BUD Removal

[Pittsville]

I have been offered a free BUD. It's pretty far away and the owner is going to try to send a picture of it, but right now I don't know what I'm facing as far as removing and transporting it.


They said they think it is small mesh. I told them about using a pencil to check that. Are these dishes usually in sections that can be disassembled for transport in a small pickup truck? They said they think the dish might be 10 feet. I think that's too big for me but they may have been referring to the overall height.

Also how big of a blob of concrete might I expect to encounter when I remove the pole? Any ideas what to look for that might help me decide if it is worth it to get the dish?

Thanks for any tips or general suggestions that anyone might have concerning the scavenging of a BUD. If I don't take this one I still plan to find one some day.

 

[grusome]

If it's a mesh dish, those usually come in sections that can be dis-assembled.
The pencil test is a good way to know if it will reflect Ku signals well. A 10' mesh
in good condition should be worth going after, depending on how far you have to go. With a dish that large you will need a pickup and a helper to make it easy. I have installed and removed lots of 10' dishes in the past. The mesh dishes are by far the easiest to handle, it you have to do it alone. Not only weight wise, but, if you take the time and do it right (if it's not on a tall pole) you can take it apart while it's still on the pole it is mounted on. But, even then, if you have a friend that you can take with you, you should do it.
As for the concrete the pole is mounted in. That is an unknown. If you are trying to salvage the pole too, you could have a lot of work to do. Digging and breaking up the concrete can become time consuming. Some people (depending on the installation) will allow you to take a cutting torch and cut the pipe off below ground level. But, most I have encountered wanted the whole thing dug up and removed. Especially if they are giving you the setup. Take a sharpshooter (long pointed shovel) and a good 10lb sledge hammer to help speed up digging up and breaking up the concrete. And take plenty of water..........you'll need it. (drinking water for you and your buddy)
grusome

 

[ChuckBoozer]

I have been offered a free BUD. It's pretty far away and the owner is going to try to send a picture of it, but right now I don't know what I'm facing as far as removing and transporting it.


They said they think it is small mesh. I told them about using a pencil to check that. Are these dishes usually in sections that can be disassembled for transport in a small pickup truck? They said they think the dish might be 10 feet. I think that's too big for me but they may have been referring to the overall height.

Also how big of a blob of concrete might I expect to encounter when I remove the pole? Any ideas what to look for that might help me decide if it is worth it to get the dish?

Thanks for any tips or general suggestions that anyone might have concerning the scavenging of a BUD. If I don't take this one I still plan to find one some day.

Where do you live, Pittsville? Based upon your location coordinates, we may be neighbors.

Just an FYI - a guy just responded to my request for spare dishes on Freecycle and has offered up two BUDs (one loose and one mounted). I will be going by his house tomorrow morning to scope it out. They may be too big for my needs, but it might be a good fit for you (and maybe a lot closer to your location).

 

[lumpkin666]

A buddy of mine swears that the easiest way (next to dynamite) to remove a pole from the ground is to dig at it just a little bit to loosen the dirt around the pole.. then use a cherry-picker (portable hydraulic engine hoist) to just yank the pole outta the ground. He says they come out almost as easy and pulling a knife out of a tub of margarine.

 

[navychop]

And the rent on that puppy is ............?

 

[lumpkin666]

And the rent on that puppy is ............?

Rental is pretty cheap.. but then again, every one of us hicks around my parts owns one or has one in their garage that they borrowed from someone else, so I haven't rented one since I was a teenager Heck, you can buy a 1-ton portable hoist from harbor freight for 130 bucks.

 

[Anole]

The hardware is probably rusted/seized.
Take big tools, hammers, hacksaw, hand-grinder, and appropriate lubricating fluids.

I think the pencil test is to check the mesh for being the diameter of the pencil LEAD.
But even so, a free C-band dish that won't do Ku is still quite a haul.
From what I've read here, combining the two isn't something I'd want to bother with.

 

[Diamond Jim]

Dig around the concrete maybe 8 to 10 inches then sacherate the hole with water, that will loosen it up pretty good.

 

[linuxman]

I think the pencil test is to check the mesh for being the diameter of the pencil LEAD. But even so, a free C-band dish that won't do Ku is still quite a haul.

I was under the impression that Anole has stated above until I got the Birdview dish. A #2 pencil is the acid test. Not just the lead. If a #2 pencil won't pass through the holes and the dish is a well formed dish and not all banged up or warped, it will do fine for Ku. The Birdview is doing a great job with Ku, and will be super when I finally get it tuned in. The holes in it are just a hair smaller than a #2 Pencil.

Fred

 

[stogie5150]

TNT would work...


