No hits yet, by the plow drivers that we have seen anyway.

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

Gotta have some news from the last snow storm!

Looks like New England is gunna get slammed this Friday, maybe a story or video to share of the mailbox?

It has been a relatively snow free winter up here. I don’t think we have gotten more than 4 or 5’ of snow this year total. But we will see.

Next storm isn’t here yet so when it does the camera is running and we will see,

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

Hah... awesome...

------------------
Todd,
2008 Jeep Patriot Limited 4x2
2002 Ford Explorer Sport 2dr 4x2
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

Oh forgot to post.

When I went to check mail yesterday the mail box was up and over the post again. The plow must have hit it again and swung it right over the top post it was hanging from.

No damage to the box, but to my back after swinging it back over to where it belonged.

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

My door bell was ringing this AM and a neighbor said she "fell asleep" and clipped my mail box, knocking it off the post. But she also snapped the post on the neighbors mailbox. The mailbox posts are on a straight away on my street. She was driving on the wrong side of the street to clip the mail boxes.

Oh well $17 bucks later, I have a new box up.

You’re in Florida, you never get any snow. My main problem has been the plows hitting it with the snow they push. And funny you should post on this thread this morning.

We got our first snow of the year here this morning. Nothing stuck but it was some big flakes. I have to re-weld the door stops on the mailbox before winter actually does get here and was thinking of making the post so it could swivel if the box was hit. Giving it some extra leeway when the box does get hit.

Those plastic mail boxes only last one snow storm up here. And with us sometimes getting 3 or 4 storms a week that gets expensive. A couple of hundred a month when we get that much snow. That was the reason for making my box.

Glad she didn’t get hurt.

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 10-31-2010).]

When I was in NY, my posts used to get clipped by the snow plows. I had the wooden posts that were not cemented into the ground. When they were no longer repairable. I could wiggle them loose and just insert another post into the hole. Although the last one the plows clipped, they installed a new one. In Florida the gound is just sand. The two mail box posts were maybe 10 feet apart. Mine just alerted her that she was off track, but didn't correct enough to avoid the second one. She may have just dinged her car up pretty good as the posts are 3x3 lumber. My mail box (metal) was just distorted. A plastic one in Florida may melt in the sun, or the sun's uv rays would just weaken the plastic.

When I started looking at Home Depot, they had $50-70 mai boxes and I had to find the cheap metal ones, although the plastic ones were $8.

I was just looking at the driveway monitor and there is a town truck in frt on our mailbox with the lights on. And two town worker standing my mailbox up. Evidently the town plow must have hit it last night while we were sleeping.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.
I guess the plow won this one. Lets see if there is any damage to the box.

edit to add

Well Melanie was taking Amanda to work this morning and went up to see what happened. The town plow was just sanding and had the plow up in the air and he hit it with the wing. He hit the top post that the mailbox hangs from not the box. No damage to the box but I think the guys, two who picked it up got a hernia.
They re-bolted the base down to the concrete and its fine. no damage to the box base, or post.

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 12-16-2010).]

He must have hit it full on!

quote Originally posted by 8Ball: He must have hit it full on!

Said he hit it pretty hard, he even scratched the plow. The neighbor up the top of the hill had a water leak or something and there was a sheet of ice from his place down the road and he was trying to lay down enough sand on the road and wasn’t watching what he was doing.

That will teach him, now he is going to have to paint the plow to.

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

quote Originally posted by 84fiero123: Said he hit it pretty hard, he even scratched the plow. That will teach him, now he is going to have to paint the plow to. Steve

LOL!!!!
Way to go Mailbox!

I like the idea of a swivel post... maybe spring loaded, or have the joint on an angle, so the top half has to move vertically as it turns and then let gravity (and grease) return the post to it's normal position. You will have to put a stop on it also.

when Cliff turns on the forum holiday theme... it should just bump this thread to the top.

Steve... without your mailbox and (former) neighbors... you'd not be nearly as entertaining!

quote Originally posted by Old Lar: My door bell was ringing this AM and a neighbor said she "fell asleep" and clipped my mail box, knocking it off the post. But she also snapped the post on the neighbors mailbox. The mailbox posts are on a straight away on my street. She was driving on the wrong side of the street to clip the mail boxes. Oh well $17 bucks later, I have a new box up.

