Best support for a mailbox post?

[Ignoramus31268]

Our old mailbox was hit by cars, snowplows etc, too many times. It is falling apart. (no foul play involved, just a lot of idiot drivers and snowplow operators)

I made a swinging arm for a mailbox, so that when the mailbox is hit, it swings away and then back.

So, now is the time for installing a new mailbox post. I bought a 30" post support that is made to be beaten into the ground with a sledgehammer. It is like an arrow with four fins.

I am now having second thoughts and am not sure if this is a good long term solution. One of the reasons is that there is going to be quite a bit of tipping moment due to a little longer swinging arm. (my guess about 40-60 extra foot pounds of moment of force).

I want this mailbox to stay vertical and not "tip".

I live in Northern Illinois, so we have frequent freeze/unfreeze cycles of soil.

So... What's a good way of mounting a mailbox post? Maybe I should set that mailbox post support at least partially into concrete? (ie, digh a shallow hole, beat it into the hole level with ground, and fill the hole with concrete?

i

[hallerb]

I got @##^&* at people intentially taking out my posts and those of our neighbors.mostly joyriding kids

Kinda amazing once it was replaced with a steel beam 6 feet in the ground it never got hit again...

I didnt concrete it in, no matter what post you use concrete makes it hard to reset if tipped.

I was espically glad I didnt concrete it in when it had to be relocated for a sewer project

The steel beam doesnt meet all those pesky rules, but then again there are lots of fixed things that you dont want to hit. like utility poles.

another neighbor set some HUGE rocks around their mailbox post as landscape materials.

soounds like your post will be well back from the road a definite positive

[Ignoramus31268]

good point about concrete.

I am not willing to break these rules, for certain reasons.

Yes, I want it set back farther.

i

[John McGaw]

I put in one of those spike-type anchors on my mailbox and so far it has worked out very well and is by far the easiest anchorage method I've heard of. The cantilever on my mailbox arm is only about two feet but the box itself is one of the welded heavy-gauge "bulletproof" sorts so there is probably more tipping force than might be supposed at first glance. My local soil is heavy and actual ground freeze is pretty much unheard of so nature is doing less to pop it out than what you will experience.

One idea that suddenly popped into mind that might be of assistance in your situation is to have an angled support from the back (away from the road) side of the post and going down to a deadman anchor. This would take up the entire load of the cantilevered arm and convert it into a downward force on the main post. This would help with the frost heave situation and if the deadman is below the freeze line it shouldn't be affected.

Have fun. I had several of my mailboxes eaten by snowplows when I lived in Alaska and I know how frustrating it is to wake in the morning to find the bits and pieces blown over the lawn by the city's blower.

[hallerb]

I guess you could put a steel beam r such in level with the ground and bolt a bendable or break away pole to the ground anchor.

at least this way when some jerk takes out the pole no futher digging is necessary

[George E. Cawthon]

Do it like a corner post or gate post. Put two posts in the ground about 3 feet apart and 3 feet into the ground and tie the two posts together at the top and the bottom with cross pieces. Posts are at a right angle to the road of course.

Works everywhere I've been with much stronger forces on the posts than a simple mailbox. If you make the mailbox arm of 1-1/4" pipe and just stuff that into an appropriate size pipe attached to the post, you can readjust it anytime you want by moving the larger pipe a bit on the post. Course you really want the larger pipe angled toward the road, so that the arm naturally swings toward the road.