Ground Rod Removal

[Gary Boyer]

I have two ground rods I am thinking about moving to another location, is
this practical or would it be easier to just poundem in the ground and buy
new rods....does anyone have an easy method for taking the rods out of the
ground...I am not interested in building any equipment to do this removal
project...please advise..thanks..Gary, K8BY

[Richard Clark]

On Thu, 03 Jun 2004 18:19:40 GMT, "Gary Boyer"
<gbo...@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
>I have two ground rods I am thinking about moving to another location, is
>this practical or would it be easier to just poundem in the ground and buy
>new rods

Hi Gary,

Leave them alone and add new ones.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

[ji...@specsol-spam-sux.com]

Highly depends on the rods and what you have access to.

One method that may work for you is a bumper jack and a piece of chain
to the rods; if you can secure the chain to the rod, you can usually
jack them out far enough you can pull them by hand.

Usually its easier to just pound them down.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove -spam-sux to reply.

[Irv Finkleman]

Tie a piece of chain around them and pull them loose with a car jack. Works
like a charm. You normally just have to get them a little loose and the
rest is easy. I've done it a few times with 10 ft copper clad steel rods.

Irv VE6BP
--
--------------------------------------
Diagnosed Type II Diabetes March 5 2001
Beating it with diet and exercise!
297/215/210 (to be revised lower)
58"/43"(!)/44" (already lower too!)
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--------------------
Irv Finkleman,
Grampa/Ex-Navy/Old Fart/Ham Radio VE6BP
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

[Allan Butler]

What the other people have suggested sound like good ideas for pulling a
ground rod. Something that might make it a little bit easier before pulling
them with the chain and jack is to put a pipe wrench on the rod and turn it
in the ground a few times. That way the bond between the dirt and the rod
is broken and it should pull up a little bit easier. In fact, while you are
turning the rod, you might try pulling up on it a little bit at the same
time like you are unscrewing it from the ground.

[mike]

Gary Boyer wrote:

Showing my Ham age here. . . in the late 60's early 70's was suggested
that you an old style car jack. Figure some way to latch the ground rod
to the lifting lip of the jack and start cranking.

Mike N0QFV

[Kyle2]

Use your common sense and buy some new ones. How does anyone else know if
YOUR earth rods will be difficult to remove!

"Gary Boyer" <gbo...@columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:0ZJvc.20287$DG4....@fe2.columbus.rr.com...

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[Dave]

buying new ones may be easier.

but if you really want to get them out and if your soil isn't too rocky try
soaking them with a hose for an hour or so, just a slow trickle, don't flood
the yard. then grab the top with two pipe wrenches so that you can grab one
with each hand while bending over the rod and turn the rod both ways... work
it back and forth a bit while lifting up, if your back doesn't give out
first the rod should slowly pull up. you can also attach a strong rope or
cable to it with a couple clamps and pull it out with an old car bumper jack
or a long pry bar, but this often takes several lifts, each time moving the
clamps down a bit more on the rod.

"Kyle2" <ky...@gtx.net> wrote in message
news:h%Mvc.746$b%1....@newsfe1-gui.server.ntli.net...

[Jim Justus]

"Allan Butler" <ka0...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:jdLvc.1838$Sw.219@attbi_s51...

This works! Have did it for years, never had a problem.

Jim

[Dave Shrader]

When I moved from Massachusetts to NH I just pounded them into the
ground about 2 to 3 inches below earth level.

[Irv Finkleman]

Dave Shrader wrote:
>
> When I moved from Massachusetts to NH I just pounded them into the
> ground about 2 to 3 inches below earth level.
>

I'm too cheap to give up my copper clad steel ground rods! Removal is
really simple using a car jack and a piece of chain. To hook the chain
on the rod, just put a clamp on the rod temporarily. It's actually very
simple and I'm surprised at all the discussion.

[Richard Clark]

On Fri, 04 Jun 2004 04:28:48 GMT, Irv Finkleman <fin...@shaw.ca>
wrote:

> It's actually very
>simple and I'm surprised at all the discussion.

Hi Irv,

You must've forgotten all the elaborate discussion from Reggie about
how much time the rod needs to become intimate with the surrounding
mud (the same mud whose carefully crafted RF recipe remains a secret
hidden beneath his apron).

Strangely enough, the topic bears all the mystique of the aging of
wine in charcoal casks. Can you imagine the argument turning on if
you disturb the bottle - er - ground rod, it could stir up the
sediment or make the vintage go corky? Ever try to decant a bottle
with a loop of chain and a bumper jack? (Actually I think we tried
that with a jug of Sangria along the Russian River north of 'Frisco
back in '69.)

