ROPS saved my life Sat.

[BlueRidge]

<font color="blue"> I've had this happen with standing dead pine trees. I've pushed them with the front bucket, only to have the tree snap and the top half come falling down on top of the tractor. With the dozer, I've tried to get under them and push from the roots, but those dead pines will still snap in the middle and come straight down on you, then fall any which way. It's very, very scary taking them out!!! </font>


Maybe because you are using the wrong tool?

If you keep doing the same thing, and you keep getting the same results, and you don't like the results, maybe you shouldn't keep doing the same thing.

Try a chainsaw, mebbe? Felling with a chainsaw isn't "safe", but at least you have some degree of control, if you know what you're doing.

And if you don't, you shouldn't be doing...

 

[sandman2234]

We had a large pine that died down on a friends farm. Too close to an area frequented by people and children, but too far gone to mess with. I got in the habit of shooting it with a 20ga that I had a lot of extra (and old) shells for that I wanted to get rid of. The full choke did a pretty good job of delimbing the tree, and the rest of the guys joined in and we decided that a 15 foot trunk would be ok to leave. WE just started blasting away at it from a safe distance till the trunk gave way. Not going to say how much ammo we wasted but we were down there for target practice anyway. We had a pool that the guy that fired the shot that caused it to fall got dinner on the rest of us. Only cost me $15 for my share of the dinner and was cheap compared to what that tree would have done to somebody. The dead pine was on the bank of a small pond that several kids liked to fish in.
David from jax

 

[KeithInSpace]

WE just started blasting away at it from a safe distance till the trunk gave way.

Well that DEFINITELY sounds like the safest way to fell a tree. Much more reasonable than a chainsaw.

And I'm sure it was a hoot. Prob'ly have done the same thing as long as my wife was not in the same state.

 

[N80]

On several occasions when I was pushing up piles of 2" tp 8" pines that I had knocked over, one of them would get bowed up and then one end would swing back toward the tractor. Never got hit, but it sure made me slow down and pay attention.

I don't mess with a large, standing, dead pine. Widow makers.

 

[SpringHollow]

One day, I was in my tractor sitting still when all of sudden clang!!! and a tree has crashed down the length of my tractor. Fortunately, I had a FOPS and so there was just a small dent in the hood from a branch. It was perfectly calm at the time and I was sitting on a gravel road. A tree about 20' away snapped halfway up and fell on the tractor. A few days prior, we had 45 MPH winds and it did not fall. Go figure. Prior to this incident, the first thing I ever bought for any used tractor I bought was a FOPS because I was worried about trees in the woods. I never expected something like this.

Ken

 

[Dougster]

My parents are getting a new doublewide on some country land dad inherited. The road was a little narrow so we needed to widen it and remove trees from the edge. There are quite a few big ceders, some around 14 inches across the trunk and about 45 feet long. I was using my bucket forks to pick them up and move them further back in the woods with my Mahindra 5500. One of the big ones hung sideways and started coming loose. I dropped it as fast as I could but it was too late. The next thing I know is the tree caught the edge of my head and there was a loud metal ringing sound. The ROPS caught it. It just barely hit me. No dents or cracks in the ROPS at all, just a tiny smear of paint. Thank GOD for modern safety regs.

Trying to picture what actually happened here and having a hard time... but may I ask for my own peace of mind: Had you been using a fairly hefty grapple on the tree/log instead of bucket forks, could this have still happened?

Not trying to minimize the significance of keeping that ROPS up... and thank God you are okay... but is there another lesson here in moving fallen trees and logs (beyond the general danger aspect and wisdom of ROPS) that we can take away from this?

Dougster