[How-To] Straightening a flagpole

Cadillac said:
So here in Chicago yesterday we had a powerful wind storm come through. After the storm I went out for some branch cleanup. To my amazement I found my flagpole leaning.
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Well, you could hammer the concave side straight by slipping a rod (or heavy tube) inside the pole, and (with the
concavity oriente DOWN) repeatedly drop the ensemble onto some sandbags. This sort of thing (against a heavy
wood table) also works on aluminum tentpoles...

You definitely want to retain symmetry, but a spun-aluminum pole is work-hardened and a press bend isn't likely
to leave it symmetric (if there's a point load applied, it will kink).
 
Same thing happened to the flagpole in Veterans Memorial Park near us, it was just straight steel though.

It got replaced though....


John
 
Stupid thought but here goes. We have a flag pole at work that we needed to remove from the sleeve. we rigged a clamp like you mentioned and the pole wouldn't budge. We called the company that installed it and they had us remove the bead of calk to expose the sleeve to pole joint then use a shop vac to suck the sand out of the area between the sleeve and pole. Darned if it didn't pull right out after that. Who would have thought that the pole was held in with fine sand! They said it was for easy removal and to be able to somewhat adjust the pole if it leaned.
 
Switch your Superduty truck to 4wd and push the pole back to level.
 
In the future, use the storm flag in bad weather. You've got the Garrison flag, the Post flag, the and the Storm flag (interment flags don't go on poles). The storm flag is a reduced size for high wind. I always figured the big flags got beat up in the wind, now I know that protecting the pole itself should be considered!
 
Thanks everyone for the good responses. This was really annoying me every time I walked out the door seeing her leaning as it was.
I have a bumper jack like shown above so I went with that great idea. I put a strap around the base and tried jacking the pole out of the sleeve. No luck it felt pretty solid:(. So I sat and thought about it.
The pole has a slight bend below ground level And it looked like the sleeve was tilted also. I ended up digging about 4” around the entire concrete base. Then I tilted the base slightly to have the pole stand plumb. I didn’t use a level I actually set up a tripod and hung a plumb bob which I have never used for leveling anything. I would have to say It was very effective and such a simple device. Funny I have all the tools one would want and I’m using a string with a weighted end to level out a pole. Pretty awesome.
Anyways once I got the base in position and the pole was leveled I mixed up another three bags of concrete and threw it in the hole. All in all I think it should be fine. The bend is below grade and will be covered by dirt. The concrete is about 6” from ground level so I could backfill with dirt and have grass right to pole. Seven yr old son was really happy to be able to write his name on the pad. Thanks again for all the suggestions she’s standing once again.
And to answer the question of “can you still fly a flag” DAMM RIGHT and I will do so till the day I die for my father, grandfather and all the veterans and people that Sacrificed and died for it. God bless!!!!
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A couple of things:

1) Love to see old glory flying. See that more today than I have seen for some time. God Bless America!
2) Nice work in solving the problem.
3) Plumb bobs have been around for thousands of years. Hard to beat something that has been in use for so long.
 
Yet another simple solution to a complex problem...

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