Russell King
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
L185F, Modern Ag Competitor 4’ shredder, Rhino tiller, rear dirt scoop
Got tired of getting out to open and close the gate so have started to install a Liftmaster gate opener.
That expanded into putting in new gate posts, then that expanded into putting in a wider gate 10 foot to 14 foot change so I don’t have to be quite as exact when pulling the utility trailer through.
The original gate was hung on cedar split rail posts but the wider gate is hung on 4 inch galvanized steel tube posts. Figured that 8 foot long posts would be good enough but store only had 10 foot available so the challenge was to get the hinge side set about 5 feet 6 inches in the ground to utilize as much of the post as possible under ground. The area is river bottom so fairly easy to dig by hand. First few inches are road base (limestone and caliche and clay mixture) then about four feet of black clay, then harder brown clay. Since the hand diggers are only 5 feet the last foot was a bit of a challenge to get out. Pour water in to soften it and make it like a ball of play doh and make the hole a bit wider at the top and I could get the hole to about 5 foot 10 inches before I decided that was good enough. That would get my post to about 56 inches above ground. But then I actually measured the 10 foot post and it was 10 feet and 6 extra inches! Too cruel on my old back to get that extra depth in the hole after around 6 hours of actual digging over two days. Pictures of holes are stupid so I didn’t take any. The hinge side post was set with 500 pounds of Sakrete mix (hand mixed). Luck has it they package it in 50 pound bags since the 80 pounders just suck to move around and always did so it isn’t that I’m getting older! The other side post was only put in about 4 feet deep since it is there just to be symmetrical. Another 350 pounds of concrete later and the posts are in.
I’ll post some pictures (when I take them)of the cut off tops of the steel tubes to show the leftovers not used
That expanded into putting in new gate posts, then that expanded into putting in a wider gate 10 foot to 14 foot change so I don’t have to be quite as exact when pulling the utility trailer through.
The original gate was hung on cedar split rail posts but the wider gate is hung on 4 inch galvanized steel tube posts. Figured that 8 foot long posts would be good enough but store only had 10 foot available so the challenge was to get the hinge side set about 5 feet 6 inches in the ground to utilize as much of the post as possible under ground. The area is river bottom so fairly easy to dig by hand. First few inches are road base (limestone and caliche and clay mixture) then about four feet of black clay, then harder brown clay. Since the hand diggers are only 5 feet the last foot was a bit of a challenge to get out. Pour water in to soften it and make it like a ball of play doh and make the hole a bit wider at the top and I could get the hole to about 5 foot 10 inches before I decided that was good enough. That would get my post to about 56 inches above ground. But then I actually measured the 10 foot post and it was 10 feet and 6 extra inches! Too cruel on my old back to get that extra depth in the hole after around 6 hours of actual digging over two days. Pictures of holes are stupid so I didn’t take any. The hinge side post was set with 500 pounds of Sakrete mix (hand mixed). Luck has it they package it in 50 pound bags since the 80 pounders just suck to move around and always did so it isn’t that I’m getting older! The other side post was only put in about 4 feet deep since it is there just to be symmetrical. Another 350 pounds of concrete later and the posts are in.
I’ll post some pictures (when I take them)of the cut off tops of the steel tubes to show the leftovers not used
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