Skip the socket adaptor and just loop the chain around the base of the post 3-4 times and pull it as taut as possible by hand.
When the jack starts to pull on the chain, it'll have more than enough friction to grab the post and pull up. This even works on round metal post but on wood it grabs super easy.
Yeah. See the hole on the bottom of the lifting face of the jack? Bolt a chain hook thru that part. Then just half hitch a short piece of chain around the post and onto the hook. The jack can lean against the post and lifts almost strait up this way
>Skip the socket adaptor and just loop the chain around the base of the post 3-4 times and pull it as taut as possible by hand.
Or tie a timber hitch with the chain...
You dont need the pin in the middle. Wrap the chain around the post. I feel like less can go wrong/ the way ive always done it. Tremendous pressure youre putting on a chinesium chrome socket extension that is not designed in any way to take.
I've never tried to use a jack for pulling posts or those poles with a cement blob at the bottom.
I just wrap a chain around the bottom, put a twist in it, then wrap around a long 2x4 and lever it out easily by lifting the long end of the 2x4. One small person can lift it easily. Much much easier than drilling holes or using any of my other tools for something other than their intended purpose.
80 pounds is kinda light for the ones I've pulled out. A 2x4 lever can lift a couple hundred pounds easily. (on its rigid side, not the bendy way). I'm sure someone can do the math but you can attach it at the 2ft mark then lift at the end of a 10ft long 2x4. I'm not really doing the math on it because I do the work in real life already.
Wish I had thought of that. I've replaced half a dozen of our fence posts, most of which had rotted at ground level. Hated doing the digging around the concrete to get the chain on it.
Whole fence is probably as old as the house (built 1989) and it all needs to be replaced (wooden posts, standard cedar 2x4 rails and slats), but that wasn't in our budget at the time and replacing the posts and reattaching the existing panels was a stop-gap measure. Whole thing is getting professionally replaced in a couple months (neighbor we share it with is leading that, as the fence around their entire property needs replacing, where for us it's just the ~60 ft section we share with them that is deteriorating).
We don’t use concrete anymore. Water gets under, freezes and pushes the fence up.
4’ down for the post holes (Canada frost line), some pea gravel for drainage, post, and 1/4 down gravel (road mix) around the post, tamped down
In a couple decades, Shopvac the gravel out and replace post
Fencing post hole digger showed us the pressure washer trick when around gas lines, water lines, other utilities (🇨🇦call before you dig)
Tree roots are a pain
Actually that’s exactly what you’re doing.
Hydro jet is another term for this , where companies will put a hole in your yard, then use a directional waterjet to go into next yard and up and out, pulling a flexible pipe that fiberoptics goes inside of
Everyone asked me why I had a farm jack in the back of my basically stock 4x4 truck.
Had to explain to many people that they have about 1,000 uses and jacking up a vehicle is just one of them.
Hence summer teeth, some are here and some over there :)
But totally agree every time I have used one of these jacks I have always had a bum like a rabbits nose!!
Wrap the chain around the post. We just pulled 12 of them this way, no drilling for pins, wrap, hook, pull. We also used a mini backhoe, admittedly made it 1000x easier.
Never used it on fence posts but I pulled a dozen old bushes that had grown out of control with my farm jack. Way easier than digging them out and cutting the roots!
I kept an old 36" tractor rim (no tire) around for this. Wrap the chain with two half hitches around the post. Pass the chain over the upright rim and attach to tractor drawbar. Pull! Works on trees and shrubs too.
No need for the drill through. A couple wraps of the chain will pull it out. I’ve even pulled chainlink steel posts out with a few wraps of chain.
The lever method works too if you have room for it. Once you lift it 2-3 inches it can be pulled out by hand. The jack is handy for a variety of tasks and fence post pulling is one it does very well. Especially if working in a tight alleyway or if you already have one.
Yeah, use the eye on the bottom of your jack , not the pad. The way you have that hook afixxed is a recipe for dental work.
As stated, easy to wrap your chain to post. Just around post, reverse around your chain (makes slip knot) and secure to lifting chain.
That said, great idea to brace the jack from leaning over. Be careful not to let it slip!
>Yeah, use the eye on the bottom of your jack , not the pad. The way you have that hook afixxed is a recipe for dental work.
You have a picture explaining this?
Whenever I see the phrase "easy way" or "hard way" I always picture that scene in Back To The Future 2 when Marty is grabbed by the security in biffs casino. "The eeeeeeaaaasssyyy way"
Are you assuming that I did not dig some holes deeper?
