Scraping Irrigation Pivot Systems - Tumbleweed

Got a call out of the blue asking if I had interest in removing an irrigation system. I told them scrap prices were so bad I could not afford to do it. They said I could have everything for free. It is an irrigation company and they said they have others they want to remove as well. This one is a 1/4 mile long, 16 ft. towers, 3/16 to 1/4 pipe and eight inches in diameter.

This will be considered a community service/advertising project. Depending on how it goes, I might have to charge in the future. But for now it is the newest challenge and I would like some creative ideas how to proceed. I have a plan but want other ideas. Thanks.

Tip: turn it on and let the grass get nice and soaked before torching it. Otherwise how long is it? Possibly put it on a flatbed and take it in as is depending on how far yard is. Good luck hope to c more pics

Yeah, having your own water truck or tank on hand in case of a grass fire probably a good idea. Should be easier than a tall watertower!! They want the electrical boxes taken as well (how does one cap of the power coming into those things?)? Should be fun!!

Childhood dream- Sorry, probably no steam power units there. Center pivots were a post-WWII technology advance. Down in the Western High Plains (such as w. KS) they are powered with natural gas (to generate the elctricity to move them or some sort of combustion thing, I don't know...Just know that they are tied together down there...).

Heres what id do.

Id look into renting an off road forklift for a day or two. Rental places around here dont charge extra on the weekends. So id rent it on friday and try to get it all on the ground and sorted in 1 weekend. Stick the forks under the middle section, cut the middle and lower it down. Or ram it until it falls apart . Have a couple steel bins handy and load as much as you can with the fork lift.
It depends on how fast your operator is. I use one at work all the time, and there is a HUGE difference in my speed/ production compared to a rookie.

Hey, its supposed to be spring!! Maybe it will rain yet (either too wet or too dry in this country)...

P76, ParkerF4 may have a good idea there, just trying to think how far it might be to a place for you that rents such equipment, 50 miles, 100 miles???

I have a distant relative who has taken down over 400 of those in Colorado and he said to leave the pumphead secured for stability, start at the far end and work from above.....cutting the A-frames off; letting them fall to the ground. It would require the right equipment to do so but anything less is too dangerous. He worked with a telehandler which requires two men on the job, or maybe a good job for the wife. Sounded like he had too much time on his hands as he stuck a basketball down one of the sections, pumped propane into the bottom end and sealed it off some way or another and lit the torch. He said the ball totally disappeared over the horizon, the blast knocked him off his feet and some local neighbors asked him if he'd heard a sonic boom. I hope I got that story right.

I could get his phone number for you if you'd like to talk to him. Safety would be a big concern for scrapping those things.

Thank you for your insights and I wish the time was available to address each thread separately. The major concern was starting a wild fire. Two choices seem evident, move the towers into the plowed field or tip the tower into the field. If the choice is moving the entire system, I need to disconnect the drive gears. If the goal is to tip the towers, I need to leave the drive gears attached.

Since heights are not my strength and the fear of fires on the ground when I am in the air, the decision was simple. Updates forthcoming.

Couldn't you use a grinder and cut the top first so that long piece falls to the ground and then cut it up in smaller pieces? I guess I dont know much about this sort of thing. I know I've used a sawzall to cut up boiler and steam pipes, and solid wrought iron fences.

Patriot76
How many of those tractored Aframes are in there?

Abuilder- I'm assuming by "tractored Afarmes" you mean the wheels the move the rig. I've never walked one off but been by a lot. I would say no more than 50+ meters between them so in a quarter-mile pivot there would be about 10 give or take a couple. Let's see how wrong I'm...

Dakota
You got it right. It would not be safe to drop more than one or two section from the outside in then. But I would still drop the thing that that way. With the water head being the support point as it is while functioning.
Still a LOT of non ferrous to be had I see.

A typical center-pivot is a quarter-mile long so as it rotates it can irrigate a circle a half mile wide (so 4 of these size pivots can fill the main part of a section of township-and-range surveyed land). There are some that have a half mile arm so the circle is a mile across (but have bigger corners). I have a nice image at work that I'll post tomorrow that has both sizes in action. Actually quite artistic in the summer from space in an semi-arid region with only grass around otherwise...

I guess I was off by a bit between the spans. 7 towers equals about 63 yards between each with no wheel at the pump area. Still, probably not too bad of an eye ball guess.

YM- Interesting vid. Certainly could tell by the guy's body language he didn't want to be up close to the rig. Maybe they have them already, but if not a guy needs to fix up a cutting torch on the end of about a 15-20 foot boom (??)