Going to attempt a tall tree. Need advise.

[millbilly]

Why a tree should never be pulled over with a truck and a rope

1 You never know how much pressure you are putting on the pull rope
every time you put a load on a rope, you break fiber, and the rope becomes weaker,
and you no longer have any idea how strong your rope is. The rope might look fine but you never know. You dont want a rope failure in the future when someone or something could get injured or killed.

2 Im sure this is printed as a shall and not a should in a few formans manuals.


3 The come along is your best bet

 

[lone wolf]

Well a come along aint fast enough if someone cuts it to fast ,things can go wrong in a hurry then what are you going to do?Now if you use both you sure as hell would be safe.Or put two ropes on the tree if you are worried!

 

[avason]

I recommended the come a long because it seems like the best bet for what you mentioned. My father in law had this dumb azz idea that he could pull a tree over (jack Pine) with just a come a long. i told him he was crazy. Needless to say I helped him with it. It didn't happen over night but after a couple of days of ratcheting the thing and wetting, I mean soaking, the ground with a hose the thing actually gave. We did three of them. I tried to convince him it wasn't worth the mess because half of the stump was sticking out of the ground. The reason he wanted to do it to begin with was the fact that he didn't like stumps in his yard. I know..you still have to fill in the hole and all that crap. Hr didn't buy it. Either way it worked. I don't recommend it because dealing with that fn stump was a pain in the Azz. For some reason, I was there when he needed a hand. He always has a fridge full of beer and is always good company. If He has a hair brained scheme like this again, I will take pics. Good luck with the removal. Did it happen?

 

[avason]

Disclaimer...I don't do this for a living. I just do this to heat my home.:msp_scared:

 

[mattfr12]

talk about paranoid when i pull backleaning trees over i usually set two pull ropes out of fear of one breaking. usually tension one with a come along and hook the other to a skid loader or truck. and about pre tension on ropes i hook a dynamometer up in my rope alot. i use it usually when picking with a crane it will read up to 15,000 pounds its made by Dillon. you can find use ones at a decent price. its pretty cool when your rigging logs you can see how much shock load is applied. if you hook it up in your system.

 

[Saw Dust Smoken]

notch and drop

With room to drop it in one cut. Do it. Or move up 20-30ft and notch\drop. Shorten fall if needed.
Use two ropes is a good back up\safety plan. Yes the driver\puller vehicle needs to smart with pull.
Pulled twin trunked elm over last week. Half mostly dead. Other fully a live. Horse sheds both sides and behind. West pull only option. First dead half leaning right way. The live half with limbs on opposite side of pull. 35-40 DBH. Two ropes in tree attached to one ton dully with flat bale bed. Trucks heavy empty and more weight add with one or two round bales. Pretensioned ropes some. Notch. Tension more if needed. Backcut and signal driver to move when needed. Save time and labor!

 

[HILLBILLYREDNEC]

This is a tree better off being climbed or rent a man lift and chunk it down to the knuckle then drop the spar. There is to many objects of value to risk a straight drop.

 

[Guido Salvage]

This is a tree better off being climbed or rent a man lift and chunk it down to the knuckle then drop the spar. There is to many objects of value to risk a straight drop.

The expert has spoken, matter closed.

mmmm..... power wagon

This is the most recent one I owned, a 1970 W200 with a 413.

As a last resort, you could always call James.....

[video=youtube_share;7oCDcTxFUkk]http://youtu.be/7oCDcTxFUkk[/video]

 

[defensiblespace]

I have to agree with guido salvage here. Just because you have cut trees down before, doesnt mean that you know how to cut a tree down. Weigh the risk vs the reward. Probably not worth it. I'm also surprised nobody mention mechanical advantages here. Sometimes a 2 to 1 is all it takes and they are pretty simple to set up. I would still have an expert cut that tree down. If you are just looking for firewood, just spend the money and buy the wood. Far easier and a hell of a lot less risky.

 

[BC WetCoast]

Our company prohibits the use of a vehicle to pull a tree over. There are too many risks ie overpulling the tree, having the truck stall in the critical time etc.

So

1 use wedges to hold up the tree

2 put rope high in the tree. You can use a vehicle as an anchor, but use a Tirfor winch or if you don't have one, you could use a 5:1 with a couple of pulleys. If you use prussiks to hold the pulleys in place, if you overpull the prussiks will provide some give to prevent overpull.

