quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
I watched two guys use a pickup a steel 55 gal. drum and some chain.

one placed the drum near the post and fastened the chain to the post, then he placed the chain up over the drum top.
the guy in the pick up tugged on the chain and up came the posts .

worked pretty slick

I have used a 2 by 8 about 4 feet long to pull out shrubs which is the same principal using the board as a moment arm.

About 6 years ago I wanted to just remove the fence and leave the yard open. I have a friend with a small Kobota tractor with a shoved blade on the front. It worked just fine. One or two broke off the concrete and I just left the concrete for the next guy. It took an afternoon, but the guy scrapped the fencing and poles.

It seems like a lot of jacking to lift that many posts. I planted 44 rose bushes to replace the fence. I hired a couple of criminals to dig the holes. They were locals, couldn't find a job but needed the money for tattoos or drugs, I don't know. 2 of them dug my holes in a lot less time than I could have.

There's no need to mix concrete for fence posts. Just pour the concrete powder in the hole around the new post. It will draw the moisture from the ground and set up fine. Just as a sack left outside will turn rock hard from the ambient humidity.

I had to remove about two dozen fence poles some years ago and didn't have a bucket-lift tractor.

I did, however, have a decently-size hydraulic-jack engine lift with wheels. I hooked it to my garden tractor and moved it from pole to pole. Since it was hydraulic it was pretty fast cycling. The ground was firm enough that those little wheels didn't tear things up too much and I only had three poles break off.

This has been fascinating guys, thanks VERY much. I pulled out my first post today with the farm jack, a 6x6 wood post in cement under a deck I'm replacing. Came straight out slick as butter. The other replies in this thread describing the 55 gal drum, the vertical iron frame hanging a come-along, and the engine lift, were extremely interesting, I hadn't seen any of those.