Mailbox "will" last now ???

[rack4u]

After a battle of keeping our mailbox from being bashed....One rainy day around the shop we fabbed up "Will"

I thought for sure the box itself would get bashed so I welded plate steel inside as well.....It has been month or so and has not been hit or bashed up yet but several neighbors have.....

Long live "Will"

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

Long live Will!

[Monster]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

That is pretty cool David, but when you put it back up, why not at the "end" of the line of boxes ?
.. maybe they will aim for the wheel rim now, instead !
;)

[rack4u]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

"will" was to protect the others as well.....

[dieselgeek]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

your postman is OK with this?

Around here, people who try to beef up their mailboxes to keep them from getting bashed, get in trouble with the law. There are all kinds of rules about how they can be built. Maybe it's a Nebraska/Iowa thing.

[STINEY]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

Very nice.


After going through 4-5 mailboxes a year since I was old enough to remember (we lived only 1 mile from the local high school; football game nights were the worst on them), I finally did something about it at mom's house somewhere around '92 or so.

Bought 2 new 'boxes - one normal size, and one of the economy rural size beasts. Sat the big one on its tail, and but the little one inside it, flush with the floor of the big one.

Filled the void around the little one with cement. Note: this creates one heavy mother of a mailbox, approx 200#. Be warned.

Made a new post from 4x4 1/4" thick square tubing with a 1/4" plate welded on top the size of the base of the industrial mailbox. Used a nother 1/4" doubler plate inside the little mailbox to "sandwich" the 2 together when bolted down.

Buried the post 4' down with a bag of cement to line the posthole. From the outside you'd never know it was anything different.....

That mailbox lasted until last summer, when the metal got too rusty to mount the door anymore. Not bad, and all the neighbors to the east appreciated it as well. Eventually the rest of the boxes on our road were left alone as well.

I guess 16 years isn't too bad. Rural carriers never said a word about it.....

[Hesher]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

About 25 years ago, we lived in the county. North Texas, about 10 miles from the closest town of 300. Our mail box kept getting run down. So one day my dad went out in the woods and chopped down a little tree...I can't remember what kind. He also bought a pipe that was about the same diameter of the tree. He then went to work removing the bark from the tree and glued it to the pipe. Once that was done, he cemented the pipe in the ground, and filled the pipe with cement. With the mailbox on top, the deed was done.

Less than a week later the mailbox totaled a K-10. Cops never said anything...

[rack4u]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

As far as I know postman / postmaster thinks it's cool....Caught him posing for a picture beside it one day.....

Allot of cool boxes around this area....Like 1 ft chain links welded together, old plows, rock columns, boat anchors,

We started to stack 5 of those old mags criss/cross style but my daughter suggested that we build a horse....Two problems... we only had about two hours and I am not sure how to build a horse so we compromised on a stick figure, I had a peice of steel trying to bend it around the wheel for a head shape and Celeste said ...Hey why not just use a whole wheel....and "Will" was born.

The suggestion now is to make "Will" a female skirt shaped partner......I am opposed and think he should play the feild a while before we marry him up !

Always wanted to build an engine with 671 blower case and mailbox injector scoop....Maybe for the paper box ?

[malc]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

I was thinking of a swivelling mailbox with an opposed heavy weight.
Knights used to practise against a tilting post, as the lance hit the target it would
swivel and if they did?nt move it they?d get clouted from behind by the swivelling weight.
So anyone swiping your mailbox with a baseball bat from a moving car would probably get their backlight ventilated.
Here?s the idea.

[DanStokes]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

A solution my buddy Norm came up with many years ago when he lived on a high mailbox mortality curve. Weld a front suspension coil spring to the end of an old crankshaft. Weld a length of driveshaft to the top of the coil spring. Weld a flat plate on top of the hunk of driveshaft tubing to mount the box. Seems like the box itself was reinforced as well.

Bury the crankshaft in the ground where you want your mailbox to be - forever. Add concrete liberally to the hole. Hide the spring with foliage. Reinstall the mailbox. This assembly is capable of cutting thru a hood, core support, and killing a radiator. The testing was performed by a clunker car full of drunk teenagers.

Dan

[antmnte]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

I was thinking of a swivelling mailbox with an opposed heavy weight.
Knights used to practise against a tilting post, as the lance hit the target it would
swivel and if they did?nt move it they?d get clouted from behind by the swivelling weight.
So anyone swiping your mailbox with a baseball bat from a moving car would probably get their backlight ventilated.
Here?s the idea.

Mine is kind of like this. If punks were to hit it it would just swivel away. Unfortunatly my stupid neighbors back into it
rather than dumb kids.

[1988montecarloss]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

Always wanted to build an engine with 671 blower case and mailbox injector scoop....Maybe for the paper box ?

and then put it in a usps mailtruck ;D

[Matt Cramer]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

About 25 years ago, we lived in the county. North Texas, about 10 miles from the closest town of 300. Our mail box kept getting run down. So one day my dad went out in the woods and chopped down a little tree...I can't remember what kind. He also bought a pipe that was about the same diameter of the tree. He then went to work removing the bark from the tree and glued it to the pipe. Once that was done, he cemented the pipe in the ground, and filled the pipe with cement. With the mailbox on top, the deed was done.

Less than a week later the mailbox totaled a K-10. Cops never said anything...

ROFL! I've heard plenty of vandal-proof mailbox stories, but the sleeper factor in that one takes the cake.

Will certainly gets points for originality too.

your postman is OK with this?

Around here, people who try to beef up their mailboxes to keep them from getting bashed, get in trouble with the law. There are all kinds of rules about how they can be built. Maybe it's a Nebraska/Iowa thing.

That's too bad. Around here, they don't have any problems as long as you use a regulation mailbox, set it up at an approved height, and don't block access from the front. As long as it stays up, they don't care what you have holding it up.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

Hey Scott, those rules maybe came from a farmer who got tired of kids smashing his mailbox. The man concreted a 3 inch pipe 6 feet into the ground and then filled the pipe with concrete. Then welded the box on top. A kid in a car came along and tried to mow it down. Car was totalled and kid was hurt.

[tiresmoke!]

Re: Mailbox "will" last now ???

Perhaps the "kid" will think twice before relocating the man's mailbox, whaddaya think?

;D

I understand what you meant...had some little bastards mwoing mine down on a regular basis there for a while.

I considered the concrete-filled pipe solution....but figured I'd have a little more fun:

Edger blocks around the post.....backfill with potting soil and flowers.

All merely subterfuge for the 8 steel spikes surrounding the post......they may take it down, but those *@#! tires are gonna be TOAST......thereby stopping/slowing down the asshats wishing to harm my mailbox.

"Will" is a cool idea.......