How to extract pipe remnant from ground sleeve?

Question

In Hurricane Beryl my Purple Martin birdhouse pole blew over when it broke off at the ground sleeve. In retrospect it was weakened by decades of metal fatigue and rust.

I would like to extract the remnant of the old pole from inside the ground sleeve so that I can re-use the sleeve for a replacement pole.

The pole is a 2 1/2 inch outside diameter galvanized steel pipe and the ground sleeve is a slightly larger diameter galvanized steel pipe anchored into the ground with concrete. The ground sleeve is three feet long and the inner pipe extends down to the end of it. The sleeve sticks out of the ground 8 inches or so. Referring to the picture, one can see that the inner pipe snapped off about an inch below the upper end of the ground sleeve pipe (unsurprisingly, it broke at the weak spot, where the retaining bolt holes were).

The inner pipe is not extremely tight against the outer pipe - I can stick the end of a large screwdriver between them and get some relative motion by prying. But the max displacement between the two pipes I can get is pretty small, maybe an eighth of an inch.

So my question boils down to, what tool or method can I use to "grab hold" of the inner pipe to pull it out? I expect it to take significant force, so it needs to be a pretty strong "grab". With the limited pipe-to-pipe gap and the amount the inner pipe is recessed, I can't get a pair of pliers on it, and I don't think the grip strength would be sufficient if I could.

Answer 1

Can you reach/touch the bottom of the inner pipe? If so, something like a bearing puller or a slide pull hammer with outside facing jaws will work.

Picture of one for example only.

Found on image search for slide hammers. Is from stanzaniusa.com/products/art-171-slide-hammer

Answer 2

It depends on how tightly stuck the inner pipe is, but a couple of options not already suggested (but related in principle to the rubber expansion plug suggestion) that you might be able to quickly try with stuff you already have:

1. Using a tool with long handles and a pivot point, like pliers, bolt cutters, tin snips, etc, simply open the tool so that the working end expands and grips the inside of the pipe, then pull it out. There won't be a lot of grip with this one, but it could work if the inner pipe is loose enough. You may be able to wrap the head of the tool in something rubbery to give it a little more grip
2. Use a few pieces of scrap wood to form a wedge in the pipe. The central piece will have a piece of rope attached that you can pull up on, and you can press down on the side pieces to wedge them tightly into place. Then as you lift the rope tied to the central piece, it'll force the side pieces against the wall of the pipe. As long as the friction between the wood and the pipe is high enough it should lift out the pipe.

Answer 3

The first idea that comes to me is to weld a "handle" to the inner tube.

The access is enough for stick or wire feed welding, just take care not to weld both tubes together.

Answer 4

Drill a hole for a threaded rod

Drill a hole sideways through both the outer and inner pipe.

Cut a piece of threaded rod short enough that it will just fit inside the outer pipe. Push it through the hole and thread two nuts onto it.

Tighten the two nuts against the sides of the inner pipe. Check from sides to see that it doesn't touch the sides of the outer pipe.

You now have a handle that you can attach e.g. a piece of chain or strong rope to, and then use a prybar against the top of the outer pipe to pull it up.

Answer 5

If you push a rubber expansion plug into the inner pipe and then tighten it up you might get enough grip on it to be able to pull it out.

_{Amazon Link}

I'd suggest tying a piece of string around the wing-nut 1st - just in case it falls in before you tighten it ...

Answer 6

1. Drill a ~3/8" hole straight through the side of both pipes, a few inches below the retaining bolt slots and using the slots as a guide. Have the hole close enough to the top so it's reachable from the inside with a long-nose pliers for step #3.

2. Cut a bolt or pin to length, to catch both holes in the inside pipe but NOT the outside pipe. Length will have to be accurate considering original thinness and now corrosion of inside pipe.

3. Snake the bolt/pin into hole, using long-nose pliers inside pipe to help.

4. Connect a chain or puller to pin inside of inner pipe and have at it. Maybe a block and lever setup on the outside, attached to chain and pull up?

5. Other possibility would be to catch one of the inside pipe holes with a slide hammer and hook attachment.

6. When done, caulk/fill holes on outside pipe and paint for appearance.

Possible inside pipe will just disintegrate with force considering its condition. Also movement at the top doesn't mean the lower end isn't expanded with rust and seized in there for good.

Answer 7

Cut a short length of steel rod -- such as a piece of rebar -- that is ever so slightly too long to fit horizontally inside the inner pipe. Clamp the rod near its end in a set of locking pliers. Now place the rod in the inner pipe, held at a slight angle with the pliers end low, free end high. Give the high end a little tap-tap with a hammer to lock it in place. (If it doesn't lock in place, it's too long.)

Now lift using the pliers.

Answer 8

Wood and epoxy

Take a piece of lumber that is a bit larger than the inner diameter of the pipe. Cut it with knife until the first few inches fit snugly inside the pipe.

Use sandpaper to clean the inside of the inner pipe. Mix some 2-component epoxy glue and use a stick to spread it inside the pipe. Be sure not to get any glue between the two pipes.

Push the wood into the pipe and let the epoxy cure at least overnight. You should now have a strong handle that you can drill holes into for any kind of prybar or other pulling tools you have available.

An advantage of this method is that it doesn't put much sideways pressure on the pipe.

Answer 9

One possible option is to cut the inner sleeve but it depends the length you need to work with.

If it is only 6" then there are padsws that will work or mini grinders, however if it is 18" then that becomes challenging in the extreme.

Once you have completed a cut along the length of the internal sleeve it should compress just enough to allow it to slide out.

Answer 10

I'm going to suggest an alternative solution.

Leave the old pipe (grey) there. Get a suitable length of new pipe with an Inner Diameter (ID) that is just more than the Outer Diameter of the existing pipe.

Fit it OVER the existing standpipe (black) and use construction adhesive to join them if its a loose fit.

Options: Fill the old pipe with sloppy concrete (yellow) and some rebar/reinforcing rod (red) then tap the pipe repeatedly with a hammer to vibrate all the bubbles out, and settle the concrete. This adds strength at the bottom. Consider filling the new pipe too, right to the top if you can, as long as its not too high.

If you want to be fancy, put a flange at the top of the new pipe to make mounting the birdhouse easier and more stable.

If you have to, bolt the new pipe to the old pipe, but be aware that's an entry point for water and future rust. I'd go with a friction fit, or an adhesive.

Answer 11

There were a lot of great answers posted here, that I am sure will help out future searchers with a similar problem.

With the limited tools and even more limited talent available to me, I couldn't do any of them however.

I ended up cutting off the cauliflowered bottom inch or so of the upper piece and inserting a smaller diameter steel pipe inside the two fragments. Then drilling holes and bolting them together. A lot like this answer suggested only inside instead of outside.