electric tee post pounder

[randy1]

Hi I need to replace alot fence post .Iam switching to tee post and have pounded alot with a hand pounder . Has anyone tried 1 of those electric ones ? Whats your oppion on them? As always Thanks

 

[RobCons]

Didnt know there was an electric option. My gas powered does real well but is heavy. If an electric is lighter that would be nice.

 

[wp6529]

Electric seems a poor option. I borrowed a friend's Titan gas post driver and installed around 100 posts and it was fantastic. I'll be buying my own before the next batch of posts I need to pound. He has the top end "contractor" 3200 model, but based on their site it looks like the mid line one should be just fine for my periodic use and half the price.

With two people working one stands up the post on the correct spot, the other starts pounding it with the Titan and the first moves to the next post position and by the time they have the post ready you're done pounding the first and move over. Very smooth operation once you have the post locations marked.

 

[randy1]

sorry was gas

 

[Part Time Pete]

I rented a gas one. Although it was a little heavy, it worked great

 

[Kansas4010]

My sister bought a gas powered post driver. It was to heavy for her to lift so she gave it to me. It is really heavy to carry around. I found it was easier to just pound them in with the old post driver and use a loader to push in posts where a tractor can get to. If I didn't have access to a loader and had several posts to put in I might use it. Overall I used hers to drive in one post just to see if it works. After that I drained the fuel and put it up and haven't touched it since. If you only need it for one project I would see about renting one rather than buying.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Two old farts set T posts using a front loader.
I held the post using a level to get the post vertically while the other guy pushed them in about 6 inches at a time before lifting the loader and pushing another 6 inches.

I guess you can say we used a diesel powered post pounder.

 

[Moonlite37]

My renter's FIL has a gas powered one that my renter uses. I do not know anything about it except saw that it was in use on my farm when he only had abut six to drive, I am sure it is heavy but my renter is a giant

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Only reason I'd go electric is if it's significantly lighter and cheaper than a gas powered one, AND if you have power nearby, or a generator you can tote along on the supply trailer. I'm cheap and I'd probably drive them in with a sledge hammer rather than spend money even on a manual post pounder.

I wonder how a good sized SDS rotary hammer would fare? I've heard of guys using hydraulic breakers (i.e. "jackhammers") mounted on their mini-excavators to drive big posts. At least you wouldn't be stuck with another one-trick pony in your tool shed.

 

[Leroy]

Never heard of either. If you have a loader with down pressure it will be a lot easier and way faster. My tractor club when getting redy for the show uses the loader for probably around a hundred posts, the loader carries the posts as well as driving them and about 30 secens per post. More time between posts than driving them.

 

[Tony in SD]

If you have a lot of posts to put in, I would strongly suggest a skid steer (rent, buy, borrow) with a bucket that is a little wider than the length of post you are using. A FEL will work but you will have more control with a skid steer to plumb the posts. We load about 80 posts in the bucket at a time. Then one man steps off the distance between posts, grabs a post, holds it in place while the skid steer operator maneuvers the bucket on top of the post. The operator watches the vertical plumbness from the seat of the skid steer, while the ground man watches the vertical plumbness from 90* with respect to the operator. The post is easily pushed in plumb. The staging & setting of the posts is done in a one pass operation. The operation is very fast and done with very little effort compared to making a pass to stage the posts then going back and lifting a 20-50 lb post pounder 80 times. Not to mention the the pounder shaking they 5hit out of you.

 

[wp6529]

A SDS rotary hammer will work fine if you can get the appropriate drive cup. They make drive cups for ground rods.

Depending on your soil conditions, pushing the posts in with a loader or similar may just give you a bunch of scrap bomerangs. Certainly that is the case with the soil here where we tried the push method and wrecked 3 out of 4 posts we tried. The Titan pounder put the posts in with zero issues at about 12 seconds per post.

 

[Steve in VA]

I have set some simply by pressing them into the ground with the FEL. That would be an option.

 

[cool hand]

At age 88 I should not even comment on this topic, however I have used a shaver post driver many times. Have driven T-posts, wooden posts, any thing that your heart may remember. I still can't remember another best remember!!

 

[RobCons]

The SDS hammer sounds interesting. Should be able to power it from an inverter if its not battery powered.

 

[Steven Allen]

Saw an ad yesterday for an air-powered unit. Don't know if it will work in hard ground. The drawback, of course, is needing a compressor close at hand.

 

[Leroy]

And to carry something like that be stronger than average, I never was
strong enough to be able to carry any of them and I have never seen any.

 

[wp6529]

(quoted from post at 09:25:06 12/27/23)
Saw an ad yesterday for an air-powered unit. Don't know if it will work in hard ground. The drawback, of course, is needing a compressor close at hand.

Not just a compressor, a [b:92c080422f]BIG[/b:92c080422f] compressor. Great if you already have a towable construction type compressor, and the air powered pounder is certainly lighter than the gas powered one.

The Titan pounder I borrowed was something like 35# and you certainly notice it hefting it up high to put on the T post, but once up the post is supporting the weight.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

(quoted from post at 10:53:56 12/26/23) The SDS hammer sounds interesting. Should be able to power it from an inverter if its not battery powered.

It would have to be a pretty big inverter... A big one draws about 15A. If you have a decent sized portable generator that would work much better.

Shouldn't be too much of a challenge to weld up a cup.