Tractor vs Tree: how do I win?

[turnkey4099]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I had to remove a chinese tallow about that size last year. A toothbar helps with getting under some of the roots around the tree to break them loose. Do you have forks for your FEL? My forks are sharpened at the ends, and I pushed them together to make a flat blade about 10" wide. Used the end of the forks to cut through some of the deeper roots that I couldn't get to with the bucket. Without that I don't think I would have been able to get the stump. Tree species have various root systems and some are easier to remove than others. I would have thought the chinese tallow would be pretty easy but learned different; it was about as bad as trying to dig out a locust! )</font>

Yeah! The nice thing about locusts is they don't seem to have a tap root, at least not one that goes deep. I have seen them blown over in a windstorm, huge trees and the rootball is only a few feet deep. The other nice thing is all the shoots they will send up in unexpected places - like the one 20 ft away from my tree through a crack in the concrete inside my 3 season porch.

Harry K

 

[Highbeam]

You didn't go all the way out there in that muck (I can see it on your tires and the ruts), pose for a pic, and then go back to the barn without trying did you?

Lift the bucket as high as you can and push it over. Don't push so high on the tree that it breaks but just use the tree as a lever to flip the hole root wad out. Any digging on that wet ground will make a sloppy mess in no time. Use the traction that the sod gives you and push her over. Then set the bucket down in frontof the flipped root ball and push that forward and out of the ground.

If do don't have the traction to push it over, then you must dig it out. Wait until the ground is firm and try again.

That tree's a baby. Surely you just toppled it and are holding out on us.

 

[DannyD]

cut out around the bottom severing any roots, then hit it high...........just be sure you keep all wheels on the ground!

I took out 2 pines today for a neighbor. Had no idea of what a root system they have. Some of the roots were a good 7 inches around and the bx bh would not pull them apart. Got them both out and buried one of them back in a 6' hole we dug!

fun!!!

 

[miltrade]

That one looks easy. Cut it at about 4 feet high with a chainsaw, then back up to it, wrap a chain around it three times (wrap it up high on the remaining trunk), and pull it over with your drawbar. Ground looks soft there, should pop out after five or six steady pulls. Will take you all of ten minutes.

 

[John_Mc]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( If you have many trees like that, and you need to have the roots out as well, you can make a super lifter; Replace the bucket with a long vertical hydraulic cylinder, put a "foot" on it , find a way to attach a chain to it, then drive with your FEL close to the tree, fasten the chain to the tree and start lifting, no strain to the lifter or the tractor, just follow the tree as it rises. Super for poles as well.
New project? )</font>

Sounds very interesting. I don't suppose you have a picture of something like that, do you?

John Mc

 

[1948berg]

"Sounds very interesting. I don't suppose you have a picture of something like that, do you?"

NO pic right now. A friend of mine made one of these lifters. He works for the power supply and uses it to lift big poles. Maybe pic later.

 

[RedDog]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have taken out a lot of trees that size by just putting the bucket on the tree about 4' up and pushing. Then they usually go over enough for the root ball to pop up on one side. Put the bucket under that side and take the tree out. It does help alot if it isn't really dry. )</font>


Out of all the responses, yours is the best.

RedDog

 

[randy_berger]

john could you describe what you're talking about in a little more detail? it sounds like a great idea but i don't get it exactly. what do you mean "replace" the fel with a hydraulic cylinder. i gather the goal is to replace the lifting by the fel with lifting by a jack. i could definitely use that because i've got a lot of saplings i'd like to take out roots and all. the 3-pt and loader i have are both under 900# vertical force so i'd like to use something along the lines you're describing.

 

[JoeinTX]

1948berg nailed it....

That isn't a big tree and 10 minutes with the chain saw and a spritz of Round-Up and your done. No need in trying anything else.....

 

[Mavrik02]

One question...is the truck of that tree burried at all? I ask because the first branches are very low to the ground and it just look burried. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Anyway. I would try to push it over with the FEL high on the trunk like everyone else said. If you don't get anywhere quickly I would cut the top of the tree off like miltrade recommended and then try all of the suggestions. However that ground seems muddy, the FEL is big and long and I foresee a big mess when you are done (unless it just pops out).

In my experience my 4000lb tractor won't push over a tree that big...at least not in the soil around my house (maybe it would in sandy soil). I even find the roots so thick and the ground so hard that it is normally not possible to dig them up with the FEL (although the box blade will rip some thick roots).

Good luck!