Pull a Lawn-Mower Tire Through a Clogged Culvert to Clean It Out

The Problem

A culvert under a driveway or farm road silts up with mud, leaves, and debris until water backs up on the high side instead of flowing through. Digging it out by hand from each end only reaches so far into the pipe, and hiring a jetting service or renting equipment is a lot of cost for what's essentially a scraping job.

The Technique

1. Attach a strap to the end of a long pole and feed the pole through the culvert. It can get tough partway through the blockage — keep working it until the strap end comes out the far side.
2. Pull the pole back out of the way, leaving the strap running through the pipe.
3. Hook the strap to a lawn-mower tire — small enough to fit the pipe, big enough to bear on the walls.
4. Hook the other end of the strap to a truck and pull the tire through. It works like a scraper pig, pushing the packed debris out ahead of it.

One pass had water flowing through again in the source video. For a badly packed culvert, expect to make more than one pull.