is it safe to use a tractor to pull over a tree

[roermo]

Want your opinion about bringing down this mulberry tree. It is about 20 or so inches across and 45 ft tall (about). My neighbor cut down three other trees and he hired a professional to cut those trees. They were much bigger and closer to his house. I used my tractor to hull off the trunks. The neighbor and logger said to cut a notch on the left side of the tree, cut from the other side and use my tractor to pull on the tree on the notch side. Tie the rope up high.

My question is this. Is it safe to do this with my 4110 JD. It weighs about 1700 pound and maybe 250 with the bucket. I think it would work but if things would go wrong I do not think my tractor would be a match for the weight of the tree and I think it would pull it backwards or even up and back. Should I tell the neighbor to use his truck instead. Getting the truck in the back is tough so they want me to use my tractor. Any thoughts.

Thanks

Roger

 

[BloomingtonMike]

It is not worth damaging your tractor or brains if something were to go wrong. You will need a serious chain to get this done right anyway. Do yourself a favor and be safe instead of sorry. Once that tree lets go it is going to fall way faster than you are going to pull it over. This is why people pay professional tree loppers.

 

[Shawk]

I agree with Mike... there's no second chance once the tree begins to fall. Gotta make sure everything is done safely the first go around.

 

[rswyan]

Look at your first picture - see the way the tree is leaning and the amount of overhang on the branches ..... that some pretty serious leverage there .....

If you are thinking about pulling the tree to the left in the picture (away from the shed) with your tractor forget about it. You would have better luck pulling it to either side (towards or away from the camera) - where at least you aren't fighting all the force of that leverage.

The person doing the cutting need to know how to cut a tree to get it fall in a particular direction - and what not to cut.

I'd be asking if there was some particular reason the professional didn't want to take it down when he was there .... the answer to that might tell ya alot.

 

[neverenough]

Pulling that tree down with that tractor is almost certain death. Here is what I would do. Above the "Y" in the tree, notch the branch hanging over the shed. Make the notch on the side opposite you will pull it. Use a rope or chain to break the branch as you pull it away from the shed. Make sure you don't notch the branch too deep so it breaks off the branch, what you want to do is break the branch so it is still connected to the tree once it is twisted away from the shed. Now cut the other branch above the "Y" so it falls between the fence and the shed. Notch and pull the trunk away from the shed. The safest way is to rent a small lift/bucket and cut the tree down in 4 ft sections, or hire it out to someone with the equipment.

 

[neverenough]

I'd be asking if there was some particular reason the professional didn't want to take it down when he was there .... the answer to that might tell ya alot.

If I read it right, I think the reason the pro didn't want to do it was becouse he couldn't get his lift/bucket truck back there.

 

[JWaterstreet]

I have two stories to relate.

1. 30 years ago my father and I needed to cut down a dead oak. It wasn't huge; maybe 2 ft diameter. We had cut a lot of trees so we weren't newbies. This oak was close to the powerline and leaned a little towards the powerline, so we couldn't fall it towards the natural direction. (just like your mulberry) So we hooked up our Farmall 706 tractor to it with long log chains up really high in the opposite direction of the powerline. We snugged up the chain, and I cut a step V towards the tractor. As I was cutting the V, the tree started to go, I signaled my dad to go, and he started to pull the tree. You can guess what happened. It went down sideways, fortunately missing the powerline, but it gave my dad a wild ride as it drug him sideways towards where it fell. Fortunately it didn't flip the tractor. BTW, a 706 weighs like 4X what your little 4110 weighs. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't think of doing what your thinking of, especially seeing that mulberry lean the way it's leaning.

2. I have a summer house on a lake in Kentucky. When I bought it last year, it had a new deck, porch, and the whole side facing the lake was renovated, for a reason. I was told that there was a large dead tree on the lake side of the house, and the owner tried taking it down himself. He hooked his Jeep up to the tree, notched it towards the Jeep, and when it went, it fell on the deck and house, and pulled his Jeep off the side and almost into the lake. Besides the damage to the house, they had to hire an expensive crane to take the tree off the house.

Seeing the pictures, I wouldn't personally touch that mulberry, even if it were my own tree, let alone a neighbor's. It might be simplest to drag the shed out of the way, fell it in it's natural lean, and drag the shed back.

 

[jdbower]

I had some pros remove a few locusts from my roadside. One was leaning back a little and was tall enough to have hit the power lines on the other side of the street had it fallen naturally. They were able to use a little skid loader with a large rope attached near the top of the tree to guide its fall (one guy cutting, another in the loader). The owner was talking to me and explaining the principles of levers (not news) and, more interestingly, the properties of various trees and the amount of experience required to attempt this. From the tree type and whether it would fall well or splinter to the specifics of the tree like insect damage, etc., there are a lot of parameters that need to be considered. The final tree they didn't have a good angle so they used a bucket and brought it down in chunks.

