How to move 250 20 foot long telephone poles...

[oz in SC V2.0]

Someone has 250 plus telephone poles for free on Craigslist but to get the for free you must take all and do it within 6 weeks.

We have a truck capable of hauling a trailer but no trailer,they are a distance away but on the way to our land in NC(kind of) and would make good fence posts.

We could cut them into 10 foot lengths and load them on a trailer(have to figure out where this would come from...) and haul them up there but have no idea how many could be hauled safely.

Is this potential project even worth the potential time and hassle??

I know fence posts would cost a fortune to do our 17 acres so there is that.

Thoughts,opinions...anything???

[bigmudder77]

u haul would rent you a trailer or any rental place would have a trailer but that gets to be alot of money

you could always bring a chain saw and cut them in to 10ft posts and load them in your truck its double the work but cheaper than renting a trailer also makes more trips and 500 posts to move lol

[willow_girl]

Well, if you're going to use them as fence posts, I'd cut them into fence post lengths right from the get-go. Less work, and maybe less waste, that way! How deep do your fence post holes need to be? I'm only familiar with fencing in the North, where you have to set your posts deep on account of the winters, but perhaps you could get away with 3' (or even less) underground there. If I were you, I'd check and make my cuts accordingly.

[DaleK]

Check with a logger and see what it would cost to have someone haul them on a log truck. Wayyyyyy too many to do it with a half ton and trailer.

[ErinP]

Having used telephone poles for corner posts in the past, I'm curious if you really know what you're getting into with using them for an entire fence!

[littlebitfarm]

Unless they come with free post holes to match I sure wouldn't want to use them to fence the entire place!!!! Corner posts yes. Line posts NO!

Kathie

[bigmudder77]

if you get a 16ft trailer you can haul them the full 20ft just put a red flag on the end of one of them or a couple of them but most trailers limit the axles to 7000lbs (for dual axle trailers) - the trailer weight and most dual axle trailer are around 1000-1400lbs average

so your looking at about 6000-5600lbs to haul and id bet these are around 300-500lbs (guessing there) lets go in the middle of both and say 5800lbs for the trailer till the limit and 400lbs each 20ft poll

thats 14.5 polls you can carry on a trailer and have it be around its limit or you can say screw the limit of the trailer and what that truck can pull and load up 20 polls and be at 8000lbs and do 40mph the whole way there

and make 13 trips

or you can go to uship.com and see if you can find a semi with a like wood hauler trailer that needs work and they can carry about 50-60 of them on there and make only 5 trips

but you really need to think is this worth it? i dont know the price of gas or if you have diesel but that seems like alot of filling up and not very good gas milage

and we use to use them as fence posts but we had a 20 inch post hole digger with a tractor and it did the holes in no time it might of been bigger i dont remember i was young when we post them in the ground

[oz in SC V2.0]

Thanks all.

I thought cutting them in half at their location would be a good idea,time consuming but easier to handle.

I have a 3/4 ton truck to haul a trailer so that shouldn't be a problem as long as we don't try to haul too many at one time.

I doubt we would need to go too deep into the ground on the land,it is good old red clay and never really freezes.

As to using them as fence posts and the work involved,well the price is pretty good as long as it doesn't cost too much to haul them.

[agmantoo]

Oz, find someone in the area in NC where you want to poles delivered that would like some of the poles. Get them delivered on shares! If you do cut them, cut the lengths on multiples of post lengths.

[plowjockey]

If they are good poles, they can be used tp build a pole barn. With 250, you can make a very LONG pole barn.

[watcher]

One thing on cutting. I know if the post were on my property I would not want you cutting them there unless you were set up to take the piles of nasty saw dust with you.

[oz in SC V2.0]

Originally Posted by agmantoo

Oz, find someone in the area in NC where you want to poles delivered that would like some of the poles. Get them delivered on shares! If you do cut them, cut the lengths on multiples of post lengths.

That's a good idea,I could ask the guy who built our place if he would be interested.

[Bearfootfarm]

Poles around here are always at least 35 ft.
I'd try to find a logger to haul them whole, and cut them as you need them
Another option might be a large hay trailer.
Youd need a tractor with a FEL or a boom pole to load and unload

You night even come out cheaper to buy some closer to where you need tehm
I get them for 35 cents a ft

[oz in SC V2.0]

We have a tractor with a loader up at the land so that will help.

[Bearfootfarm]

Originally Posted by oz in SC V2.0

We have a tractor with a loader up at the land so that will help.

Is there one where you'll load them?

[oz in SC V2.0]

I have emailed the person but haven't heard back yet.

[ronbre]

good luck, i've dealt with telephone poles and they are very difficult to work with cause of their material and length..also they are much bigger around than a fence post..and treated so they have chemicals in them.

i have used a few..and like what i did with them..but you are looking at way too many to try to haul alone

[Lazy J]

This seems like one of those situations where "free" ends up costing more in the long run...........

Jim

[oz in SC V2.0]

The poles cannot be cut on site so looks like this isn't going to work out.

Thanks all for the advice.

[TurnerHill]

What Lazy J said. Also, what Littlebitfarm and Erinp said.

You are talking about a massive amount of work, not to mention massive overkill (unless you are fencing in hippos or something.)