Taking down trees with tractor help

[smfcpacfp]

In the past when I would cut down a tree, where I wanted to control where it fell. I would use chains, my come-along to pull it tin the right direction before i began cutting.

Now I have the Kubota B3030HSDC tractor with a FEL. I just wonder what you guys think of giving the tree a push with the bucket high to get it moving in the right direction. I mean there is still some risk.

[ToadHill]

I'd say there's more than some risk. It is very dangerous, thats not to say I haven't done it when I got one hung up, but I can assure you the pucker factor is huge.

[KennethBrown]

The bottom of the tree could come back into the tractor. Most of the time I ride the bucket (safety police don't kill me) as high as possible. I then wrap the chain and go back down. Get plenty of chain hooked up so it will clear with lots of extra room. Pull back slightly till the tension is out. As someone starts cutting use the curl function to pull on it. As the tree starts to really fall put it in reverse and go with it.

[rambler]

Originally Posted by smfcpacfp

I just wonder what you guys think of giving the tree a push with the bucket high to get it moving in the right direction.

No way.

It could kill you pretty easy, the leaning tree can snap over the top of the tracotr. But most of us will never die, so that argument will fall on deaf ears.

If it leans the wrong way, it can be much havier than it looks, and your tractor will not be able to push it. This at best leaves you at a stalemate. How are you going to rescue your tractor?

What if the tree snaps at the base & comes over on your tractor?

Let's say it falls over the right way when you push it. The base often (enough) will whip back past the stump as the top snags on something. Or, the tree comes down & the butt end whips up into the air. Either of these can mess up the front grill or loader of your tractor.

I know nothing will happen to you or me ever; but, what about your tractor? Do you really want to mess it up?

You can get a chain/ cable longer than the tree is tall. (My great-unkle lost his leg to trying to pull a short limb off a tree with a short chain. They cut 1/2 the limb, pulled, and din't know the tree trunk was rotten. Whole tree fell over, top knocked him off the tractor and under the steel tractor wheel. Ground his leg off.) Always make sure the chain/ cable is long enough.

Then pull the tree over much as you did with the come along.

Don't push it with the loader bucket.

--->Paul

[Egon]

What I see fellows falling larger trees doing is starting the cuts horizontal and in the proper direction. They then use wedges to aid in getting the tree started out right.

They also take into account wind direction before starting

Sometimes the surrounding blue air seems to help the tree fall in the proper direction.

After making the initial wedge cut I have use a rope [ longer than the tree is tall] to help guide the tree to the ground.

On some smaller trees I have used my little tractor to push them over.

[have_blue]

Originally Posted by smfcpacfp

In the past when I would cut down a tree, where I wanted to control where it fell. I would use chains, my come-along to pull it tin the right direction before i began cutting.

It all depends on the tree diameter, height, and limbs.

8" and smaller trees are easy to boss around, but 12" trees have a mind of their own. If no leaves, it helps with any wind. If the tree starts falling on an angle, no amount of push from a loader will make it go the way you want.

I prefer to tie a long rope high up in the tree, and pull from a safe distance. If you get the rope high enough, a lawn tractor has enough pull. If you can only get the rope 10-15' up, then it takes a lot of pull and a strong rope.

[HappyCPE]

I did this - once.
Not only did the tree not fall where I wanted it (a 24" invasive Norway maple flattened a perfectly good fence) but a branch broke off on the way down, first impaling the plastic hood on my 4320 and then knocking me on my thick skull.
My head healed. The damaged hood I'm keeping as a reminder.

[Wesdor]

Like others have said, this is a very dangerous idea.

If you aren't comfortable and experienced in taking down trees then you should get a professional. During 2006 I had the privilege of working with a real professional from Oregon. He dropped a huge fir tree into an area about 50' wide. And the tree had to fall exactly correct because there were buildings on either side.

Let a professional take the tree down and then you can use the tractor and chain saw to clean up the mess.

Put your safety at the top of the list.

[gboudreau]

The safety police will tell you to never do this, but like others I have done this before. Usually it works better with a bigger machine then a CUT as you can get higher up on the tree to create more leverage. I would not do this on anything that is leaning in the oposite direction you want it to fall due to leverage. A better way would be to use a high strength cable, I have used 1/2 inch cable with a heavy duty snatch block chained to another tree or other immovable object in the direction you want it to go. Cable to tree as high up as you can go running the cable down through the snatch block then to your tractor. put a strain on the cable with the tractor while having someone notch the tree in the direction you want it to go then make the back cut. The key is to keep tension on the calbe at all times once the notch is cut. If you don't you have no control.

Even this is not fool proof as we took out a couple of rafters and roof on my fathers garage taking down some 100 foot pines a couple of weeks ago. The tree base started snapping a little early as my brother had too much strain on the cable tree rotated a couple of feet in the wrong direction and struck a oak tree on the way down which pushed it towards the garage. funny this is both my brother and I suggested taking dow the oak first as it needed to come down so we would have had a more open area, but my old man being the stubborn frenchmen that he is insisted we were fine. Now he has to repair the garage roof.

[Treemonkey1000]

Those are all great bits of advice. I do tree falling as a side job. As mentioned there are so many variables involved. Rotting cores in the tree. Cutting the back cut wrong. Not enough leverage on the tree to push it. Widow makers falling out of the tree. If you are bound to try something with your tractor. First look for tree lean. It is hard to fight leverage if the tree is leaning. IF you can get a line half way or better up the tree you improve your odds greatly. Then go out to an anchor point in the direction you want the tree to go. Anchor there with a heavy duty pulley. Which can be a chain and clevis to allow your line to go through. Then tie the other end of the tractor at an angle from the falling tree. DO NOT Pull too hard with the tractor. You can snap the tree on the person cutting the tree. It is called barber chairing. I about lost my head a couple of years ago using a dozer to pull a large back leaning maple. The guy on the dozer started pulling even harder as I was doing the back cut. The tree split and went up the trunk about 8'. When it snapped that piece snapped back so quickly if I hadn't been to the side it would have removed my head. Plus it twisted to the side as we didn't have the hinge wood in our favor any more.. Also as mentioned if it is liable to hit something other than the ground have a climber go up and take out some of the top.