This drive cap for post sleeves can be sued to install both 1-5/8-inch and 2.5-inch round posts. Its purpose is to prevent damage to the top of the sleeve when the sleeve is driven into the ground with a hammer.
Use this drive cap (also referred to as an anvil in some places) by inserting it into the top of the sleeve, placing the point of the sleeve where you want the post to go, and striking the cap with a hammer or 4-pound mallet. (A sledgehammer can be used for this job but is cumbersome.) Apply a carpenter’s level from time to time to ensure that the sleeve is going in straight. If less than a foot of the sleeve is out of the ground when you need to check, insert the post to be installed into the sleeve and apply the carpenter’s level to the post. Then remove the post, replace the drive cap, and continue driving the sleeve into the ground.
Unlike some of the drive caps for post sleeves offered elsewhere, ours are made of hard steel, so that one cap and will serve for installing large numbers of sleeves. Therefore, get only one sleeve per job unless you have a long fence and wish to have more than one person installing sleeves at the same time.