How to drive a U post into the ground?

[PunkRotten]

Hi,

I have to get 8 of these U posts into the ground. Not sure how I am gonna do it. It is gonna require a lot of force to get it to the depth I want which is about 1 foot. Any tips?

[treehopper]

what kind of soil are you dealing with?

[PunkRotten]

Garden soil. Where my main garden is. After about maybe 6 inches it starts to get tougher to push it down.

[treehopper]

stop at any tool rental place & check out a fence post driver...not much to em and if your only going a foot, think about getting some longer posts...

[applestar]

For my small projects, I use a rock to drive a reebar into the soil and rock it back-and-forth as it goes in to make a "pilot hole", push the fence post in as far as I can, then hold a piece of 2x4 on top of the post and use a short handled sledge hammer to drive it in the rest of the way.

Don't know about your garden, but for my hard-pan clay sub-soil areas, I need to judge carefully for not too dry but not too wet condition that is optimum.

[Kisal]

I would water the soil well with a soaker hose overnight, or wait until after a rain, then drive the posts in with a short-handled sledge hammer.

[RickRS]

In sand or loamy soil, a short, heavy hammer of 3-4 lbs. like this: https://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00938311000P
and a short ladder if the top of the post is above chest high: you drive better at waist level and lose lots of control and power if trying to pound with your hands too high.

A real post driver, more expensive but worth it for hard soils: https://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM471353801P

[PunkRotten]

Thanks gonna probably go get a sledge hammer.