[Larry Gauthier (K8UT)]

If you use 5/8 inch garden hose, just slip the hose over the top of the rod
and turn on the water. As the flowing water digs around the rod, keep
pushing the hose farther down along the rod (and into the ground). After you
have about 4 feet of hose into the ground, the rod can be lifted out by
hand.
--
-larry
K8UT

"Gary Boyer" <gbo...@columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:0ZJvc.20287$DG4....@fe2.columbus.rr.com...

[Rick Karlquist N6RK]

Just wanted to mention that at N6RK in the CA central
valley, we have "cemented hard pan". Like regular hard
pan, only it's water proof. It will stall a D9 Cat if you
try to plow it. We tried all the techniques for rod removal
suggested including soaking it with drip irrigation for
2 weeks. A pipe wrench simply twists the rod, like
a torsion bar. The bottom part doesn't budge. Anyway,
around here, once they're in, they ain't coming out. BTW,
to get it in, it goes in 1/16 of an inch for each hit of a
T-post driver, if you're lucky.

Rick

"Larry Gauthier (K8UT)" <MyCal...@ARRL.NET> wrote in message
news:10c0og7...@corp.supernews.com...

[Henry Kolesnik]

If there's enough sticking up to drive it down about a 1/2" or so that'll
loosen it so you jack it out with a bumper jack. If not dig a moat around it
to get room. Friction of a small chain wrapped around a few times should
hold it, use a small plank if the soil is soft to keep the jack ffrom
sinking.. Lubing the moat with water the day before will help.

--
73
Hank WD5JFR

"Gary Boyer" <gbo...@columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:0ZJvc.20287$DG4....@fe2.columbus.rr.com...

[mike beauchamp]

use a car jack to remove the rod or a holmes wrecker, i have used a bumper
jack to pull out rods before , all you do is place the jack under the head
of the ground rod and start jacking it up out of the ground and then when
the jack runs out of lift simply just lower the jack head down lower and
start over and it will lift 4ft at a time.... and use lots of water on the
ground rod... it will kinda lubricate the rod.

"Gary Boyer" <gbo...@columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:0ZJvc.20287$DG4....@fe2.columbus.rr.com...

[mike beauchamp]

you could use a bumper jack or call in a 80 ton crane to pull it out.

"Gary Boyer" <gbo...@columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:0ZJvc.20287$DG4....@fe2.columbus.rr.com...

[Carl R. Stevenson]

Pound 'em down (say 4-6" below surface, then backfill the hole) and buy new
ones.

They're cheap and if they've been in the ground any time they'll 1) probably
be hard as hell to pull and 2) probably have corroded to the point where new
ones would be well worth the $.

73,
Carl - wk3c

"Gary Boyer" <gbo...@columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:0ZJvc.20287$DG4....@fe2.columbus.rr.com...

[Reg Edwards]

> Pound 'em down (say 4-6" below surface, then backfill the hole) and buy
new
> ones.
>
> They're cheap and if they've been in the ground any time they'll 1)
probably
> be hard as hell to pull and 2) probably have corroded to the point where
new
> ones would be well worth the $.
>
> 73,
> Carl - wk3c
>

Agreed. If the idea is to pound in the old rod somewhere else, and is
intended for radio ground purposes only, then it is much better left where
it is. A single ground rod is practically useless for radio purposes.
Unless immersed in salt sea water it is equivalent to a single shallow
buried radial wire of slightly greater length. Just measure the resistance
of one in average sort of soil at about 2 MHz. Use a hand-held antenna
analyser on the impedance range and a bottom-loaded resonant vertical
antenna. Or mess about with a pair of rods spaced apart 3 times their
depth. You can crudely estimate local soil resistivity (or conductivity) by
such means. Kneeling down, however, to read the meter in cold damp stoney
soil can result in house-maid's knees. If you are short-sighted, as I am,
then you have to lie on your belly. Keep all test leads short. The
arithmetic is fairly simple. I can't understand why so many of you have
never done it.
===
Reg, G4FGQ

[Cougercat]

A fence pold remover can be used. One can be had at Home Depot or Lowes for
several "clams"

--

"Gary Boyer" <gbo...@columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:0ZJvc.20287$DG4....@fe2.columbus.rr.com...

[Topaz305RK]

If you have or know someone who has a "handy man" jack they work great for
pulling ground rods, have done it many times.

K7SAM