My wife took out a neighbor's mailbox and bushes one morning. Unfortunately, they seemed to be the most unfriendly people in the neighborhood. After they collected $400 from State Farm, they started waving back to us and even smiling too.

[This message has been edited by carnut122 (edited 12-16-2010).]

quote Originally posted by jaskispyder: I like the idea of a swivel post... maybe spring loaded, or have the joint on an angle, so the top half has to move vertically as it turns and then let gravity (and grease) return the post to it's normal position. You will have to put a stop on it also.

Now if it falls down Melanie can yell at the town. I thought about the swivel last year, but never got around to it. There is some guy up here in Maine who makes one that works like that. Swivels around and then back to position. I will have to look at how he makes that one.

He also makes $200 mailboxes that look like regular mailboxes but is made out of ¼” steel plate.

http://www.mailswing.com/

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

We lost ours year before last, the plow hit the post, snapped it in half.. I found the rest of the top of the post with the box still attached about 6 doors down in the ditch. I grabbed it, drilled holes in both pieces, then bound it back together with 2 long I-bolts... it was then so short that the mailman had to half way lean out his window just to put mail in it. Eventually (August) the county replaced it after calling 4 times. Its starting to look terrible... I wonder how long before the plow does it again in this weather?

Love your mailbox, Steve.

quote Originally posted by 84Bill: 80!! Jesus I hope you arent held liable if someone hydroplanes off the road and gets decapitated.

If someone did you could be. Make sure the insurance is paid up.

[This message has been edited by phonedawgz (edited 12-16-2010).]

quote Originally posted by phonedawgz: If someone did you could be. Make sure the insurance is paid up.

We already had this argument with someone from Mississippi I think it was. They say they are liable if someone hits their mailbox. Up here it is private property and as such if you hit it you are liable for property damage.

And yes my liability is paid up. But that goes to those kids who hit the mailboxes with a baseball bat. Who is in the wrong? Them for hitting a poor defenseless mailbox or the mailbox when they hit mine and brake their arm?

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

They killed it, not really but they did knock the whole dam thing down again. So I went over and Melanie and I dragged it back across the road and I dug the snow out around where it was.

They, the town when they put it back up a couple of weeks ago, mounted it to the ground instead of the concrete I had it bolted to. That’s right they drilled holes in the frozen ground and put lag anchors in the frozen ground and put it there. I thought the box was sitting a lot lower than it used to the other day when I went to check mail.

So now I am cutting a 16” circle and welding that to the original 8" X 12" base and drilling 8 holes for anchor bolts. Using the longer 3/8” anchors and lets see them knock it down NOW!

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

Man, they got some retarded drivers up there in Farmington. LOL! This little project is getting expensive. I would find the biggest anchor bolts you can find and use those.

quote Originally posted by 84fiero123: So now I am cutting a 16” circle and welding that to the original 8" X 12" base and drilling 8 holes for anchor bolts. Using the longer 3/8” anchors and lets see them knock it down NOW!

I've no doubt your work is battleship-tough, but the question now is WHERE do you want it to break? Did they just hit it with the snow coing off the plow, or actually smack the box with the plow? If they're hitting the whole shebang with the plow truck, the question becomes, what part do you want to be replacing next?

Next time it gets hit, will the pole/stand bend or break before the new anchors let go?

quote Originally posted by Zeb: I've no doubt your work is battleship-tough, but the question now is WHERE do you want it to break? Did they just hit it with the snow coing off the plow, or actually smack the box with the plow? If they're hitting the whole shebang with the plow truck, the question becomes, what part do you want to be replacing next? Next time it gets hit, will the pole/stand bend or break before the new anchors let go?

My bet is he wants it to break the vehicle that hits it.

quote Originally posted by Formula88: My bet is he wants it to break the vehicle that hits it.

Well the LAST TIME I put it up it lasted a while. Then they hit it with the wing plow at the top of the vertical post. Then the plow guy came back and fixed it himself. But like I said he drilled the holes in the frozen ground not the concrete a ft to the side that it is supposed to be.

As far as what I want to break? The bolts, they have yet to bend the pipe. They are like schedule 40 or maybe even 80 so I think it would take like a head-on by the plow before it bends. When my neighbor up the road drove right over it with his car it didn‘t even bend. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.

But the mailbox itself is undamaged even after multiple hits by the plows and being run over by a mid sized car.

So I guess the mailbox still won this one still.

