Tractor assisted tree felling.

[Richard]

Do you have any other tasks you could use a backhoe or bulldozer for?

My wife's cousing next door had a tree that was fine....but within range of his house so he wanted it down AND the roots out.

I dug on three sides letting the 4th side act as a bit of a hinge to hold the tree from falling towards the house... then pushed...

Tree came down, roots came up and he & his hired working cleaned it up.

 

[CobyRupert]

Timing the pull with the cut almost never works.
Don’t cut the tree through, keep the hinge wood intact and pull it over.
But know that some tree’s fibers are brittle and the hinge will snap before you want it to. Without the hinge wood, you lose control and gravity takes over, unless you get lucky and can pull fast.
The initial wedge on the side of the fall direction should be tall/wide because the hinge will also snap once the wedge closes when the tree falls.

 

[tradosaurus]

I've also heard of wrapping a chain above the cut so that a barbershop effect won't happen.

 

[Deere Dude]

This posts reminds me of the time my dad decided to cut a huge cherry tree hanging over our garage. He hooked up our jeep to a long rope well down and in the direction he wanted to pull the tree. My brother was about 17, so my dad had him operate the jeep while he cut the tree notch. I should mention there was about 6 inches of now on the ground. As dad cut, he yelled to my brother to back up. The jeep didn't move. My dad was screaming back up. back up. The engine was revving but the rear tires were just spinning. Evidently, my dad had neglected to put the Jeep in 4 wheel drive. Almost in slow motion that huge cherry tree started to fall...... landing, squarely, right in the middle of the garage. The garage was totally destroyed along with a canoe, our bicycles and other various and sundry pieces of equipment. I guess the moral of this story is...... If your gonna try this. Make sure you have a tremendous amount of tension pulling that tree in the "correct" direction first. With enough tie offs to prevent it from falling onto your shed. Thanks

I had a 12" diameter 60' tree about 10 feet from the eve end of my new pole shed I wanted moved. I had 75' of steel cable hooked about 15-20' up the tree and the other end to my new dually 4x4. It was in 4x4 mode, my wife was driving and all she had to do was step on the gas and keep tension on the line as nI was cutting. It would lay it along the side of the pole shed.

I began cutting gingerly and when the tree started to lean the correct way I waved my arms to get the truck moving backwards.

actually it was a good plan except my wife got confused with my arm waving and just stopped. The tree fell about 3' from the edge of the shed. Worked out, but training was improved after that.

 

[ericm979]

There are cuts that you can do that minimize the chances of a barberchair.

This is a great video explaining what happens and how to avoid it:

 

[BackRoad]

There was a video I saw in the last month...they used a small bottle jack rather than wedges.

Tree had the normal hinge cut on the front. On the backside, it had a key cut in it that fit a bottle jack.

4 cuts...bottom, both sides and top angled in so the bottle jack would slide in, sitting in the normal vertical position...once inserted in the opening, slight jack pressure applied.

Then the normal cut was done up to the hinge point starting with a plunge cut from the bottle jack towards the hinge.

Then they jacked up the bottle hack and leveraged the tree over based on the hinge cut.

Pretty ingenious for larger 2 and 3 foot diameter trees.

 

[bcp]

Use a hydraulic toe jack. Much less cutting preparation.

hydraulic toe jack at DuckDuckGo

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Bruce

 

[CobyRupert]

Hydraulic jacks are kind of neat, by why go to the bother?
Wedges and a sledge take even less cutting and easier to carry around.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Somehow the words of Tom Lehrer come to mind here: "To think of all the marvelous ways they're using plastics nowadays".

 

[hslogger]

Using a jack just seems like child's play according to some posts. Jacking timber has a learning curve. Ingredients include not undersizing your jack. Placing the jack where it NEEDS to be placed, not where it is convenient. Always use a jack plate, ie a plate ontop of the ram face. Best to have a plate with a fitting to meld with the ram top to accomodate angle present as lifting takes place. ALWAYS use wedges to keep up with the jacking. Jacks can and will fail when you think you're superman. Never be married to the jack. Be prepared to abandon your tools if you gotta move quickly. DON'T stand there admiring your work as it goes over. Have your escape route planned and tried out before going ahead on it. Exit at an angle from the stump, not just right behind it.

