"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...
Out, in, out, in, then you hit the gin.........

Started on the fence replacement project and the old shortish concrete
posts which had wooden posts bolted to them are proving a bu**er to get
out.

They have a lot of concrete below ground and to get them out I need to dig
around a bit, then rock the post until it will tilt, and then gradually
drag the whole sorry thing out.
The posts with the concrete added weigh a significant amount and I am
ending up dragging them along the ground (more of them later).

This leaves an ugly hole about a foot deep and very wide.
What I want in the same location is an 8" wide hole 18" deep, to take the
new post and the concrete around it.

At the moment all I can see to do is fill the hole in, with much tamping
down, then dig the 8" hole in the middle of the newly filled in larger
shallower hole.
snip

Well, what do you know!

Next post in line had no concrete at all around the base.

By the use of a long pole, rope, and the principle of fulcrums and levers I
managed to extract it (with my beautiful assistant jamming the post to stop
it sliding back as I repositioned the rope).

I could even pick the whole thing up and shift it - amazing the difference a
lump of concrete on the end makes!

I am now hoping they concreted in only every other post (or less).

Murphy's law suggests that the nice deep round hole that the post left will
be just a few inches away from where I want to put the new post.