"Dean Hoffman" wrote in message
...

Any suggestions for hammer drills, rotary hammers and so
on to use for driving ground rods? I see there are SDS Plus and SDS Max
versions. Interchangeable bits?
I've been using a pipe welded into a sledge hammer head for
years to drive the rods. It works, of course, but it's a bit
hard on old hands.
I did see a video of a guy driving a rod with a sledge. He drilled a
hole in a board then slipped the board over the rod at an angle. That
took the wiggle out of the rod when he hit it.

Depending on the soil, you might try this if you don't have too many to
drive.

Scoop out a hole about the size of a beer can, maybe only half as tall.
Then just push the rod down by hand as far as you can, which will probably
only a few inches. Then pull it up. Repeat and the rod should go down
another couple of inches. Keep doing this. Don't pull the rod all the way
, only up several inches. The deeper the hole, the more you can pull out
each time. When you get about half the rod down, pull it out and fill the
hole with water.

I thought this was a joke from a fellow at work. I just had to try it. I
put in 4 rods this way. On the second rod I clamped a pair of Vice Grips on
the rod to act as a handle.

If there are lots of rocks it won't work, but if you don't hit any rocks it
works very well.