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Watching a crew in Austin handle a huge cedar post changed my mind about lifting gear.
They were setting a 12-foot, 8-inch round post on a steep slope, and instead of just muscle, they used a simple come-along rigged to their truck's trailer hitch. The foreman told me, 'If you can pull a truck out of a ditch, you can stand a post straight.' I've started using a similar setup for any post over 6 inches now. What's your go-to method for handling the really heavy timber?
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murray.jana3mo ago
Has anyone else had to improvise with whatever's handy because the job site just won't cooperate? I had a similar tight spot last spring when I was setting a 10-foot locust post for a corner brace. No room to pull from the truck, so I used a heavy-duty ratchet strap wrapped around a nearby oak tree and cranked it up a few clicks at a time. It took forever but it worked. My buddy thought I was nuts until he saw the post standing plumb without a single pipe wrench or pry bar needed. Now I swear by that ratchet strap method for anything that won't fit in a standard post hole digger.
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wilson.joseph6mo ago
That truck hitch trick is smart for open ground. The real headache is when you're tucked against a house or fence with no room to pull from. Had to get a 10-inch beam vertical in a tight backyard last fall. Ended up using a high-lift jack on its side, chained to a temporary ground anchor, to walk it up inch by inch. Felt like cheating, but my back didn't argue.
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charlescraig6mo ago
Used a come-along on a tree once. Same idea.
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blair_taylor326mo ago
That "walk it up inch by inch" method is exactly my kind of project. I once spent a whole Saturday trying to lever a post into place with a broken shovel handle and a cinder block. My neighbor came over, watched for five minutes, and just said "you know they sell tools for that, right?" Felt like a real genius that day.
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