# Will it Push?



## Sean Lauren (Aug 28, 2020)

I have an RK24 sub compact tractor. I also have a brick structure likely concreted into the ground that is appx 3' by 2' around and 4' high. The ground is frozen with snow everywhere. Would I be able to topple it? Would ramming it hurt me or the tractor? Would it just bust up the brick? Should I dig from below and prop it up or use leverage by pushing from the top and it pops out like butter? What do you think?


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## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

DON"T RAM IT.
I'd dig or poke around the bottom to see if I could get it to move a little, on all sides if you can. Then see what happens if you try and prop it up and over. Can the project wait til spring? What are you going to do with it if you do tip it over? It'll just be 3' by 4' by 2' high!
Can you hook on it with a chain and pull it over? Don't take a run at it and jerk it out, otherwise you'll end up with a section of chain burrowed into the back of your head.... when a chain breaks, they release a lot of energy. So be careful either way.
A contractor could probably smash it up and bury for you for only a few hundred bucks.


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## Sean Lauren (Aug 28, 2020)

Fair enough . Is pulling more powerful than pushing? I have a grapple and intend to pick it up and move it once it's over. Might be best to stab the ground a bit around it and try to lift up on the buried concrete part if I can get under it.


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## bontai Joe (Sep 16, 2003)

Ramming is definitely a BAD idea. You are traveling into the direction of destruction and have absolutely no time to react should things go bad. Is this structure hollow? or is it a solid brick monolith? If it's hollow, I personally would use a sledge hammer and knock it down the old fashioned way. If you want to try pulling it down with your tractor, I'd pull from the top for maximum leverage. And no getting a "running start" before the chain pulls tight because that is how things get broken. Ask me how I know this.


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## Sean Lauren (Aug 28, 2020)

It is hollow, yes. I kinda feel like I should be able to push it over with a gentle touch and shove, but the circumstances (a bit complicated) would advise success on my first attempt and not drive away with failed sullenness . I hurt my wrist so I didn't want to sledge it outright which is why I wanted to get a feel for whether or not it's likely to fail. I'm just not sure yet how powerful this thing is. Crazy feats of strength, but not sure about pushing things concreted in frozen ground.


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## bontai Joe (Sep 16, 2003)

So this is a hollow structure made of standard red brick mortared together? The walls are one brick thick? I would bet money that this won't pop out of the ground in one piece if attacked from above the ground, unless you can get under the slab it is built on and try to pry it out of the ground. Mortared brick is really strong in compression which is why it makes great walls, but not strong at all against horizontal forces, which is why I am sure that it will crumble apart if force is used horizontally against it, either pushing or pulling. I get the feeling that you want this in one piece?


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## Ed Williams (Jun 13, 2019)

DO NOT RAM. You will beeak rither you or the tractor in short order.


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## Groo (Jan 17, 2020)

It should handle low speed "ramming", but will your wrists and knees? When smashing into snow banks when younger, my body was getting it worse than the kubota 
Honestly, a SC is going to be too light to just "koolaid man" it. Can you grab the top of the walls with the graple bucket, and work your way down?


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