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 01-16-2011).]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 84fiero123:

They killed it, not really but they did knock the whole dam thing down again.

So, does that make it 5 and 1 now?

May i suggest titanium or kevlar plating all welded together? My gawd man.... just build one of those swing boxes out of some exhaust pipes, sheet steel and an old wheel bearing.

My dad used to drive a plow truck here in NY. He used to aim for the ugly ones and try his best to leave the nice ones alone. Yours i think it would have been a challenge for all the drivers here. They would have turned it into a game.

The coolest one i've ever seen was just a plastic pipe that went underground to a vacuum system. as soon as the mailman shut the door... POOF! Mails here. lol

Some one pulled up my wood post the other night.. No damage, but I just re dug the hole it was sitting in and re buried it.. Great to have nothing but sand.

It was probably a retired Snow Plow driver from Maine!

An old family story goes that one winter my Grandfather got tired of the snow plow tearing up his mailbox so he welded one up out of old high pressure steel pipe and set it on a swivel. The plow drivers went from running it over to seeing how many times they could get it to swing around scattering the mail as they did so. However, one time a car came too close to the edge of the road and hit the mailbox catching it with it front windshield. The driver slammed on their breaks just as it was completing its swing where it took out the back window as well.

quote Originally posted by 84fiero123: Well the LAST TIME I put it up it lasted a while. Then they hit it with the wing plow at the top of the vertical post. Then the plow guy came back and fixed it himself. But like I said he drilled the holes in the frozen ground not the concrete a ft to the side that it is supposed to be. As far as what I want to break? The bolts, they have yet to bend the pipe. They are like schedule 40 or maybe even 80 so I think it would take like a head-on by the plow before it bends. When my neighbor up the road drove right over it with his car it didn‘t even bend. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. But the mailbox itself is undamaged even after multiple hits by the plows and being run over by a mid sized car. So I guess the mailbox still won this one still. Steve

I knew you would've thought about this, I just didn't recall what the main pipe was Schedule 80! no wonder it weighs a ton. As long as the thing's undamaged, you've got one in the "Win" column.

quote Originally posted by Zeb: I knew you would've thought about this, I just didn't recall what the main pipe was Schedule 80! no wonder it weighs a ton. As long as the thing's undamaged, you've got one in the "Win" column.

4” schedule 80 pipe.

Well I cut a peace of ¼” plate in a 16” circle and welded that to the original 6“X12” base then drilled some more holes in the new base and put some longer lags and encores in it. Now instead of just 4 bolt holding it down it has 6 so it should be good for the rest of the winter.

I HOPE.

We will see.

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

Any hits yet?

quote Originally posted by Gokart Mozart: Any hits yet?

Up from the grave!

Inquiring minds want to know!

A private plow hit our next door neighbour's mailbox just a couple hours ago, I saw the guy out there trying to put it back up, we're getting a heck of a storm here at the moment.

quote Originally posted by Miker: An old family story goes that one winter my Grandfather got tired of the snow plow tearing up his mailbox so he welded one up out of old high pressure steel pipe and set it on a swivel. The plow drivers went from running it over to seeing how many times they could get it to swing around scattering the mail as they did so. However, one time a car came too close to the edge of the road and hit the mailbox catching it with it front windshield. The driver slammed on their breaks just as it was completing its swing where it took out the back window as well.

ROFLMAO, "stupid should hurt"

Joe

quote Originally posted by RWDPLZ: A private plow hit our next door neighbour's mailbox just a couple hours ago, I saw the guy out there trying to put it back up, we're getting a heck of a storm here at the moment.

I haven't needed to bring out the shovel all season yet. I have large overhangs and on the north side is where my driveway and entry door are and I've had to throw out a couple handfuls of deicer.

We were watching the camera this morning as the plow went by and it was another direct hit. Swing the mailbox all over for a couple of min but the,
“Incredible Mailbox of Doom” or the IMD as we like to call it
Just shrugged it off and slowed down and finally stopped. No damage.

I have got to get our recorder fixed or plug the camera into an old VCR so I can post more video of it.

The thing takes a licking and just keeps on ticking.

We really haven’t got much snow this year, yet. I will keep all posted if anything good happens.

Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.

Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

I think it is a game for those who hit it.... You should put up a "fake" one, made out of cheap cardboard and then fill it with latex paint (well, maybe with antifreeze as the reducer to keep it from freezing)... pretty pink color... or purple, or neon green!