So here in political campaign crazy land, I have been putting up a lot of 4x8 and 4x4 campaign signs.

We use 6' T-posts and drive them into the ground a little over a foot.

The ground around this way is usually hard and dry. Some places there is a lot of small stones and some sticky clay.

When the election is over we will pull the stakes up and save them for the next election.

Getting the T-posts out of the ground can be very hard. So this year I bought a JJ203 JackJaw.

video at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIj9Upyg9_I

Expensive at $350, but this thing is great. Stakes pull out w very little effort.

Worth every penny.

https://jackjaw.com/collection...-t-fence-post-puller

That looks like a nice one. Here is the one I have and it works pretty well. It was a little cheaper but has been working well for me for few years.

https://hi-lift.com/products/post-popper/

That’s probably better that the one we have, which is similar, but instead of running all the way down to the ground, the part that “grabs” the stake is a little short thing that grabs close to the hinge point. It has pins though and if we’re doing many posts we care to keep pretty, we’ll disconnect the “grabber” from the tool, hang it off the skiploader bucket from a chain and the the hydraulics provide the force.

For the old ratty ones we don’t care about, I just grab them with the clamshell of the 4 in 1 bucket and let the hydraulics do all the work. If you catch them in the right orientation (flat top of the T with the bumps that keep the wire from sliding parallel to the edges of the clamshell) and use a little finesse you don’t have to grab them very tightly and can pop them without leaving much of a mark. It’s not that I’m lazy, it’s just that I’m lazy.

ETA: Stlhead got in there while I was typing. His hi-lift looks exactly like what we have except the paint is darker/more oxidized on ours.

The car bumper jack would work too. The ones from the 60's and 70's.
You could probably find one for free. A guy years ago told me he pulled
out a whole bunch of fence posts with one.

Yep, a great tool. I have the cheap harbor freight one, but it works.

Another trick for those t-posts, even when the puller is getting stuck, is to pour a little water in the hole where the t-post is. Gives it a little lubrication, and the puller will pull the posts right out.

If you have the T-Post driver used to pound the T-Posts into the ground, you can get them back out with what you have, no other costs for tools to do so. Pretty cool idea, and it works well. If these Ladies can do it, you can too.

It’s easy and it’s quick!


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Here’s another with a different angle and no shadow blocking.

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JMO I have pulled out about 150 T posts the last couple years

The videos of using the stake driver look like the stake isn't in the ground very tight.

My application most frequently does not involve soft soil or even farm soil. It is in ground close to asphalt roads.

The soil is usually extremely hard and sometimes full of small stones. We also have a lot of clay that has a nasty habit of "clinging" to the stake even when most of the stake is exposed.

The Jackjaw is cited as having a 9 to 1 mechanical advantage. And it pulls straight up . That is important. Before Jackjaw, we have bent the heavy 8 pound stakes by 10 to 15 degrees as we pushed and pulled to loosen the stake.

quote:

Originally posted by Stlhead:
That looks like a nice one. Here is the one I have and it works pretty well. It was a little cheaper but has been working well for me for few years.

https://hi-lift.com/products/post-popper/

Another Hi-Post user also - for the past 20 years - still using the original unit and it also works great on 4x4’s and standard chain link fence poles…..

Bought mine at the local Tractor Supply

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sigarmsp226,

You need a 2x6, a couple 16 penny nails, a come along, a small length of chain and a piece of pipe.

Take the 2x6 and drive a few nails in it so they barely if at all poke through the bottom, this is stability for the pipe. Put the pipe over the nails. The nails keep the pipe from sliding. Wrap a chain around the pipe and post. This way the pipe sits parallel to the post you’re trying to pull. Wrap a come along around the post to pull, other end in the pipe. Tighten it up and the post will come out.

If you have a welder, cut the pipe so you make a a frame with an open top. Elf plates in the bottom and bolt to the 2x6. Put in come along and pull posts.

I was part owner of a fence company in Dallas. This is how we pulled all the posts and the concrete bases out of the Texas clay.

I'm an avid weightlifter and was surprised that reefing on t-posts for 10 minutes each didn't do jack squat except bend them. They were put in as tree supports for new trees 5 years prior and I suspect some of the roots wrapped around the post.

I bought this t-post puller off Amazon. I was still wearing my office clothes, unboxed it, walked outside, and had all 4 posts pulled in 5 minutes without getting dirty or sweaty. Well worth the $52.05.

My sister decided to move a pasture about 10 years ago. She did the ol' back/forth/left/right/heave/hoe/PULL and one of them broke and she took it right in the forehead.