Jacking a leaning spruce

[arbor pro]

I have a 60', 30"dbh spruce with about a 7 percent lean to it that I have to remove for a client. Enought room to drop it but I need to drop it in the opposite direction of the lean. It's located right on a property line and leans over the neighbor's yard and the grumpy neighbor will not allow us on her property and will not allow us to drop debris in her yard so, piecing it down will be tricky to say the least.

No room to get big equipment in - just me, rigging gear and my mt-50 mini skid steer. I'm a bit leary about hinging it over with wedgs and the mt-50. There's a lot of weight going over the neighbor's property. Sorry, no pictures - use your imagination - it's just a 60' spruce with a 7 percent opposite lean.

I've never used hydraulic jacks for hinging trees over. Would this be a good use for one and could someone provide me with a link to more info on proper equipment and methods?

Thanks.

 

[Little Monkey]

hi ,i have used jacks alot and they are brilliant, the jacks i use are not the american type as they are very expensive and look combersome, instead i have a pair of 20t bottle jacks with a thick steel plate with a half inch of steel pipe weilded to it for the jack head to sit in ( so it doesnt slip off )
i usually only use one at a time and keep the second as a backup in case a seal blows or i need extra lift,
if you are buying a bottle jack buy a good one !!!
as for the tree in question i think it might be a little to thin to jack over,
its hard to tell without seeing it and the lean,
the wider the tree the better the jacks work coz they get more leverage,
if the tree is to thin by the time you have cut the box out of the back and inserted the jack you are pushing the tree up as opposed to pushing it over,
the tree will not lift and you are putting a great force on the hinge and it could snap ,,
from the sounds of it i would recommemd a "turfor" and pull it over if you have on anchor for it.
also i would recommend working with someone who has used jacks before
so as to learn there limitations because if you reach its limitation and the tree is not going over you are in the s**t.
i had to bail out a co-worker once because of his misjudgement and over-eagerness--- see my post in "what crazy thing have you done in a tree ""
you would be surprised just how much lift a leaning tree would need,
whatever you do best of luck !!!

 

[Nailsbeats]

Why not pull it with a rope? I don't know, but jacking small trees seems like a bad idea.

 

[treemandan]

i have a 60', 30"dbh spruce with about a 7 percent lean to it that i have to remove for a client. Enought room to drop it but i need to drop it in the opposite direction of the lean. It's located right on a property line and leans over the neighbor's yard and the grumpy neighbor will not allow us on her property and will not allow us to drop debris in her yard so, piecing it down will be tricky to say the least.

No room to get big equipment in - just me, rigging gear and my mt-50 mini skid steer. I'm a bit leary about hinging it over with wedgs and the mt-50. There's a lot of weight going over the neighbor's property. Sorry, no pictures - use your imagination - it's just a 60' spruce with a 7 percent opposite lean.

I've never used hydraulic jacks for hinging trees over. Would this be a good use for one and could someone provide me with a link to more info on proper equipment and methods?

Thanks.

do not hook that little loader up to that tree with out a solid back -up system. I just had a smaller spruce with a lean I opted to pull it with the pick up. LEaning spruce can be real heavy with all the limbs, you lose traction with the little loader and you re done.

 

[spankrz]

Why not pull it with a rope? I don't know, but jacking small trees seems like a bad idea.

he said it's a 60ft tree with 7% opposite lean.


i love it when people think they can control a tree with a 1" rope and 3 guys.

 

[ShoerFast]

Not an urban opperator, some one tell me if my $0.02 cents worth if out of place?

But I do fine Spruce a very predictable tree with somewhat dependable hinge wood.

Bottle-jacks are just plain fun on Spruce trees, I am thinking a combination of wedges, supported bottle-jacks and a couple well placed bull-ropes (if the grump is home) and have at it.

Pictures?

 

[Nailsbeats]

he said it's a 60ft tree with 7% opposite lean.


i love it when people think they can control a tree with a 1" rope and 3 guys.

I am not sure what you are getting at, but I would use 1/2" or 5/8" and pull it with my skidsteer or a truck.

 

[Fireaxman]

he said it's a 60ft tree with 7% opposite lean.


i love it when people think they can control a tree with a 1" rope and 3 guys.

A good hinge, 1/2" rope at 45 feet (lot of leverage at 45 feet) and 1,000 pounds of pull from a Tirfor, Griphoist, or rope puller will overcome a lot more lean than 7 degrees.

 

[forestryworks]

a 30" DBH tree is plenty of wood to work with for a jack.

 

[TackleTree]

he said it's a 60ft tree with 7% opposite lean.


i love it when people think they can control a tree with a 1" rope and 3 guys.

No you were thinking of putting 3 fool power on the other end of the rope. But I took it as to hook it up to something with a little more pulling power.

60' give you plenty of leverage if you get the rope high enough. If you cant pull it directly in line then use a redirect pully/sling.

 

[TackleTree]

or you could get ropensaddle's 23k winch and put it about 10 ft up and pull over like it is nothing.

 

[arbo71]

In such cases I prefer to use a "Greifzug" I think you call it Tirfor or Griphoist.

