How to drag downed trees with tractor??

[Gordon Gould]

Follow the good advise above or consider a cross drawbar and a tractor hook ( both available at TSC and fairly inexpensive ) with a couple slip chains or chokers work good. Put the cross drawbar between your lift arms. You can put two chains in the deep tractor hooks. Get the right size for your chain.
Just go slow and be careful.

 

[MESSMAKER]

If the objective is lift to pull... use both. The pole to lift the butt end up a bit, and another chain to the drawbar to pull. If you pull using only the pole, even on a low loop lift point, you end up pulling from the top link which makes the frontend light, and leads to back flips.

I use my box blade to skid logs. Back up close to the butt and choke-chain the log to the BB. Once lifted the butt clears the ground and if the tractor rares up it goes up untill the BB comes back down.

If you have enough tractor to lift the stump end up a foot or so, this will work well. You need to leave some length on the vertical chain so the draw bar chain can do the pulling. If the front end gets too light, just drop the boom pole a bit and let the tree drag.

 

[dieselcrawler]

If you have enough tractor to lift the stump end up a foot or so, this will work well. You need to leave some length on the vertical chain so the draw bar chain can do the pulling. If the front end gets too light, just drop the boom pole a bit and let the tree drag.

Exactly... good follow up on my comments. What is most important in the boom pole method is using the lifting point as close to the tractor as possible to keep the amount of levrage the weight of the log will have on the tractor to a minimum. Lift the log only enough to keep from gouging, to allow easy pulling.

 

[chuck172]

Follow the good advise above or consider a cross drawbar and a tractor hook ( both available at TSC and fairly inexpensive ) with a couple slip chains or chokers work good. Put the cross drawbar between your lift arms. You can put two chains in the deep tractor hooks. Get the right size for your chain.
Just go slow and be careful.

What are the yellow choke hooks called?

 

[dieselcrawler]

Good call on thoes yellow chokers... I'm gonna look for a few next time I'm at TSC. Most of my chains have grab hooks for use chaining down equipment or trucks on my trailer. The one slip hook I have to use is so big it comes apart as soon as there's any slack on the chain. I found that double wrapping the log and using a grab hook does ok. I need to weld some grab hooks on my box blade too.

 

[Baby Grand]

Good call on thoes yellow chokers... I'm gonna look for a few next time I'm at TSC. Most of my chains have grab hooks for use chaining down equipment or trucks on my trailer. The one slip hook I have to use is so big it comes apart as soon as there's any slack on the chain. I found that double wrapping the log and using a grab hook does ok. I need to weld some grab hooks on my box blade too.

I have looked for and never found those choker hooks in a retail place. I had to order mine from Bailey's. Not cheap, but worth every penny.

 

[Gordon Gould]

What are the yellow choke hooks called?

Choker Chain Hook. Hooks are made for 3/8 or 5/16 inch chain. Most are 3/8. I use 5/16.

Norse Winch Attachments

 

[CobyRupert]

If you're going to use a boom pole with some grab hooks, here's a good video on how to practice grabbing the log.
Log Skidding Training - Farm Hand's Companion - YouTube

 

[juddspaintballs]

I've used large steel carabiners before as a slip loop for a choker. They're usually rated at or above what the chain is.