Pushing With FEL

[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.