Removing small dead trees - best way to pull

[rneal55555]

There is this I've never done it it, But I have a friend that swears by it

 

[CalG]

Just 'cause this thread has legs,

If I plan to pull stumps on small stuff, I still cut the tree off. at about as high as I safely can.

The Lever arm left attached to the root ball helps a lot., and clearing away the top gives a free space to work in. I like chains when I suspect the load is greater than the pull. If I know the load will move, wire rope is fine.

 

[likembikem]

I have hooks welded on my FEL but only for lifting with a chain or pulling bushes or tree limbs. Never to pull a tree that's still rooted in the ground. How about chain saw them short and renting a stump grinder. At least it would be less stress on the tractor and safer to you.

 

[Willie B]

You haven't said how big the trees are.
I have pulled trees since 1987 when I bought a Power Wagon with two PTO powered winches. I set the truck far away from the tree, use a ladder to climb 20' up the tree trunk. A 20 foot tall tree trunk is a heck of a lever. Most trees 24" and smaller come right out, stump & all.

24 years ago I bought my first full sized backhoe. I often push trees using leverage of the trunk. I haven't found a tree too big to push down, though I may have to rip some roots out first. Dead trees I DO NOT push. They might break & send widow makers my way. Plenty of people will say this isn't safe, but I prefer my odds inside a ROPS cab over standing at a tree with a chainsaw.

I am of the opinion that a compact tractor is too small to safely pull out any but small trees & shrubs.

As for pulling with a tractor, we are involved in antique tractor pulls. Pulling tractors are required to have wheelie bars to prevent backflips. My son & I have International Farmall M. Mine is 1940, Seth's is 1941. Neither has any risk of flipping but both are equipped with wheelie bars.

 

[SouthernSky]

Leyland Cypress are basically Christmas trees. They are very fast growing and are often used to create a wall between neighbors. Not really a danger if dead or falls on you. It is soft, easily drug, and none more than 20 feet high even after 25 years. The stump rarely goes down more than 1-2’ but the roots can spread in all directions. By Spring these already brown trees will start falling over in a good wind. Cutting off the tops for now is not a horrible idea either.

Pulling out a few trees here and there has never been difficult, just time consuming. Pulling out 50-100 is another story. A bulldozer would work but many trees survived between dead ones so I can’t just mow everything down.

I wish I had something bigger than an L3200 but it is what I have without paying someone else to do the job. The question I will find out is whether it is enough or not.

 

[ratpie]

Yes chain will stretch, but the % (stored energy) is very low, measured in .001 percent of length while cable is measured in .1% (so MUCH more stored energy) which is what causes the break point to whip back at you.
Watched a GI get cut in half when a 500' 1/2" cable snapped at the far end. He was about 50' to the side and about in the middle of the pull. Kinda ruined his day.

i was a crane/wrecker operator in the corps back in the 80s. we were doing a tandem pull, and my partner's cable snapped. backlash cut a hunk out of him, and killed him. the amount of force that chains and cables store, when under strain, is nothing to take for granted.

 

[2manyrocks]

I'm currently paying $185/hr to have forestry mulching done. He gets more done in an hour than I can do in a full day with a small backhoe and tractor equipped with a grapple.

 

[masscity]

I have a few dead apple trees from time to time. I have a BH92 and at first I cut them off low and dug them out. Too much of a mess.

Now I cut the smaller ones off at 2 1/2 to 3 feet and the larger ones with 10-11 inches at the stump off at 5 feet. I set my bucket on the top, push forward and backward to the ground twice and all of the roots are broke. All the ground here is red clay.

I hope to get a ripper tooth made for my backhoe this coming summer for spruce and hardwoods.