 

[beastmaster]

I am a climber but I would probably fall that tree my self. Safer and quicker. Like lot of others have said, get a rope as high as you can, the importance of this can't be stressed enough. Have wedges ready. Be careful of those stumps if your fall in those directions as they can make the stick move to the side as it hits them. Don't apply pressure to the rope tell you have your face cut in. Don't cut to deep of a face cut. I would use a truckers hitch and have it nice and tight, that way a gust of wind or a mistake on your part won't distroy the house. Your helpers can put their weight on the line to add more pull if needed. Good luck.

 

[randyg]

Blame it on the wind

Could you ever wait till you have a good steady breeze blowing in the direction you want it to fall, then just notch and drop it. Do NOT cut through the hinge. Should be just fine, but in case of any doubt, rope it to another tree it direction you want to drop it before any cuts are made. Rope up 40 feet if tree is around 60. Is it on the ground yet?

 

[freeweight]

wow....truckers hitch to another tree with guys on the rope to pull when slack gives if ur scared put 2 ropes

notch it and draw down

 

[Iustinian]

as close as it is to buildings, it would be way safer to just hire a climber to run up the side of that tree, limbing it out on the way up, and just fold the top over as he sees fit, and snap the logs down -- if the ground guys are any good at all they'll have the brush drug out of the way before the logs start piling up. Much easierfaster clean up that way, since you wont have the weight of the whole tree on the brush, and the log on top of it all. IMO job as a whole would go way faster, unless its a drop and leave it bid.

 

[ropensaddle]

Why a tree should never be pulled over with a truck and a rope

Bull spit

1 You never know how much pressure you are putting on the pull rope
every time you put a load on a rope, you break fiber, and the rope becomes weaker,
and you no longer have any idea how strong your rope is. The rope might look fine but you never know. You dont want a rope failure in the future when someone or something could get injured or killed.

Thats why we buy ropes often You should also be skilled in inspecting your gear ,ropes etc.

2 Im sure this is printed as a shall and not a should in a few formans manuals.

Not in anzi but more importantly in my experience the failures I have seen were from inadequate pull or rope. True the operator factor is a huge concern but before having a 20 ton winch I almost always used a truck and operator I knew understood what was going to be performed. The key here is to use the right rope for the job and not put danny the dummy in the truck.

3 The come along is your best bet

bull spit a come along is limited in line infeed and could cause way more to go wrong than a correctly used vehicle and inspected and adequate static rated rope. One variation of you theory is a madson rope puller and is much better system than a come along but is still limited infeed rate but at least not limited in travel. I will admit in many cases the come along approach of slow and steady optimum but I have witnessed many it was not and caused damage. Imo my winch is the optimum bet for bringing difficult trees over against lean and I have performed it many many times without fail. Its big enough winch that my line is place 25 feet up to compensate for infeed rate I can uproot 20 inch oak if I wish so my pull is always adequate.

 

[ropensaddle]

talk about paranoid when i pull backleaning trees over i usually set two pull ropes out of fear of one breaking. usually tension one with a come along and hook the other to a skid loader or truck. and about pre tension on ropes i hook a dynamometer up in my rope alot. i use it usually when picking with a crane it will read up to 15,000 pounds its made by Dillon. you can find use ones at a decent price. its pretty cool when your rigging logs you can see how much shock load is applied. if you hook it up in your system.

You piss me off :rant: I want one :monkey:

 

[ropensaddle]

Why a tree should never be pulled over with a truck and a rope


3 The come along is your best bet

Ok bring on that come along 25% lean here I will watch :bringit:

 

[ropensaddle]

Ok bring on that come along 25% lean here I will watch :bringit:

Too late next time

I can assure you a come along would spell disaster on this tree.

 

[lone wolf]

Too late next time

I can assure you a come along would spell disaster on this tree.

Smart man

 

[ropensaddle]

Our company prohibits the use of a vehicle to pull a tree over. There are too many risks ie overpulling the tree, having the truck stall in the critical time etc.

So

1 use wedges to hold up the tree

2 put rope high in the tree. You can use a vehicle as an anchor, but use a Tirfor winch or if you don't have one, you could use a 5:1 with a couple of pulleys. If you use prussiks to hold the pulleys in place, if you overpull the prussiks will provide some give to prevent overpull.

Most times when I used a vehicle the pretension was adequate so it other words I pull it tight then apply brake set park brake then put in park or in low if standard.
That is usually enough, so I actually used as anchor but also as pretension! I have took near 100000 trees down in this way with no failures. I now have a winch that I use similar, cable set at 25 foot and notch then pull til top shakes and kill truck winch in gear. Most times no more pull is needed but if the tree is not lifting at 1 inch meat in hinge I simply shut of saw and motion for more pull and no wedges required