Driving ground rod with bucket?

   / Driving ground rod with bucket? #11  
I sunk 10' ground rods in three different areas along my fence and one near the fence charger. There are four other grounds rods around my place at building and panels and all I've ever used was a few gallons of water in a bucket and a 20 oz Estwing framing hammer. Start a little divot with your ground rod in the dirt, pour some water in, pump your ground rod up and down, once in a while pour more water in and eventually you have about 12" sticking up out of the ground. This is all in heavy clay soil, no sand, this process works very well for me.

That is how they install the electrical grounding rods for breaker boxes in my area.
 
   / Driving ground rod with bucket? #12  
I've put in a bunch of tposts and some u posts with my bucket. I do it for my garden fence and my snow fence (which comes out after winter and then reinstalled the following late fall). I have lots of rock and shale on my property and I haven't bent too many post. T posts are much stiffer than u Posts though. I think the big difference is that the T posts and U posts don't get driven too far into the ground whereas a grounding rod by it's very nature needs to be int he ground. I imagine you are talking about the new type of copper clad steel grounding rod? Those are kinda stiff, I put two in the ground in my yard, but I don't know how many you would bend in 1800'.

MY .02, if you push anything into the ground with the bucket, 1) level the bucket before applying down pressure, 2) adjust the angle of the bucket once you start driving (FEL has an arc motion), 3) use the reinforced part of your bucket, 4) get the tractor on a straight line to follow the line of posts before you begin so you are more efficient and only back up a little for the next post, 5) take into account any rolling terrain as it will also change the angle of your downward pressure.
 
   / Driving ground rod with bucket? #13  
I sunk 10' ground rods in three different areas along my fence and one near the fence charger. There are four other grounds rods around my place at building and panels and all I've ever used was a few gallons of water in a bucket and a 20 oz Estwing framing hammer. Start a little divot with your ground rod in the dirt, pour some water in, pump your ground rod up and down, once in a while pour more water in and eventually you have about 12" sticking up out of the ground. This is all in heavy clay soil, no sand, this process works very well for me.

Great way to do it. I would have used a post driver.
 
   / Driving ground rod with bucket? #14  
I tried installing T-posts with my bucket with limited success. They would either bend or end up going in at an angle. Used a T-post driver after that.
Back when I did electrical work we used a homemade ground rod driver. It was a piece of 1" rigid pipe welded to a piece of steel that was 8" in diameter and 4" thick. Slide the pipe over the rod and slide up and down driving it in. Then we went to an easier way. Boss bought a Hilti TE 52 rotary hammer drill and a rebar driver attachment. That worked the best. Get the drill on the top end of the ground rod and use it on hammer only and it pounds it right in in just a few minutes.
 
   / Driving ground rod with bucket? #16  
If your ground is soft enough that you can push a ground rod in with the bucket - then its going to be very easy to drive with a T-post driver or sledge.
 
   / Driving ground rod with bucket? #17  
I sunk 10' ground rods in three different areas along my fence and one near the fence charger. There are four other grounds rods around my place at building and panels and all I've ever used was a few gallons of water in a bucket and a 20 oz Estwing framing hammer. Start a little divot with your ground rod in the dirt, pour some water in, pump your ground rod up and down, once in a while pour more water in and eventually you have about 12" sticking up out of the ground. This is all in heavy clay soil, no sand, this process works very well for me.
+1. I have used the same method with great success.....unless you hit rock :(
 
   / Driving ground rod with bucket? #18  
We'd often have an accomplice try to keep the rod steady. For some reason, the guy who steadied the rod often wanted to hold it with an old pair of pump pliers.

I get a sledge in my hands, you don't want to be within a 100' of me. Trust me.
 
   / Driving ground rod with bucket? #19  
Start a little divot with your ground rod in the dirt, pour some water in, pump your ground rod up and down, once in a while pour more water in and eventually you have about 12" sticking up out of the ground. This is all in heavy clay soil, no sand, this process works very well for me.

+1. I have used the same method with great success.....unless you hit rock :(

Yup, and I have more red rock than clay or anything else. Water doesn't dissolve rocks, but a point driven by a sledge will break through them.
 
   / Driving ground rod with bucket?
  • Thread Starter
#20  
Well seems like there's a consensus to just do it the old fashioned way. I'm always looking for and excuse to use to use the Ford but sounds like more hassle than it's worth.

Thanks for all the replies!
 
 
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