With your tree, the only way I'd consider taking it down myself is in pieces small enough not to damage the roof of the shed (or just let it land on the shed and video tape it for use in a funniest videos submission ). After all, that's what pros have insurance for!

 

[NCDeere]

I have pulled over many small trees with a tractor. But I don't think I would try to pull over on that big. I would, however, use a bulldozer to push it...

Just my $0.02.

Bryan

 

[danbike]

I'd like to suggest you listen to the people who have posted their experiences. On the other hand, if you insist on doing this with your tractor, can I be the agent who handles the video with Jay Leno?

 

[22261]

Your going to need a way bigger tractor!

 

[Neophyte]

Lose the thought. Move the shed with the help of your tractor, then cut down the tree.

 

[browns40]

Hi roermo,

That tree does have a serious lean to it, but is certainly no behemoth...

I would cut that tree... I'd aim it directly away from where you were standing to take the picture... 1" Samson rope (nylon braid, good for about 10 tons) at about the notch/roof height tied with tension, then a come along as high above the tree notch you can get.

The goal is to tie ABOVE the balance point of the tree (i.e. heaviest part of the tree is on the bottom.

Tension up the come-along, then re-tie the rope tight again under the come-along (midshipman's hitch is good one). I would possibly use the tree in back of the shed (looking at the picture) to apply sidewards force as well, at the same height as the first, but on the overhanging branch... if that tree is more than 90 degrees from your big one in back of the fence, I'd look for another suitable anchor behind the fence for the pull on the hanging branch, then use the same method to tension your guide lines.

That's using the trees in the background--NOT your tractor!

You can also apply a rope just above your cut with tension to guide the trunk in the direction you choose.

Once your "vector" is set notch it 1/3 of the way pointing between your 2 tension directions, then make a slightly DOWNWARD cut towards the hinge, then be ready to run!

I just took 2 maples leaning over my Mom's place & power lines last week using just the rope, with a smaller rope to coax the trunk to land where I wished but had larger trees in "the bunch" right there to tie to.

Everybody loves the chains & cables, but this kind of tree work is not an application I'd use them for (so darn heavy & hard to secure!)unless I was using the winch... you need that tree to be guided right where you want it to fall/held from falling where you don't.

If it makes you nervous to cut it, then absolutely do not--hire it out.

Of course, maybe I'm just crazy & lucky to have made it this far!

 

[CurlyDave]

I have pulled over many trees with my JD 110, which is a lot bigger machine than yours. I would not touch this one. All the ones I have done were much straighter.

There are only two things to investigate here:

1. The price to have the tree professionally removed.

2. The cost of a new shed.

If #1 is larger than #2, cut the tree down & let it fall on the shed. I could do that easily. Then clean up the shed pieces & tree (your tractor will be useful here) and build a new shed.

Don't forget to empty the shed first.

 

[Neophyte]

Once the shed is empty, it should be very easy to move. Your tractor may not be able to pick it up completely. However, you could probably pick up one side of it and drag it out of the way on some beams or roll logs.

 

[roermo]

Curlydave
You gave me an idea; I will just ask the neighbor if he accepts American Express or Master card and bee done with it.

We are tackling this tree this afternoon when I get off work. After having time to read the posts I think I am going to be there for clean up and watch from the side line when they bring down the tree, not sure what they have come up with, but I will not be using my tractor. Should be a show, I will post pictures later.

Thanks for all the help here, I feel that the tractor and myself will live for another day after reading all the posts.

Thanks

Roger

 

[BloomingtonMike]

How did it go? Everythingdown safely?

 

[roermo]

Tkanks for asking,

Well the tree is down, not a perfect picture but every one walked away. I stood back a pulled on a rope while we trimmed off one large limb we could reach while standing on the roof of the shed. Then the property owner cut a notch on the left of the tree and the other neighbor pulled with his truck to the left and the other guy cut on the back side. This made me worry for if the tree tried to kick back or roll he had no where to run. The shed in back and wood on the ground to his left and I felt the tree would roll to his right and a fence. But as luck had it this day the tree did go the opposite direction but also rolled to the back side (see picture) took out the fence of the other neighbor. All in all could have been worse.

 

[BenderKC]

NO NO NO

 

[slaveToHorses]

Some folks are just lucky!! Glad no one was hurt. Also glad you didn't get your tractor involved.

I have used my tractors a lot but I am very very careful these days. I had one take a sudden wild turn and come down right on top of me. The ROPS, the canopy and my hard hat saved me. Very scary. The worst part was that my wife was watching. I heard about it for at least a year afterwards!