Post driving poblems

Eric_Phillips · Sep 11, 2009

I went to drive some posts last night and all the post did was bounce on the ground. the stuff that I was pounding in before was just sandy loam. The area I am in now is rubbley sandy loam. Think sand and river rock left over from a crack in the glacier. Also after the wettest summer on record we have not had rain is several weeks. So I am not sure if it is the gravely ground or just no moisture. My though was to drill down about a foot and dump a bucket of water in the hole and let it soak over night. Do you think that will work or am I just wasting my time?

art · Sep 11, 2009

It sounds hard to believe that you can't drive a post in. Having the hydraulic lines run right is critical, the return line is into an open port.

You might want to put a mini point on the posts but you shouldn't have to.

Dave5264 · Sep 11, 2009

I had some post bounce when I was pounding back in June. It always happended in areas with no grass, just dry/hard clay. It was solved by not pounding the initial 6", but rather using the pounder to gently push the firts 6" of the post below the surface, then pounding it form there. once the surface tension of th eclay was broken, it didnt bounce anymore.

not sure if that wil work in the material your driving into...but worth a try. alternatively , your idea of diggin down 6" may work

Eric_Phillips · Sep 11, 2009

Dave,
How did you gently push the post for the first 6"? I knew I was in trouble when I went to set a T-post to use to hang a string on. When I did this other places it pushed in real nice with the bucket of the FEL. In this ground I could lift the front of the tractor off the gound and the T-post would only go in about 1-2".

Dave5264 · Sep 11, 2009

Hi Eric, I was Pounding 8' Cedar posts 4-8" in diamiter. I was using a trailer mounted Hydraulic "Post Pounder" . With it, You can Pound/Pile Drive the post (typically) or you can simply lower the Driving Head/hammer slowly to Push the post in a few inches (much the same way I'd use my FEL to push my 8' T-posts in when i use those)

Sounds like your ground is way way harder than what i was dealing with

Eric_Phillips · Sep 11, 2009

My driver does not have downward hydraulic force. The only thing making my drive fall are the springs and gravity. Maybe with something like a T-post it could slowly push but not a 4x4. Well about 15' away from where I tried to pound the post last night I just drove one in. That is the difference of being right under the crack or just off to the side. I dug all the holes about a foot or more and soaked them with water. Some of them I can tell are going to be too rocky to pound and others are sandy. I will give it a try tomorrow.

Eric_Phillips · Sep 12, 2009

Just to follow up. I went out to drive those posts today and they went in. I am not sure if it was digging them out a little or the addition of the water but they worked.

On other question. My 4x4s tend to twist a little when they start. Any one have an idea how to keep them from doing this?

Dave5264 · Sep 14, 2009

Eric_Phillips said:
Just to follow up. I went out to drive those posts today and they went in. I am not sure if it was digging them out a little or the addition of the water but they worked.

On other question. My 4x4s tend to twist a little when they start. Any one have an idea how to keep them from doing this?

Good to hear you got 'em in Eric.

re the twisting, not sure. the pounder i used had the ability to make small incremental adjustments in the posiitoning after each hit. That helped alot, but....depending on the individual post and the make up of the earth, some were still a wee bit off. im my case they are all round poles 4-8" made form peeled trees, so it really isnt noticable. I can see how a 4x4 would be trickier.