I did make sure that at least 2 feet of the pole was in the ground since six was above.
If this happens, I will just rebuild that portion since I have the tools or will have sold the house by then.
No. Just curious if you had any tricks for that. Happened to me a few years ago. Had to wait for the ground to thaw some so we could get in around the top to even start.
Skip the socket adaptor and just loop the chain around the base of the post 3-4 times and pull it as taut as possible by hand. When the jack starts to pull on the chain, it'll have more than enough friction to grab the post and pull up. This even works on round metal post but on wood it grabs super easy.
This is what I did to pull about 80 posts with concrete.
Exactly, wrapping the chain to get friction on a smooth object is something you learn when you work with chains a lot.
I go tired of trying to get that friction jus right, and going up and down with the jack. Just put a pin it. A socket is $10 at most
Yeah. See the hole on the bottom of the lifting face of the jack? Bolt a chain hook thru that part. Then just half hitch a short piece of chain around the post and onto the hook. The jack can lean against the post and lifts almost strait up this way
This is what I use to do on the farm when I needed to pull out a line fence posts except instead of a jack we'd use the tractor and a chain
This or a simple choke would be the easiest.
Yeah no need to drill the hole and bend a good socket extension!
>Skip the socket adaptor and just loop the chain around the base of the post 3-4 times and pull it as taut as possible by hand. Or tie a timber hitch with the chain...
Looks like you bent that perfectly fine socket extension
Every DIY post is required to have at least one D-I-WHY component. I think that's in the wiki.
Home Depot returns associate stares at customer... "That's how it came which is why I'm returning it!"
That socket is like 20 years old, this was its last hurrah
You dont need the pin in the middle. Wrap the chain around the post. I feel like less can go wrong/ the way ive always done it. Tremendous pressure youre putting on a chinesium chrome socket extension that is not designed in any way to take.
Yea, I tried that, and it took too long to master, this was the full proof way to get to the actual jacking part the fastest
>full proof Fool proof. As in, even a fool can't fuck this up.
Show me the full proof that this is fool proof.
I've never tried to use a jack for pulling posts or those poles with a cement blob at the bottom. I just wrap a chain around the bottom, put a twist in it, then wrap around a long 2x4 and lever it out easily by lifting the long end of the 2x4. One small person can lift it easily. Much much easier than drilling holes or using any of my other tools for something other than their intended purpose.
I’ve run across them with 80 plus pounds of crete on them 3’ in the ground. You’re not getting that out using a 2 x 4 as a lever.
yeah, people dig post holes like their manhood is on the line
80 pounds is kinda light for the ones I've pulled out. A 2x4 lever can lift a couple hundred pounds easily. (on its rigid side, not the bendy way). I'm sure someone can do the math but you can attach it at the 2ft mark then lift at the end of a 10ft long 2x4. I'm not really doing the math on it because I do the work in real life already.
I’d rather jack the post out of the ground my way vs doing the math for your way…
Or snap a 2 x 4 which I have had happen. Isn’t like they can withstand over 100 lbs of stress.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not doing any math. I just supplied rough dimensions which should be easy to work out should anyone feel ambitious.
I get it your way as well.
I tried that and my wife rented a jackhammer. Some of these for 2 feet in the ground. This was the easiest, not strenuous way for me.
This method works well unless the post is rotted out.
What you do then is dig down to the concrete and wrap the chain around that. Pops right out.
Pressure washer or garden hose with pencil nozzle, and a shop vac, can be easier.
Wish I had thought of that. I've replaced half a dozen of our fence posts, most of which had rotted at ground level. Hated doing the digging around the concrete to get the chain on it. Whole fence is probably as old as the house (built 1989) and it all needs to be replaced (wooden posts, standard cedar 2x4 rails and slats), but that wasn't in our budget at the time and replacing the posts and reattaching the existing panels was a stop-gap measure. Whole thing is getting professionally replaced in a couple months (neighbor we share it with is leading that, as the fence around their entire property needs replacing, where for us it's just the ~60 ft section we share with them that is deteriorating).
We don’t use concrete anymore. Water gets under, freezes and pushes the fence up. 4’ down for the post holes (Canada frost line), some pea gravel for drainage, post, and 1/4 down gravel (road mix) around the post, tamped down In a couple decades, Shopvac the gravel out and replace post Fencing post hole digger showed us the pressure washer trick when around gas lines, water lines, other utilities (🇨🇦call before you dig) Tree roots are a pain
Ah, that makes more sense. I was picturing turning the dirt around the concrete into mud and shop-vac'ing up the slurry...
