Removing small dead trees - best way to pull

[AnotherBueller]

A chain WILL whiplash if the pull is hard enough to break it. I've seen several videos of it, and done it myself. In each case it was the chain that broke, not the load breaking loose.

Watch at about 2:00+

Bruce

Yes chain will stretch, but the % (stored energy) is very low, measured in .001 percent of length while cable is measured in .1% (so MUCH more stored energy) which is what causes the break point to whip back at you.
Watched a GI get cut in half when a 500' 1/2" cable snapped at the far end. He was about 50' to the side and about in the middle of the pull. Kinda ruined his day.

 

[mslaw1]

Actually, after reading this I will probably just avoid bolt-on or welded hooks altogether, yank these first with the drawbar, then remount the box blade for pushing. This may also help me make it to my next birthday.

https://ag-safety.extension.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/English-Task-Sheets-Group-6.pdf

Wish I would of had this information 30 years ago!

 

[sportscarclinic]

Yes chain will stretch, but the % (stored energy) is very low, measured in .001 percent of length while cable is measured in .1% (so MUCH more stored energy) which is what causes the break point to whip back at you.
Watched a GI get cut in half when a 500' 1/2" cable snapped at the far end. He was about 50' to the side and about in the middle of the pull. Kinda ruined his day.

Cut in half... I'd imagine it kinda ruined the day for everyone that witnessed it.

 

[sixdogs]

I'm using my bucket and curl method described in an earlier post but there are lots of means to the same ends. I'm not doing this one below but it's safer than a chain and unbridled tension on it.

 

[kenmbz]

For straight line pulls use a block/pully to change the angle and add force.
Can even change height to lower for the draw bar.

I have a small tractor and this works pretty well, keeping away from taller falling branches is easier too.

Bull rope damped works well.

 

[hhydro]

Due to the Louisiana drought this year (still happening), I’ve lost maybe 50 Leyland Cypress trees about 25 years old. I also lost a couple magnolias we planted at the same time which are clearly not coming back.

I’ve pulled the cypress before because after a year of being dead their roots are really weak so this will be my spring task.

The question is what gives me the most pulling power - is it best to pull backwards from the bucket end with a chain, or pull from the back end with a chain on the box blade?

With the box blade I can sometimes push on the tree to lean it one way, then use the chain to pull it out from the stump behind me.

Obviously I’d always like to push away so the tree doesn’t fall towards me but I believe I get more power with my L3200 by pulling but not sure if pulling from the back or front is best.

Watch this video by tractor rebuild guru Squatch253.
He uses a chain with a foundry hook to rip a couple of big roots and then the stump is easy.

I found a couple of heavy hooks on eBay.

And use the drawbar. It is much harder to flip pulling well below the axle.

 

[mk2133]

Lost my 55 year old father-in-law to a flipped tractor years ago. He was using it to drag trees thru the woods to de-limb them. My 12 year old brother-in-law watched it happen. Sad story. Since then I have NEVER dragged anything with a draw bar. My advice, think of some other way to solve your problem.

 

[Fitch]

I have a home made 800 lb counterweight for my JD 770. The counter weight has a low center of gravity. When I have to pull on something that looks like it will be a hard pull, I fill the loader bucket with dirt or gravel, then run the chain under the counter weight to the draw bar. I lower the counter weight until it's at the same height as the draw bar. If the front end wants to lift, it stops when the counter weight touches the ground and the rear wheels just spin. That's only happened once in a lot of times I've had to pull on trees, including dislodging the bottom end of some widow makers.

The weight in the loader bucket and the counter weight increase the pull of the tractor significantly.

I much prefer to pull with chain or synthetic pull ropes. I experienced a lot of broken chains pulling with big tractors on the farm in the 1950s. I've never had one snap and recoil very far. Chain doesn't stretch and accumulate stored energy like wire cable. It tends to just break and drop.

 

[MD2595]

By far the easiest way is a tree/post puller for about $1200.

