My father put part of a ~9Ft rod in to the ground as a ground for their generator before the had power run through their property. Well, it's past time to (re)move the rod from where it is, but I'll be danged if I can get the thing to budge an inch.

I put sod down a while back so Mom would not like me digging it out...

I've tried wiggling it, wrapping/winding both thick leather and canvas straps around it and using the tractor to yank it up (hoping traction would keep them in place). No go. Any ideas?

I'm thinking of welding a cross bar onto it so that I have something better to yank on. Besides that I'm not sure.

Thanks.

Oh, it's ~1/2" inch thick steel rebar.

 

how many feet of it is in the ground? all 9 ft?

 

The easiest thing to do,and I know you dont want to ruin the grass,is to gently cut out about a 2ft square of sod around the rod.Then dig around the rod until you are about a foot or two deep,then cut the rod off,fill the hole,and put the sod back.I have tried to remove ground rods before and it is not worth the hassle to try and get it out.

 

sorry thought I put that in....

It's around 4ft. down.

The problem is the are is very rocky under the surface, big flat rocks. More rock than anything mostly. It took quite few tries to find a spot that it would drive down.

 

take a torch and heat it up and make a loop on the end , and then hook a chain in the loop and pull it , about the same as weldin a crossbar on it though ... yer rod yer choice ...

 

How about use some chain and a jack-all with snipe bar ?

Or a teepee shaped support with a Block & Tackle

 

You could try some leverage..

The hard part is getting the lever to stay on the rebar.

I have drawn some diagrams using paint so don't laugh....

I think it would work...

Notch the end of the pipe to help grip the rebar.
Then when you strap the pipe to the rebar it will crush down and grip the rebar

 

it would take alot of leverage i thank .... but i dont know , theres a peice of rebar in my front yard the state left there and i cant pull it up , whatever u do that works im gonna do it to ... im sick of weedeatin around it .....

 

How about cutting most of it off, leaving about a foot of it; and then put a 1/2" hammer drill on it, and spin it for a bit.

Maybe it'll spin it out.

 

why not just cut it off below groung and forget it

 

Cutting it off a foot or so down is sounding better and better. Would prefer to have it out though. I was actually able to get a pretty good grip on it wrapping around it, just not good enough or the strap was near breaking. I can still just get the tractor up to it as it is. Going to be laying more sod soon to where I can't though

The earth may have claimed it...from what I remember there was a good sized cedar not far from where the rod is. Not too surprising since you couldn't even move about the property for all the trees at first.

Yeah, I did the sod this winter and it's just now really taking hold. The boss would not be happy about digging, she might have to suck it up though.

Thanks for the ideas so far, much appreciated.

 

That's crazy, but maybe just crazy enough to work. I missed that post the first time through. I said 1/2 inch, that's just eyeballing it. I have easy access to the drill though...

I have my doubts, but I'm going to try it just because.

 

Cut it off and let it go back to where it came from.

 

Four feet of 1/2" re-bar in the ground, with five feet sticking out ... and you can't pull it out? Should be real simple. Use something like 2 concrete blocks or fireplace wood standing on end, and the longest & most ridgid "stick" you can find, like a 8' long 2"x4" on edge, an 8' long 4"x4", or an 8' piece of 2-1/2" iron pipe. Lay the "stick" horizontally on the blocks (one under each end), and tight up against the re-bar sticking out of the ground. The short end of the "stick" should be no more than about one foot past the re-bar (or shorter, if possible) and let the other end (the long end) "float the distance". Wrap a piece of chain (nothing that'll stretch) as tight as possible around both the "stick" and the re-bar (6 or 8 tight wraps will grip the notches in the re-bar to prevent slipping). Then lift on the long end of the "stick". The re-bar won't lift much on your first few attempts, but you'll break it loose from the dirt. If necessary (depending on the length of your "stick), you can initially get under the long end with a small hydraulic jack. At 4' in the ground, you'll have to take several "hitches" (that it, re-positionings of the chain on the re-bar) to get it all the way out.

I single-handedly used this method to remove a 4" diameter steel basketball support that had been concreted into the ground for a distance of about 4-1/2 feet. It took me much longer than it should have, not because of being unable to bust it loose, but because of the sheer weight I was trying to lift. When I installed the column about 15 years ago, I used three bags of Kwick-crete in the hole to insure the pole would never tilt. I thought at the time that whoever had to remove that was in for some big-time trouble, never thinking it would eventually be me!

 

What's nice about using a hammer drill is that it won't torque out of your hands, like a regular drill will, because of the hammering action.

Or use a long pair of bolt cutters, with a block near the rod, bite into it with the cutters, then put a little downward pressure on the cutters, forcing the rod upward.