Will my tractor pull these up?

   / Will my tractor pull these up? #1  

LabLuvR

Gold Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2004
Messages
257
Location
SC
Tractor
Kubota MX5400
Irma's wind blew down a stretch of wooden fencing. Apparently the 6" poles had rotted at ground level and the wind pushed her on over. The post were put in with cement, probably a bag per pole and I'm not sure if my 35hp with 4in1 bucket will pull them out. I already tried with a chain but it kept slipping off what little bit of post I could wrap around. If my tractor will pull it, I may try the Bush Grabber chains to see if they work. Any ideas? Thanks!!
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up? #2  
You have more lift capacity at your Three Point Hitch than you do at your FEL.

Wrap chain around both Lower Links, to spread the load, and try lifting from there.

Better if you have a cross-drawbar fitted between the Lower Links to spread the load. You would still want the load at the two junctions of cross-drawbar with the Lower Links.


Generally speaking, wrapped lighter chain will grip small diameter objects more securely than heavier chain. Do you have a slip hook on your chain so it will cinch tight?
 
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   / Will my tractor pull these up? #3  
You might try using the edge of the fel bucket to nudge the posts from different sides a little before lifting on them...
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up? #4  
You might try using the edge of the fel bucket to nudge the posts from different sides a little before lifting on them...

Right. Once he gets under the edge of the concrete the 4in1 bucket should be able to get them right out of there.

TBS
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up? #5  
I hope my sketch will make sense to those looking at it.

It is a way to pull old posts straight up with a lot of force by applying the principals of a lever to multiply the force you can apply by pulling on the end of a chain.

The timber on an angle tilted towards the buried post is the trick. The chain goes over the top of the timber and will dig into it and pull it towards an upright position as the truck or tractor drives straight ahead..

As the timber approaches the vertical, the forces it exerts on the buried post will amaze those who have not seen this before. Don't use a light 2 x 4 or it will explode with the forces on it.

Sometimes it helps to dig a small pocket in the ground to locate the bottom of the timber.


pVgY6tC.jpg


Dave M7040
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up? #6  
Is there enough of the wood post left that you could drill a hole through it? If so, drill the hole, put a long 3/4" bolt through it, thread a nut on it (to keep the bolt from falling out, and then hook the chain to the bolt to lift it out of the hole?
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up? #7  
As a couple of guys said, pulling UP is the trick.
You may have to dig a bit and wrap chain around the concrete if none of the mentioned tips for attaching the chain will work.
I also use a strap and a wheel rim to do what Dave suggests frequently.
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up? #8  
Labluvr, is the concrete solid, might be easy broken but action to loosen it in the hole will help you. Ground should be wet now which will also help. If you need to dig around the concrete to get surface to gripe the post and concrete by. Should be easy work if dirt is wet.

Dave M7040 interesting idea. Labluvr if you do not mind my asking what kind of winds did you have in your part of the state? I am about 20 miles west of Myrtle Beach and we had low 40 mph winds, very little damage here.
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up? #9  
How deep down do these posts go?
Have you tried popping them out with the bucket?
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up? #10  
I just pulled about forty 4x4s that were three feet in the ground, two feet of that in concrete. I used my Mahindra 2540, which has about a ton of lift, with a Titan tree puller (giant pincers) to grab them. Half came right out (after a day or two of rain) but all of the others required a small bit of back-and-forth to loosen them. You need to get a good grip on them, to be sure! A stump bucket (if you don't have a backhoe) may end up being easier than pulling them, unless you can easily get a chain or strap around them.
 
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   / Will my tractor pull these up? #11  
Wet ground is your friend. Push from different sides to loosen the post. Hook a chain to the loader and wiggle it out.
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up? #13  
Here is one way to do it. You can use your tractor instead of a team of horses or oxen. :D

PBhammerStumpPuller.jpg
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up? #14  
Wet ground is your friend. Push from different sides to loosen the post. Hook a chain to the loader and wiggle it out.

Yeah, get 'em while the ground is soft, to be sure. I tried to pull a freshly (and wrongly) set post in dry clay soil, and it took the loader plus a three-ton jack to get it loose.
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up?
  • Thread Starter
#15  
Thanks guys for all the pro-tips! The ground is very wet due to the storm. I honestly don't know how strong the winds were, maybe 40 at most. Not much worse than a good ol summer storm. I am surprised the fence simply blew over, but it did.
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up? #17  
when I had to pull some posts out I cut a notch in them down low so I could use the curl function on my bucket to start lifting them up. Once I had them up a few inches they then could be easily lifted with the main hydraulics. I did though have a tough one that I had to use the 3pt on. The curl was lifting the back of the tractor.
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up? #18  
I'd start with Jeff's suggestion to use your 3710's 3 pt hitch to pull them.
Based on the lift capacity at the arm ends, it should make short work of those poles.

As others have said, wet soil is your friend, so give them a good soak before you pull.

If you encounter a particularly stubborn pole, or it's on a slope that makes you uneasy on your tractor, DaveM7040's "overcenter" rigging is a very good way to get a very large vertical tug from a safe remove. I've used that method to pull 6 - 8" stumps in areas where I couldn't safely put my tractor.

Jim
 
   / Will my tractor pull these up? #19  
I have used my pallet folks to do this. I set them very close together and dug down a foot to get the chain around, then got the forks each side of the concrete with the chain/cable wrapped around, and used lift and curl action. For some I had to rock back and forth a bit, but they all came up. The other method I have used is a high lift ratchet jack - but that was work
 

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