller]

I seen some signs in Menards parking lot this week around the handicap parking spaces. The base was concrete, 24" diameter and 6" thick. A "square sign post base was embedded in the concrete and a post & sign bolted to the base.

The thing could be rolled around like one of Fred Flintstones spare peddle car tires. Or picked up with a chain on your loader.

 

[sixdogs]

OK, here's what I did for a quick fix. First, my mailbox was the plastic kind with a partial plastic post-base that envelops a 4x4 wooden post planted in the ground. The 4x4 snapped off at the base.

I debated digging a hole for a new post but that seems like a lot of work for now. So, I just drove a T-post deep in the ground and zip tied the mailbox, and post that was with it, to the T-post. I have some of those giant zip ties so it all worked and is pretty rugged. It is so rugged and easy to do that I believe any future mailbox post will be a T-post. It's easy to put in with a post pounder and easy to replace if a combine or Mensa student knocks it over.

Another idea is to set a 4x4 post in a 5 gallon bucket, put some concrete in it and bury the bucket to below grade with my backhoe. Then I could have a 4x4 post for a mailbox and a whole unit unlikely to be damaged or stolen.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Simple redneck fix would be a fence t-post and duct tape....yes I have actually seen this...
Good idea using the zip ties..

 

[ovrszd]

Simple redneck fix would be a fence t-post and duct tape....yes I have actually seen this...
Good idea using the zip ties..

For several years a neighbot had his box sitting on a 30gal barrel. Not fastened to,,, setting on.... mailman had to hold the box with one hand, open it with the other...

 

[JerryK]

I have an old tire rim with a T-post welded up from it. On the top of the T-post I have a horizontal piece of metal to wire the box onto. The rim is filled with concrete. Makes a nice temp mailbox post [ which I have not needed to this point ], or something to place in the middle of my long road to tie yellow caution tape to if I am doing something that I want folks to stay away from. There are many months during the winter that the frost would not allow me to replace the current post when some yahoo spins out and wacks it off. [ AND, I had to make it so I could sleep at night, not worrying a boot a replacement ]

 

[Deere Dude]

For several years a neighbot had his box sitting on a 30gal barrel. Not fastened to,,, setting on.... mailman had to hold the box with one hand, open it with the other...

Not quite that bad, but I had a est. 18" diameter x 36" tall sleeve with a 4x6 PT post set in and filled with concrete. Box on top. Plows etc stay away from it. I got warned it could do to much damage to a car by the Post Office. It was just sitting on the ground.

That worked out good for me so I set it back 5 feet and had a PT 2x8 arm from the top of the post extended to where the mail man needed the box. Everybody was happy. Nobody messed with it in 30 years, even snow plows, and it was heavy enough it could sit on top of the ground unanchored. After weeds grow up around base it does look like it is sunk into the ground. When I moved I just picked it up took it along.