Pushing With FEL

[SouthernX]

I've read some posts where people discuss using their FEL to push down tree's. Naturally how big a tree you could push down would depend on your FEL and tractor size. I have a NH 2420 (60hp / 4WD) and a NH270 FEL. How big a tree could I push down without damaging the FEL? Of course pushing tree's down is dangerous and safety is important so I'd be interested in safety information also. I guess my bigger question is how much can your FEL push without breaking it. Obviously a tractor and FEL is not a bulldozer. And a FEL is probably more prone to damage than a solid blade mounted on the front end. We just had a major ice storm here in North Central Arkansas and I have some tree's which simply need to be pushed down and cut up. Which do you feel is a safer way to get a tree down... knock it down with a tractor or fell it with an axe and chainsaw?

Here are a few pictures of the storm's aftermath. That last picture is the road leading to our house.

 

[woodchuckie]

When I'm pushing on trees trying to get them down, my limitation is the tractor. The wheels will slip or the tractor will bog down or start climbing the tree. I haven't damaged the fel in the four years of doing that. Don't know if the recommended fels for different tractors are matched like that or not.

 

[JB4310]

IMO your not going to be pushing trees down anything near like the size of the ones in your photos, even with your 60 HP tractor.

I'm sure the tractor will be worth it's weight in gold during the substantial clean up you've got on your hands, especially those large broken limbs that are still partly attached or hanging from the tree, the loader should be capable of dislodging them safely as opposed to trying to go at them with a chain saw. But some of them widow makers way up there are just plain out of reach and the whole tree might have to be cut down, which is no easy/risk free task with them hanging over your head.

If the tree looks like it could survive,I'd try and snag those high branches with a rope and pull them from a safe distance with the tractor.

This storm is going to cause a whole lot of collateral damage/injury in the months ahead I'm afraid, as people deal with the colossal clean-up

Good Luck and stay SAFE!

JB.

 

[john_bud]

A dozer will just drive forward and push over trees. But, unless it's a BIG one, they will raise the blade and push from higher up.

With an FEL, you can raise the FEL up high, push into the tree and then lower the bucket. You can also uncurl to add more force. Just pushing from 12-24" off the ground and a 4" tree will stop you cold. Unless the ground is marshy.

jb

 

[BarryinMN]

I have pushed a 8" dead tree over with a 60 hp TLB. Go up 9-10' and push, when it starts going over drop bucket down & continue. Idea is to keep the rootball out from under the front axle.

Your case it may not work at all if the ground is frozen the rootball will stay & best case is breaking the trunk.

Another thought the roots have stored energy and by just trimming the broken branches the leftover tree may bloom.

 

[wedge40]

I know they look horrible now, but like others have said I would clean up the branches and see what survives. I'm guessing in a couple of years you wont even be able to tell most of those trees were hit my the ice storm. Mother nature is pretty good at making messes, but she's also pretty good at getting things back to "normal" too.

Wedge

 

[SouthernX]

IMO your not going to be pushing trees down anything near like the size of the ones in your photos, even with your 60 HP tractor.

[ snip ]

JB.

Hi JB,

Yes, some of those trees are definitely too big. I just included the pictures as an example of what a bad ice storm can do. The night of the storm I went outside and about every 30 seconds I could hear a tree snapping or splitting. It sounded like people hunting in the woods. I've never seen (or heard) anything like it.

Thanks for the input,
SouthernX

 

[KennyV]

Those pictures look exact ally like the ice storm here in Kansas 4 years ago The sound is indescribable, after dark, you will definitely not walk out far into the woods with all the crashing you can hear. Very spooky.
You need a 4 in 1 bucket on your loader, really helps in clean up. I just finished up last summer. KennyV.
PS. where in N Arkansas are these pictures?

 

[SouthernX]

Those pictures look exact ally like the ice storm here in Kansas 4 years ago The sound is indescribable, after dark, you will definitely not walk out far into the woods with all the crashing you can hear. Very spooky.
You need a 4 in 1 bucket on your loader, really helps in clean up. I just finished up last summer. KennyV.
PS. where in N Arkansas are these pictures?

We are between Harrison and Mt. Home.

