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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Heidelberg, Victoria
    Age
    79
    Posts
    2,074

    Default Extracting wooden fence posts

    Looking for some creative ideas to extract wooden fence posts that have been in the ground for more than 30 years.

    I've tried jacking them up with a crow bar to no avail.

    I managed to pull one out with my Beaver lever hoist strung up to a nearby pine tree. Unfortunately there is no convenient tree near the other two.

    I'm thinking maybe make some sort of timber or pipe tepee and hitch to the top of that. I have an aluminium step ladder I could use as a tepee but reckon it would buckle under the 500kg load.

    All I have is a crow bar, a 500kg lever hoist, some chain and some rope, any more ideas?

    Ken

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Minbun, FNQ, Australia
    Age
    66
    Posts
    2,012

    Default

    3 point linkage on the back of a tractor & a chain works a treat.

    Sometimes you have to give the post a bit of a nudge with the tractor to loosen it.
    Cliff.
    ...if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail...

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Country West Oz
    Age
    77
    Posts
    169

    Default

    If you only have 2 to do then just dig a hole beside them and push them over.
    I've had to do it this way a couple of times when the posts were in a tight spot where I couldn't get the tractor, it's not too difficult.
    Regards
    Bradford

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Armidale NSW
    Age
    52
    Posts
    915

    Default

    A tripod made from some lengths of timber or steel and your lever hoist should do it. With no access to a tractor, that is how I do it.
    Cheers.

    Vernon.
    __________________________________________________
    Bite off more than you can chew and then chew like crazy.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Healesville
    Posts
    2,129

    Default

    I often went out with the FIL doing fencing, mostly we would just snap them off and belt the pointy bit leftover with the back of the axe.
    But if you really need to get them out then a trawalla jack or 4wd jack works well, dig a moat around the posts and fill it with water over night.
    Often after the water trick you can put a crow bar into the bottom rail chec and with a block of wood under the bar you can normally lever them out quite easily.

    good luck...shed

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    near Rockhampton
    Posts
    6,216

    Default

    Wallaby jack.. Jack it up a bit, wobble the post then pee down the outside of the post (or put water down there) and lift shake, lift shake..

    Hard work by hand but it is possible to do...
    Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Heidelberg, Victoria
    Age
    79
    Posts
    2,074

    Default Tripod's the go

    As luck would have it, I had in the back of my mind that a length of 48 OD water pipe was somewhere under the house, and after a bit of rooting around, I found it.

    Also up the back yard was another length of pipe 1800 long. The long piece cut in half gave me three equal legs.

    Not quite knowing what I was looking for, I paid a visit to a mate's factory that hires out scaffolding, and I was in luck with some fittings to make up a tripod.

    He also lent me three plates with spikes attached for the bottoms of the pipe legs.

    These are the pipe fittings.

    Over the weekend, I'll assemble everything and wallah, Bob should be my uncle.

    Ken
    Attached Images Attached Images

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Norwood-ish, Adelaide
    Age
    59
    Posts
    6,540

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by neksmerj View Post
    Looking for some creative ideas to extract wooden fence posts that have been in the ground for more than 30 years.
    Import some termites - wooden posts around here are hard pressed to last that long.

    Michael

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    102

    Default

    A hi lift jack is very handy thing the sort you see on 4wd

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Toorloo Arm, VIC
    Age
    39
    Posts
    1,270

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Simplicity View Post
    A hi lift jack is very handy thing the sort you see on 4wd
    Yep, my suggestion too. Have used one for that purpose more than once!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    near Warragul, Victoria
    Posts
    3,718

    Default water

    try using hydraulic power in the form of water , let water soak around them for a few days it may get down deep enough to loosen them

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Gippsland Victoria
    Posts
    733

    Default Levers

    Levers have always worked well for me.

    I've had good results with slight variations on the 3rd 4th and 6th photos on this link

    https://www.google.com/search?q=leve...w=1440&bih=904

    Bill

  13. #13
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    241

    Default

    Dig relief holes.
    Instead of difficult shovel work, just force feed a hose into the ground, or make a length of PVC pipe with a hose fitting on one end and use that.
    Couple of holes around it, a wriggle or two, and should pop out without any fuss.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    68
    Posts
    1,410

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers View Post
    3 point linkage on the back of a tractor & a chain works a treat.

    Sometimes you have to give the post a bit of a nudge with the tractor to loosen it.
    Agree, but it needs to be more than a compact tractor, or the front wheels will lift off the ground without the post moving. The best is to do this sort of job in summer when the soil is dry and has shrunk away from the posts.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Melb
    Posts
    11

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by steamingbill View Post
    Levers have always worked well for me.

    I've had good results with slight variations on the 3rd 4th and 6th photos on this link

    https://www.google.com/search?q=leve...w=1440&bih=904

    Bill
    +1 to levers
    Get a solid piece of timber and attached horizontally to the posts that you want removed at about 100 to 150 off the ground, and have the timber supported only at the fulcrum at a short distance from the post. The attachment could be via a steel angle bracket, or bolted directly to the post or/and wrapping strong ropes round and round. Get someone suitably large to stand on the other end of the piece of timber and rock up and down while you stand by the post and rock it back and forth. If it still doesn't come out, then dig out around it or soak the ground.

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