Wowsers, you guys sure know how to rachet up the drama.. absolutely riveting tales, keep em coming!! opcorn:
My father does demolition and drainage work and he had me clearing out a retention basin to replace and the inlet , and on the top of the slope was a monstrous ash , behind that was a 12 ft fence which backed up to the cherry hill mall , I set a 3/4 rope with the bucket to rip it over into the center of the basin , well when I started the backcut it leaned back on the saw well my father had the excavator about 120 ft away and was pulling so hard there was water squeezing outta the rope , I started cutting again and before I could get the backcut done the entire root plate gave way like a 20 ft root plate and it all went down into the basin , I have never seen a rope have the moisture squeezed out like a dishrag quite a scary experience for sure . But I knew the machine wasn't gonna give up they can curl almost 30 tons , the rope on the other hand may have blown out and now I always likewise run 2 at all times , or 2 part it .
It was a complete and total cluster#### from the start , I had to reach over parked cars to set a rope , then asking my dad to pull gently , and when I saw the ground pumping and breaking loose I was half tempted to start writing down license plates so I didn't have to fumble through the carnage to get them after the tree came down on them , I was just gonna walk into the mall and tell the front desk to say the owners of these cars need to find another way home , I have always been considerate like that ! I swear my dad was sent running that machine like a man possesed that day . Hindsight I shoulda just hooked up chains and let the OL man just uproot it and saved the gas I burnt in the saw and the puckered ass !
I had a similar thing happen some 15-20 years ago.. I had preset two lines and was planning on using manpower @ 3:1 MA on each line... BIG MONSTER OAK...... Just two of us and that tree was going NOWHERE!!!.... Fortunately there was a construction crew working across the street and with 4 more men, we could ratchet it back, going back and forth from one line to the other and finally got it over.. God provides!.. it would have been a bad situation without the extra help... pretty good deal for beer money!
Ever since then I, I ALWAYS SET TWO LINES in a heavy backleaner, unless its so big, it need three!... Yesterday we were up on Valley Forge mountain, monster chestnut oak in a hard to reach location... Was able to get the bucket truck off the neighbor's drive and with the 75' altec maxed out, was still looking up at 40'+ of top... multiple leads.. NO WAY to lower... Pull line up the hill to customers drive, skid loader had no problem pulling the first few leads... NOTE:... I set the pull line with a 12' pole saw and then would drop down some for the cut so the line had decent leverage...
anywho.. the last lead was leaning back 15-20 degrees with a lot of big limbs coming straight back.. NFW was I gonna put just the little skid loader on that... skid loader just anchored the first line, with a nice bit of pre-tension which move the top a good bit... real pull was done with the dodge 250 cummins diesel in low range... OH YA! plenty of power... EVEN then I wouldn't have tried it, unless the piece had some side lean away from the bucket.. just not worth taking a even a 1% chance when your life is 75 up.. and you CANNOT TRUST the hinge on chestnut oak..
Piece came down perfectly.... I love it when I can hear my heart beat out loud after those kinda trees hit the ground!
Moral of the story... have make SURE you have plenty of power available for pulling back-leaners...
Har har Lol thats why on my winch I merely pull until i see the top shaking a bit then back cut until a good hinge is left then carefully walk out and around to the truck and start it and bring home the mail If Its back leaning severely I will have helper advance slack on the 3/4 line set up on big porty just in case cable snapped! However I have a good idea when the cable is about at limit as the bucket will start skidding across the dirt :hmm3grin2orange: To skid 23k on a tree just pulling it over has not occurred even the 60 inch dbh respond well to my winch I've found!
One man's "room to bomb" is another's "time to call the crane"...........If there is room to bomb the top ok but usually there is not.
good story but BAD MOVE... don't take it as a personal criticism Ed, you know how much I care for ya
pulling back leaners takes some finesse... pretension the line to keep the piece from setting back... UNTIL THE BACK CUT IS FINISHED and the hinge is set... Pull too early and you can BBchair, break the top or LIFT THE ROOT PLATE. Any one of them can kill ya.. ... the latter is a first... amazing the trunk and top held... musta been mighty wet ground..
Murph, forgot to mention bore cut heavy back leaners as well!:msp_sleep:
If I do get a winch its going on the bucket truck... I like a 30K lb anchor anchor.. not 6K.. Especially if I get more into subcontracting... my best guy just pulled early on one of thoe chestnut tops and nearly BBchaired the 12" top... pissed me off.. i trust my life to that man all the time and get this in return????
If I do get a winch its going on the bucket truck... I like a 30K lb anchor anchor.. not 6K.. Especially if I get more into subcontracting... my best guy just pulled early on one of thoe chestnut tops and nearly BBchaired the 12" top... pissed me off.. i trust my life to that man all the time and get this in return????
Just checked the last bit of video we shot last week... It was a 26" diameter horizontal Norway Maple limb, over 40' to the dripline...
made the cut in 23 seconds.... that limb was as big as a tree....
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