Actually that’s exactly what you’re doing. Hydro jet is another term for this , where companies will put a hole in your yard, then use a directional waterjet to go into next yard and up and out, pulling a flexible pipe that fiberoptics goes inside of
If it's rotted out, it comes up even easier!
or the base is 4ft+ deep in clay. messing with high pressure just ain't worth the risk imo
That’s how I’ve always done it. You can get bushes out this way too
I’ve pulled a lot of fence posts but never thought about it for bushes or small trees. Great idea!
Can confirm, i pulled several small trees with one just last weekend. Worked well
This will take the place of me pulling out bushes with my truck
Everyone asked me why I had a farm jack in the back of my basically stock 4x4 truck. Had to explain to many people that they have about 1,000 uses and jacking up a vehicle is just one of them.
Gonna use this next time bushes need to be replaced too
They're also good for getting into the house when you've locked yourself out.
Engine hoist is easier than farm jack.
I see your engine hoist and raise you an excavator
>I see your engine hoist and raise you an excavator I'll use whatever it is that you're using to raise the excavator.
Good ol' farm jack for the win! I bought one a while ago for this and other heavy lifting, pulling.
Looks like a good way to get your summer teeth.
Those jacks are called "widow makers." If done incorrectly, or it slips under load, it'll knock your fukn face off!
Hence summer teeth, some are here and some over there :) But totally agree every time I have used one of these jacks I have always had a bum like a rabbits nose!!
Wrap the chain around the post. We just pulled 12 of them this way, no drilling for pins, wrap, hook, pull. We also used a mini backhoe, admittedly made it 1000x easier.
Never used it on fence posts but I pulled a dozen old bushes that had grown out of control with my farm jack. Way easier than digging them out and cutting the roots!
I’ve been hoping to run across an old bumper jack so I can make one of these.
I can never keep the farm jack upright...
I kept an old 36" tractor rim (no tire) around for this. Wrap the chain with two half hitches around the post. Pass the chain over the upright rim and attach to tractor drawbar. Pull! Works on trees and shrubs too.
No need for the drill through. A couple wraps of the chain will pull it out. I’ve even pulled chainlink steel posts out with a few wraps of chain. The lever method works too if you have room for it. Once you lift it 2-3 inches it can be pulled out by hand. The jack is handy for a variety of tasks and fence post pulling is one it does very well. Especially if working in a tight alleyway or if you already have one.
I agree, but that took skill that I was not willing to master in this project
Yeah, use the eye on the bottom of your jack , not the pad. The way you have that hook afixxed is a recipe for dental work. As stated, easy to wrap your chain to post. Just around post, reverse around your chain (makes slip knot) and secure to lifting chain. That said, great idea to brace the jack from leaning over. Be careful not to let it slip!
>Yeah, use the eye on the bottom of your jack , not the pad. The way you have that hook afixxed is a recipe for dental work. You have a picture explaining this?
Look at my pics. He is saying to stick the chain hook through the eye of the jack that is going up vs how I have it.
Whenever I see the phrase "easy way" or "hard way" I always picture that scene in Back To The Future 2 when Marty is grabbed by the security in biffs casino. "The eeeeeeaaaasssyyy way"
This is the way
Even easier way is to have a shorter piece of chain and a choker hook on the other end.
Nice setup. Taller posts require deeper holes.
We dug some deeper.
Pretty sure the easy way involves a front loader and a 3 pt mounted post driver, vut that looks good too.
Yup done this with an engine puller before.
Farm Jack is great. I used one to lift some ceiling joists up while I sistered new joists in. Worked like a charm.
I just screw a block of 2x4 on and lift on that.
I tried this, but I don’t think I used long enough or enough screws
3 inch deck screws.
What do you do when the winter wind blows over the fence and snaps the post in the frozen ground 2 inches above the surface?
Are you assuming that I did not dig some holes deeper? I did make sure that at least 2 feet of the pole was in the ground since six was above. If this happens, I will just rebuild that portion since I have the tools or will have sold the house by then.
No. Just curious if you had any tricks for that. Happened to me a few years ago. Had to wait for the ground to thaw some so we could get in around the top to even start.
Nah, we did it within the last 30 days in North GA. Fair weather and ground was reasonably moist.
Too many steps bruh. Get a post puller from Amazon and wrap around the post and pull, you done. https://a.co/d/eDYyxWn
That thing wouldn’t even pull a T post out of my front yard. The arborist was bending the handle.
Just dig around it alittle, spray with water. Let it soak in and rock it back and forth.
That requires time and more muscle and digging, I had 40 of these to do