 

[MSST8DOG]

Using a wheel or a tire on a rim is usually the easiest way to pull stumps. I have never pulled trees down this way, but if you cut the tree and use the wheel/rim/tire, it isn't very bad. I have also seen a big stump pulled with a horse using a pole and pulling it against another tree.

Watch these videos and then make your decision.

Link to using wheel:

Link to using lever:

 

[rneal55555]

There is this I've never done it it, But I have a friend that swears by it

 

[CalG]

Just 'cause this thread has legs,

If I plan to pull stumps on small stuff, I still cut the tree off. at about as high as I safely can.

The Lever arm left attached to the root ball helps a lot., and clearing away the top gives a free space to work in. I like chains when I suspect the load is greater than the pull. If I know the load will move, wire rope is fine.

 

[likembikem]

I have hooks welded on my FEL but only for lifting with a chain or pulling bushes or tree limbs. Never to pull a tree that's still rooted in the ground. How about chain saw them short and renting a stump grinder. At least it would be less stress on the tractor and safer to you.

 

[Willie B]

You haven't said how big the trees are.
I have pulled trees since 1987 when I bought a Power Wagon with two PTO powered winches. I set the truck far away from the tree, use a ladder to climb 20' up the tree trunk. A 20 foot tall tree trunk is a heck of a lever. Most trees 24" and smaller come right out, stump & all.

24 years ago I bought my first full sized backhoe. I often push trees using leverage of the trunk. I haven't found a tree too big to push down, though I may have to rip some roots out first. Dead trees I DO NOT push. They might break & send widow makers my way. Plenty of people will say this isn't safe, but I prefer my odds inside a ROPS cab over standing at a tree with a chainsaw.

I am of the opinion that a compact tractor is too small to safely pull out any but small trees & shrubs.

As for pulling with a tractor, we are involved in antique tractor pulls. Pulling tractors are required to have wheelie bars to prevent backflips. My son & I have International Farmall M. Mine is 1940, Seth's is 1941. Neither has any risk of flipping but both are equipped with wheelie bars.

 

[SouthernSky]

Leyland Cypress are basically Christmas trees. They are very fast growing and are often used to create a wall between neighbors. Not really a danger if dead or falls on you. It is soft, easily drug, and none more than 20 feet high even after 25 years. The stump rarely goes down more than 1-2’ but the roots can spread in all directions. By Spring these already brown trees will start falling over in a good wind. Cutting off the tops for now is not a horrible idea either.

Pulling out a few trees here and there has never been difficult, just time consuming. Pulling out 50-100 is another story. A bulldozer would work but many trees survived between dead ones so I can’t just mow everything down.

I wish I had something bigger than an L3200 but it is what I have without paying someone else to do the job. The question I will find out is whether it is enough or not.

 

[ratpie]

Yes chain will stretch, but the % (stored energy) is very low, measured in .001 percent of length while cable is measured in .1% (so MUCH more stored energy) which is what causes the break point to whip back at you.
Watched a GI get cut in half when a 500' 1/2" cable snapped at the far end. He was about 50' to the side and about in the middle of the pull. Kinda ruined his day.

i was a crane/wrecker operator in the corps back in the 80s. we were doing a tandem pull, and my partner's cable snapped. backlash cut a hunk out of him, and killed him. the amount of force that chains and cables store, when under strain, is nothing to take for granted.

 

[2manyrocks]

I'm currently paying $185/hr to have forestry mulching done. He gets more done in an hour than I can do in a full day with a small backhoe and tractor equipped with a grapple.

 

[masscity]

I have a few dead apple trees from time to time. I have a BH92 and at first I cut them off low and dug them out. Too much of a mess.

Now I cut the smaller ones off at 2 1/2 to 3 feet and the larger ones with 10-11 inches at the stump off at 5 feet. I set my bucket on the top, push forward and backward to the ground twice and all of the roots are broke. All the ground here is red clay.

I hope to get a ripper tooth made for my backhoe this coming summer for spruce and hardwoods.