Pulling down trees

M

Mith

Active member
Been pulling a few trees with the tractor this afternoon. The dead one came out easy, it was only small too. Had to cut a notch in the front to get the bigger ones over (8" at the base). They were right on the boundary, so I figured it easier to pull them over than mess around dropping them with the saw.

I understand this isnt a safe practice, but I figured that as long as the rope was longer than the tree is tall, and the tractor weighed more than the tree I'd be OK. :D

Anyone drop trees using the tractor? Heard that shoving them over with a FEL or BH can be quite effective.
 
I cleared my place a few years ago. pushed the little ones over with the fel, cut the larger ones with a chain saw and used the fel and a back hoe to dig out the stumps. I tried pulling some down with the tractor but the fel worked better and faster.

Jim
 
Oh Yeah! I like pushing over trees. Like Jim said, the FEL is great fot getting the job done. I had some 6 to 8 inch (stump thickness) Hawthorn trees on the edge of a hill. I was able to push them over. Brought up the root ball and all. I've also had some smaller trees that would not cooperate and I would have to back off and use the chain saw. Guess it depends on how well rooted they are.
I had to pull out some large hedge bushes that were to close to the house to dig out. That was a piece of cake. It worked well. I pulled going backwards as i guess you are also Mith.
 
Jim Slagle said:
I cleared my place a few years ago. pushed the little ones over with the fel, cut the larger ones with a chain saw and used the fel and a back hoe to dig out the stumps. I tried pulling some down with the tractor but the fel worked better and faster.

Jim
Click to expand...

Why cut them?.......... I just did a couple 10" that the top broke after a storm. Dug around the base and pushed them over. Now fire wood and didn't have to worry about the fall. Use the weight of the tree to help with the stumps!
 
Pulled out a small dead tree snag that was leaning on another yesterday. I run the grapple into the root ball in the ground and slowly backed up letting the tree slide down to the ground.
Pulling Tree Down With Grapple.jpg
 
LOVE MY GRAPPLE!!! You can sometimes put the forks in the ground under the tree, or roots, then 'pry' the stump out of the ground. Just be careful the tree goes away, and does not come back on top of ya!
 
redneck, lets see the pics! :D Looking at your profile you've got quite alot of tractor too! :D
 
Pushing trees can get you killed! especially dead ones. Ever heard of widow-makers? A friend was killed while pushing a tree with loader forks. the tree went sideways, turned the tractor over, and the roll bar crushed him! If you push a dead tree, the top tends to break out and fall back on top of...Think!
 
Pulling trees toward you can be very tricky too. You didn't mention what type of equipment you use ie, ropes, chains, etc. Be sure the connections and strength are appropriate for the torque and tension you are putting on the load. My daughter cares for people with closed head injuries and one of her "clients" is a 23 year old with permanent brian damage resulting from a chain breaking loose when he was bringing down trees. The hook caught him in the head as it snapped back towards the tractor disbling him for life. He now has the IQ of a stump....very tragic.
Take down you trees with a chain saw, cut them up and do what you will from there. Stumps should be ground or removed with an appropriately sized backhoe. I have a John Deere compact tractor (3320) and a front loader attachment. We all want to use our equipment to their fullest potential but be cautious not to get too ambitious.
 
Know the limitations of yourself and the equipment you are using. It's a better idea to sit back and look over the job at hand before rushing in just because you have done similar tasks a 'thousand' times before. An example... a pilot does a walk around inspection of his/her aircraft before every flight. Not because they want to check if the engine and prop and wings are still there, but because they want to see if anything has changed since they last few it. Too late to notice a bolt fell off a wing mount at 10,000 feet. And as with us, we are pretty much in deep doo doo when that tree we are pulling on starts falling on top of our tractor. nuff said.
Keifer, a (Kuboat)RTV wannabe
 
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