Help on Removing Pole in Yard

[4wd]

Fill the hole with water.

That’s a big piston so water alone can have some suction …
Take a break from hard work and stay safe. Get some 1/2” PVC and cut one end on an angle. Rig up the other end to tie in a garden hose. Jet down all around that pole and cement …

If you don’t want water … get a HiLift Jack and add a story to my dirt poor thread

 

[PimTac]

I like the idea of just cutting the pole and cover it back up. If you want it out and have a large tree or something similar, a come-a-long might work. You need a solid attachment though.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Oh,oh, 4WD, looks like it might be an abandoned oil well......or some kind of creepy Steven King thingy in the back yard.

 

[tig1]

Why not cut it next to the cement and fill the hole?

That's right. Easy enough

 

[jhellwig]

Digging isn’t as hard as trying to figure out a way to do that easier. Get a good shovel and dig. Shouldn’t take an hour to dig out.

Dont forget to put in a One Call.

 

[4wd]

Oh,oh, 4WD, looks like it might be an abandoned oil well......or some kind of creepy Steven King thingy in the back yard.

Well, Well, … I do have an abandoned water well … have been thinking of working on it for 20 years, LoL

 

[DwightFrye]

I went through the same thing with a house I lived in back in the 1980's. There were a pair of metal poles cemented into the ground for a clothes line from back when people still used such things. I dug around them a few inches deep and called a local welding shop. A guy came out with a cutting torch and had them both cut off in about 10 minutes. Problem solved.

 

[nomas]

4" grinder with a cutoff wheel .

 

[zzyzzx]

Keep digging. Its not like it's going to be that hard to dig.

 

[JHZR2]

One side of our property had a chain link fence... ugly... I wanted a very simple rough wood fence. I drilled each metal post and installed a bolt, then used a bolt in my trailer hitch receiver. Used a chain between the two, wrapped at each end. Didn’t take hardly any pulling at all, and I didn’t even dig around the base.

 

[Hall]

I replaced the privacy fence at our old house and had to remove the old posts. No trucks, no backyard access for anything, just brute force... I dug around the cement then flooded the holes. Let them sit for a while, then more water. When the ground got soft (muddy), I pushed and pulled the post around and around to loosen it up. When it felt loose enough, I drilled a hole through the post just above the cement, cut the post off a few inches above the hole, then used a marine-type rope through the hole and brute force.

I wouldn't recommend this normally but you've only got 1 or 2 to deal with. It looks cold from your pictures, meaning "frost line", so the bottom of those poles (or the cement) will be at least 24" if not 36" deep. That cement will weigh A LOT.

 

[Aredeeem]

It's more satisfying at this point to get the whole thing out. Like popping a zit.

I can appreciate the satisfaction/total removal aspect. That couldn’t have been for a clothesline. It may simply have been a cruel joke passed from the previous homeowner. Cut it, bury it, get on with your life. If it grows back, well, that’s another story.

 

[philipp10]

You need to dig way, way more around that. I'm thinking at least 3 feet in diameter at the top, working your way down. I personally would not just hook a chain and pull. Kind of dangerous.

 

[JLawrence08648]

I saw the YouTube video that BigCahuna mentioned.

 

[Dave Hess]

Any F250 diesel truck owners in your neighborhood?

 

[JT20]

How deep is that anchored in?

Can digging a little deeper help it?

 

[Aredeeem]

How deep is that anchored in?

Can digging a little deeper help it?

Take a step back and think about this for a bit. If cutting this thing off and covering it is not a solution then once you kill yourself getting it out the next progression of your logic is to dig up the entire yard in search of other buried posts that you can’t see because they don’t meet your criteria of having to be removed. I know we’re all suffering from cabin fever these days but like I said, give this some thought and move on.

 

[bunnspecial]

Well, I gave in and took a Sawzall to it this afternoon.

A few minutes and two blades later, I had it on the ground. I knew as soon as I'd actually breached the pipe because water started pouring out-something I hadn't counted on. I just kept going when that happened since I figured it would help keep the blade cool and clear.

Once most of the way through, I used a crow bar to open up the cut a bit, then bent it down to the ground, back up, and about 3/4 of the way up it broke off.

Assuming it quits raining, I'm headed back out tomorrow for a bit more clean up work. The pole probably needs to be cut in half for easier disposal. More importantly, I didn't quite get it flush with the cement, especially since some cracked off while I was working today(it's rained in the day and gone below freezing at night a few times over the past week, so I expect I've had some help breaking up the concrete). Consequently, I have a nice jagged edge left over, and I'm thinking it might be prudent to beat that in as much as I can with a sledgehammer before burying it again. Then, I'll call it done.

BTW, I don't know how long I'd have been digging, but my tape measure bottomed out at 3 1/2 ft below where I cut it...

 

[doitmyself]

Not quite as fun as Pablo's epic backyard huge rock removal thread, but fun never-the-less.

Just in case you want to relocate that post in the future for whatever reason, it would be a good idea to measure the distance from the two closest corners of your garage/shed to the post center. If you can find your measurements 10 years from now, it will be simple to triangulate from the building to find the post.

 

[Aredeeem]

Not quite as fun as Pablo's epic backyard huge rock removal thread, but fun never-the-less.

Just in case you want to relocate that post in the future for whatever reason, it would be a good idea to measure the distance from the two closest corners of your garage/shed to the post center. If you can find your measurements 10 years from now, it will be simple to triangulate from the building to find the post.

After two weeks of digging and 2 saw blades later you’re telling Bunn how to take and save measurements in case he wants to replace that thing In 10 years? That’s just cruel.He’s probably out there in the rain with his tape measure right now.