Yes, if you would have gone into the woods you would have literally been taking your life into your own hands. Heck, just walking outside my door was something of an adrenaline raising exercise as we have several large trees near the house. My wife and I mostly sat at the kitchen table during the storm. Every time we heard a large crack and the sound of branches tumbling my wife would jump up and run to the center of the house ( and I was right behind her ). We did have several branches / limbs strike the house but the damage was minor ( broken siding and some guttering pulled away ). The ironic thing is that we were going to have those trees cut down this summer precisely in case something like this happened.

The storm caused a LOT of damage to electrical distribution systems. We went without power for 12 days. No lights, no stove, no heat, no hot water. Well, fortunately we were a little bit prepared. We did have a propane lanter, propane stove, and a kerosene heater. We had no hot water so we went to motel every two or three days to bath. It was something of an experience. Next year, I'll be better prepared. Just in case. We did have a new zero-clearance fireplace put in this fall but it really needs the built-in blower to be able to run to properly get the heat out. You can use the fireplace without the blower but it mostly just heats the living room area. But of course I couldn't even avail myself of that option because the rick of wood I had delivered just before the storm hit turned out to be so wet it wouldn't even burn. I think I am going to put a free standing wood stove in the kitchen so if this happens again (or something similar ) we'll have a second wood stove for additional heat and something to cook on. And from now on I'm cutting my own wood so that I know it's dry when I go to use it ( lesson learned ).

 

[gemini5362]

SouthernX I saw your post and noticed you were from Northwestern Arkansas. I looked and was very happy to see you posted today. My wife works with a lady from the bentonville area. Her husband was doing exactly what you were talking about pushing some trees down after the ice storm. Evidently one of the trees had a limb that had been weakened by the ice storm When he started pushing the tree over the limb fell off and hit him on the neck right behind his head and killed him. Pushing trees over can be a very dangerous job.

 

[gemini5362]

We are between Harrison and Mt. Home.

Yes, if you would have gone into the woods you would have literally been taking your life into your own hands. Heck, just walking outside my door was something of an adrenaline raising exercise as we have several large trees near the house. My wife and I mostly sat at the kitchen table during the storm. Every time we heard a large crack and the sound of branches tumbling my wife would jump up and run to the center of the house ( and I was right behind her ). We did have several branches / limbs strike the house but the damage was minor ( broken siding and some guttering pulled away ). The ironic thing is that we were going to have those trees cut down this summer precisely in case something like this happened.

The storm caused a LOT of damage to electrical distribution systems. We went without power for 12 days. No lights, no stove, no heat, no hot water. Well, fortunately we were a little bit prepared. We did have a propane lanter, propane stove, and a kerosene heater. We had no hot water so we went to motel every two or three days to bath. It was something of an experience. Next year, I'll be better prepared. Just in case. We did have a new zero-clearance fireplace put in this fall but it really needs the built-in blower to be able to run to properly get the heat out. You can use the fireplace without the blower but it mostly just heats the living room area. But of course I couldn't even avail myself of that option because the rick of wood I had delivered just before the storm hit turned out to be so wet it wouldn't even burn. I think I am going to put a free standing wood stove in the kitchen so if this happens again (or something similar ) we'll have a second wood stove for additional heat and something to cook on. And from now on I'm cutting my own wood so that I know it's dry when I go to use it ( lesson learned ).

AS soon as we saw on the news there was a major ice storm coming I got my generator out and put it on the front porch where we could get to it easy. I went down to the local country store and gas station and filled two 5 gallon cans with gasoline. (I keep the generator full) I started the generator up and made sure it was running correctly. We never lost power once

 

[Gary Fowler]

I pushed over / dug up some thorn trees that were about 8 inches at the base. I dont think you will damage the FEL doing that. I have a 45 HP tractor and it would just ride up the tree if you raised the bucket, with it lowered, the tractor would just spin all 4 wheels. I get it down by taking my box blade and lowering the scarifies as low as they would go and cross hatching the root ball and then digging out the dirt and kept doing that till I was able to get the tooth bar under it and curl it out. I did the same with a small oak and it was much easier than the thorn. Willow trees in a marshy area, I just hooked the bucket under them and pushed / lifted them out. 6-8 inches is about the max i have done so far. Really be careful with dead trees or one with loose limbs unless you have a very good FOPS on your tractor. Dont ram into a dead tree either as it will surely snap the top if it is weak in it will come back on you. Just gently push it over or throw a chain around it high up and pull it would be better idea I think. Just make sure your chain is longer than the tree is tall.

