Pulling pole stumps

[dwalla-walla]

I learned a new trick the other night on how to pull a pole stump to put the new pole in the old hole. This is a pole that got hit by a truck. Drive a ground rod through the center of the stump leaving about one foot or two sticking out of the top. Next, put a come-along on your line truck cable and place it on the ground rod and then pull. It is a hell of alot better than digging around the stump and trying to get a wire rope sling or the line truck cable around it. I have only seen it done once so right now it is 100% effective. It will probably work on a rotten one too. I guess it just depends on how rotten it is. It is definitely worth a try.

[racinsprintz10]

this method works pretty good on car hit poles. I havent had much luck on rotten poles that break when your trying to pull them. You can try and put two ground rods in the broken butt crossing each other, i just hear that helps.

[loadbreak55]

I've seen this method used with limited success over the years.I've also seen the ground rod go into orbit a few times,so be careful and don't stand too close when doing it!!!! :o :)

[BigClive]

I was just going to mention the "rod going into orbit" bit, but you beat me to it. Seen it happen in a very busy public area and it's just luck that the rod didn't hit a member of the public.

[Hemingray Insulators]

seems to me an attatchment needs to be made to be interchangeable with an auger tip. put that down on the pole butt and twist it loose with the torque, then just lift it out of the hole. any thoughts on that? seem to me like it would work :confused: :cool:

[Mike-E]

Would you put a grip on the ground rod after it is in the pole butt? I've seen old ground rods pulled out of the ground before with a 336 grip and a digger truck winch line and they turn into rockets/javelins very well.

[loadbreak55]

:confused: Yea I've seen a few "genius type linemen"do this trick.Usually,if no one,or anything get's hurt,or broken,once is enough!One trick that I've used in the past is to hang a pole gin about 8'up on the pole,hang a shive,run the winch line thru it down to the rod and pull it .It works pretty slick and if something does give,or break,nothing goes flying around looking for a target!Or dig down a foot or two and drive the sucker on into the ground always works too. :)

[scammy]

a steel becky with a lag over it is safest

[FL DEL]

You can also take the auger and dig a hole next to the pole butt, you need to be careful on how much down pressure you put on the boom, steel slings work good & for the tough ones hit the butt with a sledge hammer that seems to loosen them up. with a little rigging you can also use a lofting block gives a little umph to the pull,,, we had a guy get whacked in the face by a butt be launched so by all means watch how much pressure you put on the boom

[graybeard]

Startd using the grnd rod method a few years ago and has worked pretty well for us but on harder ones we dump water around the pole and let it soak down. That seems to help alot.

[Hatteras]

Using a grip to pull pole butts is not a good idea. It was discussed here a while ago.

1. The grips are designed for wire and cable, not ground rods.
2. All grips have a working load limit that must not be exceeded.
3. Unless a dynamometer is used, there is no way of determining if a grip is overloaded.

If a grip should fail, the reults could be catastrophic. There are other methods of removing pole butts that are broken off just above or below the ground. Most require digging. Why risk an injury or worse?

Hatteras