Barn Poles

[baymule]

We had 20' telephone poles on the land we sold in our old home. We have wanted to get them, but rains created a mudhole. For months. And months. Well today we went to go get them. A neighbor brought his backhoe and we got them loaded. It was quite a chore.

It was hot! We were sweating, hot and did I mention hot? It took about three hours to load them and boom them down. We took off. We turned around and went back. When we hit a bump, the trailer bumped, then raised the truck back wheels! It fishtailed like crazy. We crawled it back to neighbors house.

Ends of telephone poles were hanging off end of trailer. Neighbor said we needed to take the toolbox off the front of trailer. It was locked on by a steel rod and keys to lock were on tractor key ring back home. Cutting torch! Locks hit the ground. He and DH put toolbox on back of truck, then neighbor used bucket on backhoe to push poles to front of tractor. Those two feet made all the difference!

Headed for home again. S.L.O.W.L.Y. At a roaring speed of 50-61 MPH. 61 being going downhill.

A 3 hour trip took over 4 hours, but we made it. Tired, wore out, leftovers for supper.

Tomorrow morning our neighbor, Robert is coming over to help us chain them up and drag them off the trailer with his truck. Tractor is still at the doctor getting outfitted with a brand new wiring harness and relay switch. $$$$$

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

what's the plan with the poles? are you going to do a post and beam barn on the new property?

 

[Carol Dee]

I got tired and HOT reading this, glad you all got home safe.

 

[Smart Red]

A bit of difficulty, but the poles are home. Good story with a happy ending.

 

[dickiebird]

Years ago I had access to every pole AT&T took out in our area so I know just what a chore it is to haul those things home.
I had a saw mill that squared mine up. Often we would get a huge pole of 18 to 20 inches at its butt end, he would get them square and whittle them down 2" at a time making great 2X's of different lengths and leaving an 8" X 8" for the building posts.
I built a couple of 24' X 24' barns from these posts.
The squared up posts are way easier to build off of than round ones.
I built my 1st barn with cedar posts as cut. What a pain to get anything square off of those.

THANX RICH

 

[baymule]

These poles are going to be for a barn. We have maybe 14 that are 20-22' and 3-4 that are about 12' and one that will make a good corner or gate post.

We're going back next weekend for half dozen drill stem pipe, used roof tin, plywood and whatever else we can get on the truck and trailer. We had a box off a delivery truck and it's packed. LOL

 

[catjac1975]

We had 20' telephone poles on the land we sold in our old home. We have wanted to get them, but rains created a mudhole. For months. And months. Well today we went to go get them. A neighbor brought his backhoe and we got them loaded. It was quite a chore.

It was hot! We were sweating, hot and did I mention hot? It took about three hours to load them and boom them down. We took off. We turned around and went back. When we hit a bump, the trailer bumped, then raised the truck back wheels! It fishtailed like crazy. We crawled it back to neighbors house.

Ends of telephone poles were hanging off end of trailer. Neighbor said we needed to take the toolbox off the front of trailer. It was locked on by a steel rod and keys to lock were on tractor key ring back home. Cutting torch! Locks hit the ground. He and DH put toolbox on back of truck, then neighbor used bucket on backhoe to push poles to front of tractor. Those two feet made all the difference!

Headed for home again. S.L.O.W.L.Y. At a roaring speed of 50-61 MPH. 61 being going downhill.

A 3 hour trip took over 4 hours, but we made it. Tired, wore out, leftovers for supper.

Tomorrow morning our neighbor, Robert is coming over to help us chain them up and drag them off the trailer with his truck. Tractor is still at the doctor getting outfitted with a brand new wiring harness and relay switch. $$$$$

OMG. Glad you are safe,

 

[baymule]

Haha @catjac1975 when hurricane Ike dropped an ancient oak on our house, we needed a new roof. Roofers wanted $12,000!! I found 40 year shingles on a neighboring town that were seconds. At a fraction of the price, I went to get them. After they were loaded is when I figured out the trailer I had was not rated for that much weight. I drove back, 80 miles, 40 MPH with a string of unhappy people behind me. I was praying all the way home!

 

[catjac1975]

So you have a history of such decisions.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Glad you made it home OK. By the way, what's wrong with leftovers? Just means they have had time to develop their flavors.

You probably know this or at least the neighbor did but next time get as much weight up front as you can. The further back the weight is the worse the trailer will fishtail. Don't ask me how I know this but it involved a Boy Scout trailer getting unloaded and reloaded on a trip from New Orleans to North Georgia.. Made all the difference in the world. Just like your two feet.