Grapples Gone Wild...

[jinman]

Good Afternoon Aaron,
Gee thats the first thing that came to my mind !

Tractor jousting and caber tossing...maybe we can get those sports into the next Olympics to replace softball. Is anyone other than me upset because they are taking softball out of the Olympics and leaving synchronized swimming in? Sheesh!

 

[3RRL]

Geez Jim,
You post the darndest things!
So what did your neighbor need them moved for?
Or did you decide to keep them to play with? Looks like fun to me.

 

[jinman]

Geez Jim,
You post the darndest things!
So what did your neighbor need them moved for?
Or did you decide to keep them to play with? Looks like fun to me.

Rob, my poor neighbor, Mike, has the misfortune of having a t-post fence right next to a 90-degree turn in our road at the bottom of a small hill. The road always washboards in that spot and becomes rough. There are several reckless drivers who live on our road and drive way too fast. I think they are likely also under-the-influence of drugs or alcohol. Mike has had someone drive through his fence 9 times. Not but once has anyone ever come back to help him repair his fence. Since they do very little damage to their vehicle, they just drive off. Mike wants to replace the t-posts with telephone pole posts buried 5 feet into the ground. His hope is that the perps will see these posts and know they are not going to drive away if they run though his fence. That may make them slow down. If not, they'll have significant car repair to deal with.

Mike has talked to the county about putting in a guardrail and they just came out and put up reflectors on flimsy plastic posts. That was after the 4th or 5th time. I suggested he talk to them again and take pictures. He cannot keep any livestock on his place because the get out when someone drives through the fence. Very frustrating!

 

[ScottAR]

The local city utility has a telephone pole near an intersection that's been hit twice in the same year. Drunk drivers both times. After the first time, they put in the largest wooden pole they could get. (24" or so at the base) Second time, the pole broke anyway.

Now, it has a steel pole and a guardrail. Here's hoping...

I'm really glad they hit the pole, otherwise they'd have went through the bedroom area of the house on the corner.

I'm highly doubtful drunks respond to detourance. If they are drunk enough to hit a tpost fence, they are drunk enough to hit whatever replaces it. It's just a matter of how big a mess they make. I'd be worried about liability of single poles personally.

I said all that to say this... Unless they are hitting the corner posts, half your spacing and install some steel beams or guardrail sections. Expensive, but a car will break a single pole. If they are hitting the corner.... Move the corner I guess is my only idea.

 

[3RRL]

Jim,
that's really nice of you to help Mike like that. I like what he's doing.
I agree with Scott that you can't really make a deterrent for drunks, but you can help to stop further damage by doing that. It's just you can't estimate how much damage they are going to inflict. So that's better than "T" posts for sure.
Has Mike thought about installing a small "catch pond" beyond the posts?

 

[Highbeam]

Perhaps a large pile of dirt or rocks as a berm. The berms could be sloped to actually provide a fantastic jump "Dukes of Hazard" style that would prevent the fence from being compromised until the poor guy wakes up and needs to leave. The cows may be offended by the flying cars.

 

[scott_vt]

Perhaps a large pile of dirt or rocks as a berm. The berms could be sloped to actually provide a fantastic jump "Dukes of Hazard" style that would prevent the fence from being compromised until the poor guy wakes up and needs to leave. The cows may be offended by the flying cars.

Good Evenin Jim,
I agree with Highbeam, some larger type rocks placed in the right spots can put a real crimp on bumpers and suspension parts !

 

[jinman]

Good Evenin Jim,
I agree with Highbeam, some larger type rocks placed in the right spots can put a real crimp on bumpers and suspension parts !

Scotty, I actually suggested rocks to my neighbor. The problem is that he has very few rocks on his entire 12 acres. We have rocks, but hauling them one or two at a time for 3/4 mile round trip in my tractor is very painful. He installed some or all of the telephone poles this last weekend, and I'll try to get a picture on the way out this morning if it's not raining too hard and I can remember to take my camera. My cellphone has a camera, but it died and I'm using a backup phone without a camera for awhile.

 

[schmism]

tractor caber pole toss!

 

[jinman]

He installed some or all of the telephone poles this last weekend, and I'll try to get a picture on the way out this morning if it's not raining too hard and I can remember to take my camera.

It turns out that my neighbor only got the postholes drilled. No posts were set. He also had a pump pressure switch fail on his water well and spent one whole day getting a replacement part and installing it. If he is back this weekend, I may volunteer to help him set the poles into the holes with the FEL on my tractor. I'm sure it would be easier than trying to do it with only a boom pole on his 3PH.