All you need is a reliable anchor point.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Sounds like a great opportunity to practice your jacking while having a tirfor winch as a back up if its not working.

I dont think you should jack this alone if your not 100% on what your doing.

This is a little long winded but please read it, its a useful tool to use-

I use the one armed bandit theory with risk management. If you get enough cherries in a line you get a jackpot. The jackpot is an accident or unwelcome incident that costs you in time, equipment, money or injury. If your lucky they might not come up, but the more cherrys the higher the chance of some form of jackpot.

The cherrys are those little factor that contribute to the accident, by eliminating as many cherrys as you practically can you do all you can to avoid the accident.

For example in this case your felling a tree with opposite lean and your looking at jacking it.

First cherry is the opposite lean, its the cherry you cant eliminate unless you walk away from the job and let someone else deal with it.

Second potential cherry is the fact you havent done much jacking before, so there are variables that could come up that your currently unaware of. It is lessened slightly by sorting advice on here though.

Final obvious potential cherry is not having a pro tree jacking jack. Something could foul up or the jack could end up being unsuitable right when you most need it.

There are other cherrys that could come up such as wind gusts, a bad snarl in the the tree that ruins the hinge or a deep buried object in the tree which interfers with the felling plan.

Puting a tirfir (or 2) on the tree cancels out the first and final obvious cherries (potential problems or risk factors) but it would be another cherry IF it wasnt anchored well, you had an inexperienced guy using it or the winch wasnt set up in the tree properly or the machine or cable were liable to break.

Sorry this isnt well explained but its a good system once you get your head around it.

 

[arbor pro]

I can't get any large equipment into the back yard where the spruce tree is located - just my 3' wide mini loader. Climbing the tree to set my 3/4" bull rope for pulling it over is not a problem. There is a 14" dbh pine located on the opposite side of the yard that I can place my redirect into.

While those of you who don't own mini skids would be surprised by how much pulling power they have, I do agree that, in this case, the mini alone will not pull this tree over. Not enough traction, not enough power.

Spruce typically are very predictable to hinge over as I expect this one to be. I just thought that a jack system might work better than wedges and pulling alone. Never tried jacking before so that's why I was looking for advice.

I think I'm going to look to see if I can get a second redirect set up in the front yard and use the truck to pull it over. My bull rope's only 150' though (don't usually need anything longer around here) so will have to see if it will reach - doubtful about that.

Are there any websites that have good info on jacking equipment and/or practices? Does sherill or baileys sell any jacking equipment?

 

[arbor pro]

Does the trifor work work with different size ropes or just one size?

 

[DadF]

What about a 3:1 or better pulling system (Z-Rig) anchored to the smaller pine for the initial pull? Once you have it past the opposite lean it is not much different than any other tree that is already coming over.

 

[CentaurG2]

Call in a crane. One or 2 pics and you are done like the dishes. Angry neighbor situations usually send up a big red flag for us. Put lots o money on this job to make up for the hassle or just walk away cuz it usually ain’t worth it. My 2 cents...

 

[arbor pro]

Call in a crane. One or 2 pics and you are done like the dishes. Angry neighbor situations usually send up a big red flag for us. Put lots o money on this job to make up for the hassle or just walk away cuz it usually ain’t worth it. My 2 cents...

Tree is in back yard over 100' from closest spot a crane could set up. Also, it's in a rural setting. Would cost way to much to call in a crane even if it could be done.

This isn't such a difficult job that I'm questioning whether or not I can do it safely. I can and will only do it safely.

I'm just asking whether jacking is an option. It sounds as if some think so but most prefer to pull them over with a winch.

 

[murphy4trees]

When pulling heavy backleaners with ropes I like to use 2 pull lines... One is set with a 3:1 z rig and then the other can be set with the same or used with a redirect to the truck... Just in case one line isn't enough, the second gives you a back up to hold things in place while you get more force involved. Also from time to time I've gone back and forth from one z rig to the other when pulling by hand, slowly getting the monster straight. It can be a battle. One you wouldn't want to fight without a good back up!

Hope you are familiar with cutting a clean notch and proper backcut... cause nothin works predictably if you don't...

Be safe!

 

[arbor pro]

When pulling heavy backleaners with ropes I like to use 2 pull lines... One is set with a 3:1 z rig and then the other can be set with the same or used with a redirect to the truck... Just in case one line isn't enough, the second gives you a back up to hold things in place while you get more force involved. Also from time to time I've gone back and forth from one z rig to the other when pulling by hand, slowly getting the monster straight. It can be a battle. One you wouldn't want to fight without a good back up!

Hope you are familiar with cutting a clean notch and proper backcut... cause nothin works predictably if you don't...

Be safe!

I'm experienced with notching and hinging trees using wedges and pull lines hooked to loader or truck. I also know how to use redirects, blocks, etc. I just don't have any experience with jacking trees. I've always wanted to learn more about it but there isn't that much info on the subject that I can find. I just thought it might be a good way to help get this spruce going in the right direction IN ADDITION TO using a pull line with a redirect.