I've never taken up a BUD before but I helped put a couple down....and each one had about 5-8 sacks of concrete down the hole...I'd hate to take that up with anything short of a trackhoe...

 

[rockymtnhigh]

When I got my BUD, I just left the pole. It is an 8' mesh, which all came apart quite nicely, and the base of it was screwed to the pole, I was able to losen it, and pull it off.

 

[ken2400]

Harbor Freight, to buy stuff from
saws all, to cut the pole
blow tourch, to get the bolts moving

Good luck and send us a pic of what you picked up.

 

[lumpkin666]

Well it looks like I'll personally be testing the cherry-picker method tomorrow. I'm suppose to remove a 10+ foot mesh dish and pole, and a primestar dish/pole tomorrow (nice suprise for me!)

 

[gabshere]

the last two that i removed , i dug right after a rain ( within a day or two ) and both for some reason used small amounts of concrete just dug off the surrounding soil and uncovered the edges and pushed lightly with my truck bumper , they both fell right over..... good luck

 

[Pittsville]

Thanks for all the replies.

I am in Pittsville on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and fortunately the soil is sandy and pretty easy to dig (usually). This dish is in Easton about 60 miles West of here. I figured that if someone was willing to give away the dish I should remove the pole for them. The owner did ask how I would remove the pole so I think they expect it. I thought I might be able to break the concrete off of the pole and if the hole was deep enough I could chuck the broken concrete into the hole to help fill it in. Thanks again for the responses.

 

[ChuckBoozer]

Thanks for all the replies.

I am in Pittsville on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and fortunately the soil is sandy and pretty easy to dig (usually). This dish is in Easton about 60 miles West of here. I figured that if someone was willing to give away the dish I should remove the pole for them. The owner did ask how I would remove the pole so I think they expect it. I thought I might be able to break the concrete off of the pole and if the hole was deep enough I could chuck the broken concrete into the hole to help fill it in. Thanks again for the responses.

Sent you a PM - as per my earlier response, I will be checking out the two dishes this morning. I'll let you know what I find.

 

[Tron]

There is often PLENTY of concrete on a BUD pole. I helped a friend bury one, we must have used at least 500-700 pounds of concrete

 

[ChuckBoozer]

Pittsville,

Just got back from dish hunting. There are two dishes up for grabs - both in good and working condition according to the owner. :up

1. 10 foot mesh on pole mount (the owner does not want or expect pole removal - just take the dish off the mount and go).
2. 7.5 foot mesh on ground - ready to go!

Both dishes are too large for my needs. If you are interested, let me know and I will PM you the owner's e-mail/phone number. I told him that I knew of someone who might be interested and he was OK with passing along his contact info.

PS - apparently he still has the Uniden receiver and some other satellite accesories packed away - if you can convince him to pull those out, I will be happy to take those as my finder's fee!

 

[lumpkin666]

Well, using a cherry-picker to pull out the pole was successful. However, it was not as easy as my buddy lead me to believe. We first backed up the 2-ton cherry-picker and started lifting without doing anything to prep (his suggestion) - that only led to slightly bending the cherry-picker's arm. So, we remove the few inches of dirt above the concrete.. backed the truck's bumper against the pole to give it a little nudge and loosen it in the ground, then used the cherry picker to pull the thing out.

The last pole I did, I never used nearly that amount of concrete. This thing looked like it had a 55 gallon drum's worth of concrete around the pole, with 4-5 inches of depth at the top nearly that was 3 feet in diameter!

I filled in the hole with dirt and as much concrete as we could break off. But I'll have to go back with some dirt and grass seed later in the week after the rain stops.

 

[somery]

i'd say a sawzall is a great tool for cutting the pole at ground level, but requires about four blades or so (of fine toothed metal blades), and if the dish is high up, leave about 1/8" or even 3/16" left uncut on the pole so you can lower the whole dish with the piece of the pole making it where the top-heavy weight of the dish doesn't make the bottom of the pole suddenly shoot up and blow out a window or someones teeth. If its near a house, you can put some 3 1/2 inch screws to the rafters through the facia board, and anchor a bracket to put a rope through, making the lowering leverage manageable.

I used 14-16 bags of the large sized concrete bags. buried my 10.5 foot pole (its a 4 inch pipe) about five feet down, and made the hole around 16 inches wide (larger at top so i could shovel that deep down). I can shake the pole with all my might, and it doesn't budge, plus its close to the house, and on the north side of the house, so storms coming in from the south (gulf of mexico) will probably not affect my solid dish and setup Plus, I'm proud of my leveling job 16 bags of 80 pounders equals 1280 pounds of concrete Overkill, I know, but I am hoping i'll never have to worry about the pole moving on me.