Taking down trees with tractor help

[Highbeam]

Depends on the tree and the ground around it. If the tree is small enough to be pushed over with the stump and all attacehd then I always do it since I want the stumps out. Be careful of dead branches and of the root ball popping up under your tractor.

If you are combining cutting with the tractor then it gets harder. If it is really important that the tree fall a certain direction then chain or cable it off. If the tree just needs to fall and it doesn't matter which way it goes (my favorite) then just cut the bugger down, no need for a cable or chain.

If you are in the unfortunate position of a tree that is partially fallen or has fallen enough to trap your saw then This is when you enter the judgement area. Nothing you do is particularly safe at this point so you need to consider your options and consequences. Crushing the saw, crushing the tractor, crushing you, bending the saw bar, or a fallen tree. In my forest the big trees won't get hung up as their weight will bring them down. The smaller trees might get hung up and I will gladly utilize my tractor to push them where I want them and none of them ever do anything unexpectedly. Everything is very slow and predictable once the tree has begun to fall.

[RonMar]

Trees are funny that way, you never can truely be sure where they will break. Loose upper branches didn't get the name "widdow makers" without good reason... Sudden jarring movements with a loader can shake them loose.

We had a 30" fir right up alongside the house that had 5 tops. I had it taken out because of the obvious risks, and the fact that it had to go exactly one particular direction due to other objects around the yard. The gentelman who dropped it used a square to line up his cut on the side in the direction of fall. He then cut a rectangular notch out of the back side and used a small hydraulic bottle jack to jack the tree over. He put that tree down within a foot of where I said I wanted it... When it hit, that 5 fork top shattered into a dozzen pieces. the main trunk was rotten for about 10' down from the base of the fork. We had a real wet snow about 6 weeks later and I was really glad I had that tree out of there before that happened.

If you want to use the tractor, put a line up in the tree a little ways, and put a litle tension on the tree from a distance(outside the fall radius), then take some cuts with the saw till it starts to move, then get back on the tractor and pull it over. That way if it splits, or sheds limbs, no one or your expensive tractor is under it to catch the debris.

[Megado]

Welcome Friends and Family to Gene Alford's Care Page.

Current Update: Gene is currently in Neuro ICU 4th Floor Main Bed 4. His condition has improved over night.

What Happened... The Story... Sunday afternoon Gene was working on the tractor at his farm in Bellville. While attemping to push over a dead oak tree the top of the tree separated and fell on Gene. The tree fell on Gene's back fracturing T4 & T5, 4 ribs, collar bone and scapula. Scans show that the spinal cord is intact. He was able to get to his cell phone and call Mary for help. Friends from the area were contacted by Mary and came to Gene's aid with Austin County EMS. Life Flight landed at the farm and transported Gene to Memorial. Total time from initial call to Mary and landing at Memorial was 1 hour 40 minutes. Everything came together perfectly to get him to Houston ASAP.
Surgery to stablize the back took place Monday and all went well. Gene needed to be intabated in the night Monday due to respiratory issues... It's tough to breath with all those broken bones.
Genes vital signs have improved over the past few days and we look for that to continue. Today, Thursday, he was trached which should help to get him up and going more quickly.
Our family is so very thankful for all the friends and their prayers. Not being familiar with this "CarePage" I understand this can be used to post notes to Gene and his family and for us to post updates on his condition. Hopfully Gene will be using this page very soon to post updates for himself.
Thank you again for your visit to Gene's CarePage.
David Alford... "Gene's little brother"

The above "quote" was taken from the CarePages website of a physician in Houston who had an accident while using his tractor to take down a tree. As you can see...the unexpected can happen. I agree with Wesdor, if you aren't comfortable and experienced with taking down a tree then get a professional. Fortunately for Dr. Alford he survived and is recovering, but still has a lengthy battle ahead of him.

[TomK]

I've used my CUT to pull trees down after I de-limb them down to about 8' - 6' above the ground. I then use that trunk as a pry bar to get as much of the roots as I can. I gently push and pull with the tractor until I get things loosened up good before I give it the final pull. The picture is of a 30' Russian Olive tree I removed a couple years ago. Look at the wisdom tooth on this one!

[smfcpacfp]

I have taken down many trees over the years and generally it doesn't matter where it falls in my forest. Even when I have tried to direct it to fall a certain way, it sometimes didn't. I will take all of your good advice and not use the tractor as a push device.

If a tree did fall on the tractor, and I didn't get killed, I would be thinking, "why didn't I use my own good common sense and the advice of the forum members", as I am wrting the check for thousands of dollars to pay for the damage.

[turnkey4099]

Pushing with tractor - problem is being able to determing when to stop cutting and start pushing. If you wait for the tree to 'start to move' you are too late, the tree will likely be down before you can get back on the tractor.

Pulling with cable - remember you lose all control over the tree the second the tension comes off the cable. That happens almost instantly as the tree starts to move.
-----------------------------------------

Bad result of pushing with bucket - wish I had a picture of this. This was back in about 1977.

My brother had a fair size Black Walnut he wanted out but he wanted it cut below ground level. We topped it (back in my young/stupid days - young doesn't apply anymore) by me standing in the bucket. I then cut it almost all the way through about 4" underground. Even repeated sharping of the chain wouldn't finish the cut.

Brother gets the 8n (or 9n) with bucket and starts the stem rocking - buckets slides neatly up the stem, over it, back down the other side.

Hmm... interesting. We now have a stem coming up between the bucket and the bashed in tinwork in front of the radiator of a borrowed tractor.

Harry K

[Marlowe]

Tractors are great for cleaning up after a tree has been taken down, but they are pretty much useless for taking them down. Kind of like using pliers to hammer nails.

[patrick_g]

Lots of good advice, a few perfunctory but ineffective and futile pro forma "shots" at the safety police but nothing from any of the deceased who died doing dangerous things mentioned here. How many people have been killed doing this sort of thing? More than you might imagine.

Remember Harlan Gidsmore and his friend Joe Puck? No, you don't! They were killed prior to becoming well known in a logging incident where they tried to help a tree fall down using a tractor within the fall radius of the tree. They thought they had it all figured out and the nodding heads of the good ole boy squad assured them it would be OK and shared a chuckle or two with them about the sissy hand wringers in the safety police volunteer auxiliary (two of which, ironically, were pall bearers at Joe's funeral.)

The consensus of opinion at the good ole boys subsequent lie swapping was that Harlan and Joe musta done something wrong or else it just went to show you that s--- happens and there ain't nothing you can do about it.

Pat

[RonMar]

Originally Posted by turnkey4099

Pulling with cable - remember you lose all control over the tree the second the tension comes off the cable. That happens almost instantly as the tree starts to move.
Harry K

large doublebraid nylon line is great for this, as you can load it up like a rubber band. It will continue to apply force to a tree in the directin of pull for quite a while(whatever distance you stretched it to) after the tree starts to move. It is best to pull it around something else such as a block anchored to another tree, as it can store a considerable ammount of energy and you never want to be directly in line with it. People who do much 4 wheeling have probably seen this used to great effect, using the energy of a moving vehicle to transfer energy in a stretched nylon tow strap to loosen another stuck vehicle. You just need to stay out of the possible line of flight if it should snap...

[Egon]

Tacking down trees with a tractor can be done if there is a correlation to tractor size and tree!!