 

[groundcover]

We had a pretty bad ice storm in December. I went along the driveway and cut the trees that were hanging over then took the FEL and pushed the debris off to the side. Be real carful as the stresses on the wood are severe and the trees do strange things as they are cut. Going to be a real ugly spring but going to have to deal with that when the snow melts.

 

[Redneck in training]

We live in Iowa and we have ice storms prety much every year and about every 10 years we a catastrophic one. I clean only trees laying on the ground and ignore broken branches. Most trees, no matter how badly they are damaged, will recover in one season that no damage is noticeable. By that time the broken branches are dead and dry and most of them are either already on the ground or are much easier to break of the tree.

 

[Valorum]

Just be careful. Some trees can snap up higher than where you are pushing and the upper piece will then fall back towards you on your head instead of away from you. Seen it happen with a tree that seemed pretty healthy, not just dead trees. Would be safer to pull it down maybe from a safe distance? Or use a chain saw to cut it down.

 

[SouthernX]

[ snip ... ]

Just make sure your chain is longer than the tree is tall.

For sure... YouTube - Truck VS Palm tree - who wins?

 

[SouthernX]

SouthernX I saw your post and noticed you were from Northwestern Arkansas. I looked and was very happy to see you posted today. My wife works with a lady from the bentonville area. Her husband was doing exactly what you were talking about pushing some trees down after the ice storm. Evidently one of the trees had a limb that had been weakened by the ice storm When he started pushing the tree over the limb fell off and hit him on the neck right behind his head and killed him. Pushing trees over can be a very dangerous job.

I'm pretty deliberate and take my time when doing things on my tractor. But thanks for the sharing the story.

 

[jinman]

I'm pretty deliberate and take my time when doing things on my tractor. But thanks for the sharing the story.

I don't think you can really come up with one formula for the tree size you can take down with your tractor. There are just too many variables. The type of tree and the soil moisture are two of the biggest things that can vary your results. Also, a dead oak tree is an accident waiting to happen if you have dead limbs above your head. Even healthy postoak trees will have brittle limbs that easily break off if you shake the tree too much.

Recently, I used my little 45 hp tractor to push over a postoak tree for my neighbor. The tree was at least 18' at the base. The soil was sandy, but there were some large rocks around the base of the tree. My neighbor had first asked me to clear the rocks so he could dig out the roots, but I suggested I could do the root grubbing with my toothbar on the FEL. After only 10 minutes of digging out rocks and cutting roots, I gave the tree a gentle and steady push from the uphill side about 6' up on the trunk. The big oak tree just slowly went over. I repositioned once and had it on the ground with the second push. Then, I dug under the root ball and popped the stump out of the hole. It was almost too easy. Not only did I get the tree down, but I put it exactly where he asked me to. I didn't damage any of his other trees. Now he has a cabin built on that spot and you'd never know that big oak was ever there.

Another time, I might come on a 6" or 8" tree that will give me fits. You just never know.

 

[Baby Grand]

Quote JB:

If the tree looks like it could survive,I'd try and snag those high branches with a rope and pull them from a safe distance with the tractor.

I like this approach, and I like it for taking whole trees down, too. Just make sure you use a snatch block to get your line of action horizontal to down, preventing your rear end from getting light and also to prevent a snapped line (and sometimes a snapped limb) from coming directly back at you.
Jim

 

[JB4310]

SouthernX I saw your post and noticed you were from Northwestern Arkansas. I looked and was very happy to see you posted today. My wife works with a lady from the bentonville area. Her husband was doing exactly what you were talking about pushing some trees down after the ice storm. Evidently one of the trees had a limb that had been weakened by the ice storm When he started pushing the tree over the limb fell off and hit him on the neck right behind his head and killed him. Pushing trees over can be a very dangerous job.

That's what I was alluding to when I referred to "collateral damage/injury" I think we're going to see much more of this in the coming months with such a wide spread tree damage disaster.

JB.