Safe way to raise a 30' pole

[handirifle]

I made a short video of raising mine. Here ya go.

 

[MossRoad]

A lot of folks forget that for, say, a 30' pole, you only need 15' of lift, or even less, depending on the center of gravity, to get it to hang vertical.

 

[Jstpssng]

I set a utility pole about that long but likely much heavier, using my little Kubota L275 and the owner's ton dump truck. I dug the hole withy backhoe' lifted one end of the pole onto the truck, pushed it until the butt was off the ground; then he lifted the body and I nudged it into place with my bucket.

You could accomplish the same thing with a dump trailer.

 

[CalG]

Consider also, with a light weight pole, attaching a weight to the bottom end can reduce the lifting height requirement to only a few feet.

Tractor weights, sand bags, rocks, or even a wire rope attached to the pointing pad.

 

[tmcj]

My son made an Eagle Scout project out of replacing the flag pole and landscaping at the local American Legion.

We poured a concrete base with 2 opposing pieces of steel channels to serve as the anchor. The steel pole was bolted to the channels with (3) 3/4" bolts. The bottom of the pole is left several inches off of the base to allow room to pivot. We basically installed one of the upper bolts to serve as a pivot point, raised the pole as much as possible using my FEL, then hooked a come-a-long to the bottom of the pole and the tractor and winched it up, pivoting on the center bolt. A few inches of movement at the bottom was a few feet at the top of the pole. Once vertical and aligned the other (2) 3/4" bolts were installed to hold it in place. We installed the typical flag raising hardware, but the pole can be taken down or up if needed again. I always thought that would be good for a light pole also. How else would you change a bulb or light fixture maintenance without a big ladder or a bucket truck.

The original landscaping was replaced with a new decorative retaining wall, and pad for ceremonies and of course lighting.

 

[camshawn]

You could straddle the base of the flag pole and then roll the bucket all the way to the dump position. Lower the bucket until it touches the pole. Use padding to protect the surface. Then strap the pole to the bucket with some ratchet straps. Lift the bucket and roll it back and the pole will go up. I stood up several 50 foot power poles with the method using my small excavator. It may take several attempts to get the position correct.

 

[Runner]

I am presuming you have a front loader. What I do is bolt an extension pole to my loader so that I can get some extra height, lets say 16' overall at the end of the pole with the bucket raised to the max height. Then I assemble the light (lantern, bulbs, cord, finiale).

Next, I add weights to the base of the light pole so that when its picked up at the 15' mark, the pole would hang almost vertical from this new c. of. g. Leave the extra foot to reach over the baseplate bolts.

When you raise the loader with a strap at the new c. of. g. (light + pole + added weight(s)), the assembly should want to travel with the base end on the ground at all times. lift it up and you can place the base on its foundation. You ought to be able to do this just by yourself since the tractor carries 99.99% of the weight. Bolt it up and remove the added weight(s). Strapped on suitcase weights work for me.

Having a smooth loader valve controller makes this easy because you can raise or drop the load very slowly. If you are going to have to travel some distance to the pole's new location use a rope to hold onto one end. They tend to want to swing around as you move.

x2 on the front-mounted boom pole idea.

 

[CalG]

x2 on the front-mounted boom pole idea.
View attachment 3539734

I shudder at the loads one could place on the front axle casting with that set up.

"honey, step up on the back of the mower deck, I just can't lift this load, and need a bit more ballast out back!"

 

[WinterDeere]

I shudder at the loads one could place on the front axle casting with that set up.

"honey, step up on the back of the mower deck, I just can't lift this load, and need a bit more ballast out back!"

With sufficient ballast hanging off the back, the load on the front axle can be kept low.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I set trusses by myself with a pole on FEL, a pole probably be easier.