Pulling out remainder of broken-off 6x6 fence post

[DT86]

In most cases someone drove into it with a tractor.

Now who in the world would do a thing like that?

Back in the summer a guy was pulling a four wheel hay wagon out of one of my gates onto the road. A 20' wide opening, two 10' gates actually. Anyway he hit the end of one of the open gates with the front of the wagon. It put a slight bend in the heavy duty gate (less than a year old) and pulled the bed half way off the wagon frame.

I was pretty mad but luckily it was his wagon and it didn't break the 10" post.

 

[MossRoad]

I hear ya. The only dent in my car hauler trailer fender came from me hitting a tree while trying to avoid the gate post! :laughing:

 

[SPIKER]

Yep never sure WHO hits stuff with my tractor or the car trailer ok maybe I could have a clue (wisper wisper wisper) sorry I've been advised to take the 5th

M

 

[BigE_]

Pulling straight up has worked for me a few times. This was with a 4x4 post. I got the biggest lag bolt I could find at the hardware store, then drilled down through the top with the appropriate sized bit, and finally, screwed the lag bolt in tight. I made a quick frame with a couple of 4x4 posts, and then one across the top. I hung my come-along from that and pulled straight up. Came out with a perfect hole. I dropped the new post in, and I was done.

The times this has not worked, I dug down about 6 inches on each side of the post and gave it a few whacks on the side with an 8lb sledge. Hitting it with your backhoe bucket or FEL might do the trick as well. Once it was loosed up a bit, it came right up.

If you want to use your tractor to lift, then I would lift from the 3pt hitch. Easier to lift straight up, and you can lift more.

 

[edlegault]

The burn with diesel idea ---- supercharge the airflow with a leaf blower... should burn out in no time.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Something to think about is why it broke to start with. If you have a long gate on one side and a short gate on the other it sounds like there is no brace.

Exactly. Whomever designed the fence put a bunch of these places in where there is a drive-through gate on one side and a walk-through gate on the other. It's just a 6x6 post in the ground with two gates hanging off of it--one of them about 8' long. The two that broke are on a hillside that sees a LOT of water running down it, so my guess is that's why they broke. I'm not sure how to fix it, though, short of taking out the drive-through gates and putting in fence rails instead. How can you brace something like that?

 

[Bandsaw]

Dig down around it for a foot and wrap a chain around it and try to use your FEL or 3PT hitch to lift it straight up.

I work construction. pulling out old decks and such. Chain and FEL is by far best method. If it won"t pull right up, lift and drive forward and back a bit at the same time.

 

[bcp]

Redesign it with a single opening so you can brace the posts. A 8-12ft single gate is no problem to walk through by opening it just a little bit. If you really want a small gate, make a double gate with an 8ft and a 3ft, for example.

Bruce

 

[DT86]

If you take out the longer gate and leave a short walk through gate (4' I'm assuming) you probably wouldn't have to brace it at all.

You could leave both and put a wheel on the end of the longer gate or leave a block of wood, a rock, brick or something like that at the end to keep the weight off of the post. Then I think you would be fine without a brace.

 

[Mace Canute]

Over the years when I was on the Line crew we pulled a ton of power poles! Easy when you have many feet sticking up to wrap a boom tip winch cable around, eh? . Seriously, for ordinary 4x4s or 6x6s, sometimes a chain and JackAll work the best, just have to dig down a ways to get the chain wrapped around the stump. I've had instances where the stump was rotted into a pointed shape so no way would the chain grip it, a lag screw or two would hold it down enough to tighten and then it pulled out with the jack. Sometime a jack works better than a front end loader as you can see what's happening. Use the loader to carry the jack, chain shovel and stumps.