Pulling down a tree

[RayCo]

I've had dozens of dead trees on my property and have taken most of them down with a Case 580 (well, my father-in-law has anyway) and a few of the smaller ones with my subcompact Kubota. There is one tree that is not accessible by either machine and which is also too unsafe to cut down the old fashioned way, for fear of falling branches. It's a tulip poplar tree that's about 80 feet tall and probably less than 14" diameter 10' above the ground. It's severely dead and too close to my house, so I have to take it down. I was thinking of getting a rope around it and trying to pull it down or break it with my truck. Fortunately, it's about 150' from my driveway, so even if the thing were to uproot and fall right at me, it'd still land a good 70' away from me.

So, my question is, should I use a rope or a chain? I can't really envision slingshotting the tree 150' into hitting me or anything, since it's not like I'm pulling with a jet engine or something. I figure that 150' of good chain will cost a couple hundred dollars, and I'm trying to decide if my life is worth that.

Thanks

 

[RollTideRam]

I used the 95' of 5/16 cable on my winch, plus another 90' of extra 5/16 cable. I added a dead weight to the line in case it broke, so it would drop. I still had to cut on the tree a little. JC

 

[Texashayman]

I used the 95' of 5/16 cable on my winch, plus another 90' of extra 5/16 cable. I added a dead weight to the line in case it broke, so it would drop. I still had to cut on the tree a little. JC

As JC said..use a cable..much easier and less chance of things going wrong!

 

[Treemonkey1000]

If you have a strong rope that is what I use for my tree work. You don't need to put a huge amount of tension on them normally. But if it is that dead then you may want to just pay someone to drop it for you if you aren't comfortable doing that work. Branches falling off even while you are threading a rope could be dangerous. There are a lot of variables to consider. Is the tree rotted in the center which can cause it to fall another direction. Is it leaning the way you want it to go? Are there more branches on one side than the other. Wind direction..Not trying to scare you. Just giving you food for thought. If you use something to pull it with then don't be in the drop zone. Often we will anchor the rope in the direction we want it to fall then go through a pulley or clevis and pull from another angle..
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/115415-taking-down-trees-tractor-help.html

 

[coobie]

If you have a strong rope that is what I use for my tree work. You don't need to put a huge amount of tension on them normally. But if it is that dead then you may want to just pay someone to drop it for you if you aren't comfortable doing that work. Branches falling off even while you are threading a rope could be dangerous. There are a lot of variables to consider. Is the tree rotted in the center which can cause it to fall another direction. Is it leaning the way you want it to go? Are there more branches on one side than the other. Wind direction..Not trying to scare you. Just giving you food for thought. If you use something to pull it with then don't be in the drop zone. Often we will anchor the rope in the direction we want it to fall then go through a pulley or clevis and pull from another angle..
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/115415-taking-down-trees-tractor-help.html

I fully agree on every bit of tree monkeys advice.I work for the local power company(31 years) as a lineman and used to to be a tee trimmer also.I would hire a professional to remove that tree.coobie

 

[hockeyhead]

First off, If a tree that large is weak enough to just pull it over with a pickup truck it does need to come down now. Secondly pulling it until it breaks is uncontolled and God only knows what will happen. Third, nobody on this site or any other site can tell you the best way to bring it down without seeing and surveying the situation, so calling a pro is the safe bet.
All that said I dropped 65ft hickory tree, 20" at the base, this past Sunday that was within 15ft of the powerlines on the front of our property.
This tree had been hacked up by the power company over the years, created snow drifts in the winter, and was centerpiece of the ugly corner of my front yard.
I dropped 3 major branches on the roadside of the tree to insure it wouldn't hit the powerline as it fell away and to improve the lean. Then I used two 100ft 3/8" steel cables, one end looped around the tree up 22' in a crotch, the other end hooked on the tractor drawbaw setup in the direction I needed it to fall. This cable had no tension on it at this point. Then I cut the notch, then I raised the cable with the tractor with no tension, then I made the backcut creating the hinge and drove a wedge into the backcut. Then I got on the tractor and pulled it over , never even spun a wheel on the tractor still in 2wd. She fell just where I need it to fall, didn't block my drive on the left and didn't crush the landscaping on the right.
I'm limbing it everynight after work and dragging it back to make firewood out of it

 

[YM-135trac]

If you have a strong rope that is what I use for my tree work. You don't need to put a huge amount of tension on them normally. But if it is that dead then you may want to just pay someone to drop it for you if you aren't comfortable doing that work. Branches falling off even while you are threading a rope could be dangerous. There are a lot of variables to consider. Is the tree rotted in the center which can cause it to fall another direction. Is it leaning the way you want it to go? Are there more branches on one side than the other. Wind direction..Not trying to scare you. Just giving you food for thought. If you use something to pull it with then don't be in the drop zone. Often we will anchor the rope in the direction we want it to fall then go through a pulley or clevis and pull from another angle..
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/115415-taking-down-trees-tractor-help.html

Right-on, pulling through block(pulley) reduces cable stress by 1/2 doubles pull, plus cable break/flys-wipps back to block-NOT YOU. As puller stay clear(winch remote) of pull source if possible& out of pull triangle(if block iitself breaks loose) Be carefull!

 

[sandman2234]

I will tell you what we did down at the farm where we go shooting, but you are going to have to survey the situation at your place for youself.
I had a couple cases of 20ga shotgun shells that came out of an estate of a man that had been wheelchair bound since early 1960's. He was a bird hunter prior to that, so the shells were bought prior to his getting hurt. Not wanting to use them for hunting, I figured to just shoot them up, and knock all the limbs off a dead tree down at the farm at the same time. It worked like a champ because the shot was clumped together into a single mass (stuck together) so it was like shooting slugs. We took all the limbs off the tree, one shot at a time, and it was fun, but we didn't have to worry about where the shot went that missed the limbs. (Wide open spaces) We even took a pretty good piece off the top of the tree, about 25 foot long, so all that was left was a tall stump, which could be dropped with a chainsaw since the limb falling danger had been addressed.
David from jax

 

[RayCo]

That's really good to hear sandman, as I was just pondering shooting the tree the other day. There really aren't many branches left, although I was thinking of shooting it about 40 feet up, since it's about 50' from my house. Thanks for letting me know I'm not crazy for thinking of this.