Removing old posts from the ground

Without any equipment (tractor, skid steer, etc)
Farm jack and a chain

If you can screw a little 2x4 piece to the post, you can usually do amazing work by prying them out. Similar to this. You might have to rock it back and forth, but you can work it up cheaply and fairly quickly. (wet ground sure makes it easier though)

I did this w/ a Hi Jack. Worked great

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I did this w/ a Hi Jack. Worked great

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That’s a farm jack. I do the same for dead bushes too. I just borrow it from the neighbor.

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This is the way. Ive removed 100+ posts and couple dozen shrubs using farm jack.

TIP: A lot of wood posts rot at the ground line. The posts will often break off at the ground leaving nothing for chain to wrap around. For this, use a 8"+long lag bolt that fits through chain eye. Drill lag bolt down, using impact gun, into rotted wood embedded in the concrete. Usually that is enough to reach sound wood to pull out. You will still run into Excalibur every once in a while that will need a concrete buster.

WARNING: Pulling posts and old concrete leaves massive divots. Plan accordingly if you plan to backfill with dirt or replace with concrete. Just an example, I often found that if I pulled a post that had 1 bag concrete, it could take 3 bags to put a post back in the same spot. In this scenario I put gravel in bottom of hole/divot, set post, and backfill 1/2 hole/divot with gravel and rest with concrete. My point is that pulling and replacing in-kind doubles the concrete/gravel cost vs post hole/auger and 1ish bag concreting of new posts.