Freeze Thaw tripod sinking

I've driven hubs in and setup on them. I've also seen one of our other office use landscape spikes. They have some how hollowed out the top of the landscape spikes a little bit so the tip of the tripod legs settles into them naturally.

Cover the tripod feet with a good pile of snow or mud, depending on the season.

You will still likely have to re-level midway through the day, but it certainly slows the sinking process.

Shovel snow around and over the tripod feet. It acts as an insulator, keeping the ground frozen.

I drive in 12" hubs for tripod set up as others have suggested. I will also combine this with shoveling snow around the feet if it is available.

I recall one time that two tripod feet were shaded and the third was not. No hubs, no snow, but frost. The black tripod foot was warming so I just set my hat on the ground leaning against the leg to shade the foot. Not a good long term fix, but will work for short occupations.

Great tips, thanks to all!

Brad, having been through your cycle of misery I found that the best solution is to have 3 ea 6" lengths of 2 x 4, or better yet 2 x 6, and just place them flat on the ground and stomp the life out of them. Set your gun up on those and it isn't going anywhere.

Or do like I did and move where it's warm. Then again, setting up on hot asphalt in 95 deg will tend to move things too. Same concept, only different.

Go Colts!

Yes, this will drive you nuts the first few times you experience it. Giant pain in the wazoo.

Brad, right there with ya. Had to deal with that today due to the "heatwave". I agree with covering the legs with snow, but I have also driven larger Mag Spikes in at the same angle+/- as the legs in tue frozen dirt and put the point of the foot in the dimple. Yet another use for a dimple...

Covering with snow is what I was told to do.
If you are on frozen ground without snow, cover the feet with a healthy piles to shade the ground from getting sun. They told me that trick as well.
E.

Depending on the weather du jour, hubs work best, snow pack second. The wind is problematic on the hubs though.

Now, on the other side, around here in the summer the issue is sinking into asphalt. I keep a few beer bottle caps in my tool bag and stomp the tripod feet through them. Floats the tripod real nice.
Would be perfect if I could explain to SWMBO why I need to empty out all those beer bottles.
Cheers!
JB

> Now, on the other side, around here in the summer the issue is sinking into asphalt. I keep a few beer bottle caps in my tool bag and stomp the tripod feet through them. Floats the tripod real nice.
> Would be perfect if I could explain to SWMBO why I need to empty out all those beer bottles.
> Cheers!
> JB

I generally used guard stakes under each leg, basically spreading the load out. Didn't make set up stable, but I was road staking with a robot, not rocket surgery or brain science.

> Brad, right there with ya. Had to deal with that today due to the "heatwave". I agree with covering the legs with snow, but I have also driven larger Mag Spikes in at the same angle+/- as the legs in tue frozen dirt and put the point of the foot in the dimple. Yet another use for a dimple...

Mag Hubs worked today like a charm.

Rock on!

A couple more alternative solutions (sans snow):

Another thing to keep in mind kiddies...Although tripods do sink in semi-frozen ground; even a tripod on solid concrete in the winter will get distorted with uneven heating from the sun. Usually it's the 'sunward' leg expanding that throws things off. A good reason to keep occupations short or check and adjust often.

Ah, heck. What's a couple of minutes between friends??????????

I don't have to worry about frozen ground here, but during hot time on asphalt I use large washers allowing the tip through so the legs wouldn't move laterally. I usually find a few washers every time I'm searching along the road.

Tripod settling got to me today. Yesterday was just above freezing and legs went into grass-covered dirt, but the height measurement showed end of static session matched beginning and the bubble hadn't moved.

Today the temperature was over 40 F but with still frozen ground, and one leg was on pretty bare dirt that I couldn't stomp it into much. I had more weight on the legs because I was cozying up to a short concrete wall that the bench mark was 8 inches from. The tripod didn't look stable enough unweighted if the wind came up.

I checked it at something over an hour and a half and found the bubble way off. I tried to readjust the legs to relevel, but ended up with a height difference from the start, so I gave up for the day.

Gonna hafta take something to set legs on next time.

I have worked in the Chicagoland area.
We used to drive 3/4" conduit, and set the tripod feet in the pipe. Worked well for us.
N