dirt ditch
Veteran Member
Was using the 790 yesterday to remove more tree limbs from the ice storm we had a while back. Several limbs are broke, but still attached to the trees 15 or more feet above the ground and just hanging there. I have been pulling them down by hooking a 20ft chain to the drawbar and a 4x4 block of wood between the chain and bottom of my JD ballast box. This worked slick until I tried a limb that was attached to the tree far better than it looked. When trying to pull the limb, the tractor spun the tires. Shifted up a couple of gears and with a very short run at it the tractor bucked, the tree shook, the limb stayed attached. The tractor bucking got me to thinking about the upward forces I was placing on my 3pt arms running the chain under the ballast box and up to the limb. I guess my ballast box weights 800lbs or more (it is loaded with500lbs of iron weights and X amount of railroad spikes). So, I was wondering what anyone else thought. Any suggestions?