Taking Down Fence

Anonymous Poster · May 6, 2003

Hi All,

I need to take down a section of barbed-wire fence that is directly behind a house on some land that I recently purchased. The land was used last year to run cattle and there are areas where they ran t-posts with 4 strands of barbed-wire. I want to leave the end posts but just take down about 400' of the fence directly behind the house. This is a straight section that runs between two solid end posts. I need to box-blade the area as water drains toward the walk-out basement, etc. I'll maybe put the fence back up in a year or two.

I know I can't just walk up and cut the wire as that would be a very dangerous thing to do. Is there an easy way to take down this section? Is there a special tool to hold the wire (to prevent it from springing at me) while I cut it?

Thanks,

Tom

cowboydoc · May 6, 2003

Not really alot of danger to it. I would just take the staples or whatever is holding the wire to the posts off. This will loosen up the wires. Then just get some good gloves and cut the wire nearest to the end post. The wire will spring away from you. Then just coil it up. You can save it for later or take it to a steel place and they will pay you for it.

Anonymous Poster · May 6, 2003

Thanks Doc,

I see your point. If I cut from the very end the wire can only spring one way. Us city folk can be pretty dense at times...

Tom

Egon · May 7, 2003

Just make sure the gloves are heavy.

When coiling it up start with about a 2 foot diameter loop and then roll it along the wire on the ground. Every so often you may need to tie up several places on the coil so it stays neat. Use twine or rope for this.
Egon

chrisjbell · May 7, 2003

You can use your tractor to help pull the t-posts out of the ground once you cut the wire off (assuming that's what you have). You have to be a bit careful - I use the FEL with a chain and have managed to lift a rear wheel off the ground when I was hooked on one side /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif. Some folks use the 3PH. There are a few threads on the various methods and "how tos" (and "what nots" /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif).

Gary_in_Indiana · May 8, 2003

I've found that a bumper jack from an older car or truck is the best thing in the world for pulling up t-posts. Just wrap a little chain around the post and hook it to the bumper cradle and jack it up. You can also use a taller, heavier farm jack but the bumper jack is a lot easier to carry around. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

wroughtn_harv · May 8, 2003

I carry a little whodunnit from TSC a customer gave me for pulling t posts. It's a steel plate with two holes in it, one for one kind of t posts the other hole for another. You slide the appropriate end over the post and attach a chain or jack to the other and lift.

If the ground isn't too contrary you can pull t posts with just a shovel. Stab the shovel point down attempting to contact a ridge on the face of the t post just below grade. Then you pull the top of the t post towards yourself as you push the handle of the shovel down. You will only lift the post a couple of inches at a time but with practice one can pull posts quite quickly and it really isn't that hard.

The same technique works with a fel. Attack the face of the t post and try to contact a ridge below grade. Of course you can't pull the top of the post to you and you sure as heck don't want to have someone pushing the t post while you're using the tractor to pull it. So keep pressure forward while you do the curl on the front loader. Again, it usually takes a couple of attempts but with practice you and pull posts easily and safely.

There are a thousand variations of the t post jack out there now too. That basically consists of a post that is a fulcrum and some simple linkage attached to a bracket similar to the one I carry in my truck. You jack up the post. If pulling t posts is in your present and for sure in the future they aren't a bad investment.

If you like just being trick for the sake of trix you can try an idea I've had but not implemented. Along the same line of thought as those clamp on forks for front end loaders make a clamp on bracket for a t post puller. The difference of course is the t post bracket would have to step down so the operator could see it clearly for placement.

The idea is to have an elongated hole in a bar that would fit over the t post. The bar would hang down from the front loader say a foot. The operator slides the bar over the t post and down the elongated hole. He then curls the bucket of the front loader closing the hole and engaging a ridge on the t post. He lifts. He carries the t post over to the wherever he wants to place it and does so by uncurling the bucket.

Gary_in_Indiana · May 8, 2003

For what it's worth, I've seen those little plates like WHarv mentions in the Northern Tool Catalog, too. I've never had to pull more than a couple dozen t-posts in a day and each time thought I'd never need to do another one so I just used the wrapped chain method and either a jack or, more recently, my FEL. With one guy on the ground wrapping the chain around the t-post and a tooth on my tooth bar and me just running the tractor and loader it goes real fast. We just tossed the posts in the loader bucket as we went. I imagine with that little plate deal it would have gone even faster. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Anonymous Poster · May 8, 2003

Thanks for all of the ideas on taking down this fence. I'm doing it tomorrow and I'll let you all know how it goes. I imagine there are about 20 T posts to pull. I'm going to use the chain/FEL method and see how that works.

centex · May 8, 2003

I have been replacing old barbed wire fences for the last year. A couple of weeks ago I loaded the old wire on my 16' trailer and hauled it to the scrap yard. I had over 1000 lb of wire and got $15 for it. I have another load to take to get some more beer money.