Google "tree Jacks" Silvey tree Jack, Jacking timber.

 

[Captain Dirty]

I heartily endorse Terry Hale's YouTube series Weakened Woodsman that includes the video ericm979 included in post #25. Mr. Hale provides a lot of engineering data. The math may make your eyes glaze over, but the main takeaway is that the typical "fella" overestimates the forces he can apply and underestimates the forces the tree imposes. The half-knowledgable fella, knowing the low working strength of the line he could afford at the box store, doubles or quadruples the line, inadvertently exceeding the breaking strength of his blocks (pulleys). Mr. Hale also discusses the mechanics of the wood and the possible disasters that occur should the hinge wood fail, etc, etc, many things our average feller may not have considered.

Mr. Hale discusses what common tools available at local hardware stores cost vs. the more appropriate, professional arborist tools from a specialist, and shows how much better suited the pro stuff is. Last fall my sister had two, >2' diameter x >50' tall trees taken down, and my neighbor had six 2' diameter x .50' pines taken down. The going rate was $1000 - $1200 per tree. On one job the contractor used a crane to take each tree in 3 or 4 lifts; on the other he used a 40' boom truck to take the trees down in 2' - 8' sections. The cost of a 100' boom crane or a 40' boom truck aside, hundreds of dollars in tackle, pullers, and accessories plus the assurance of insurance (do not be bashful about asking to see an insurance certificate) often makes the professional tree service attractive.

But it is satisfying to personally fell a big tree just where you wanted it.

 

[TractorGuy]

I have only used a tractor for felling a tree a few times and they weren't high risk. On those I tied a 5/8" braided cord as high as I could reach and routed it around the base of another tree that was in line with where I wanted the tree to fall. I pulled at 90* so there was no chance of it falling on the tractor.

I have dug and pushed quite a few down with my backhoe. That works pretty good also but sounds like your working area is too confined for either method.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Yeah, I think I've seen that Weekened Woodsman series and it is excellent, showing the difference between a $10 rope and a $300 rope, for example.

Meanwhile, this thread keeps going with lots of interesting information and creative ways to down trees (like a jack). However for my OP post, and as replied earlier, you've all convinced me to leave the big trees to the pros in this case. That said, I've conluded I can remove most of the small trees safely because of their leans and the fact that they're mostly under 5" in diameter, leaving mostly some big heavy birches that are definitely leaning towards the shed. I should be able to clear _most_ of the area before calling for expensive help.

 

[crazyal]

What you need is a 12 pack, a chainsaw, and a friend to hold your beer. Just kidding. It shouldn't be too hard to find a tree service. Several up here just bring a truck with a chipper in tow. The truck has a man lift on it and they just prune the tree safely lowering each branch to the ground. It's going to cost but unless you plan on cutting lots of trees there's no point getting an education on how to do it. Besides even the best training in the world requires some practice. There's a big difference between cutting a tree with an instructor close by and doing it for the first time alone on a tree that's going to do damage if you get it wrong.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm doing something similar at my place. I have a few pines that have died that are going to be a problem if they fall on their own. Because of what's around them, I don't have a good location to drop them. Every spot that it will fall, will damage something.

Next week I will rent a towable lift. In order to get the lift next to the trees that I want to remove, I will take out about a dozen trees this weekend. The lift is great for pruning branches too high up to get to safely with a ladder, and also great for topping a tree and working your way down, cutting it into small pieces.

I'll pick it up on a Saturday morning and return it Monday morning, so I will also have plenty of time to trim everything along my driveway.

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Depending on how far those trees are leaning over your shed, I think this might be a good option if you can find a way to cut the trees into small enough pieces that you can hold onto and not let them fall on the tree.

 

[m7040]

I have rented a manlift a few times to take down branches and remove tall trees by topping them. I rented the big type of 4 wheel drive and 4 wheel steer type of lift and they are easy to operate and very safe. I bunched a lot of the tree trimming/removal together and rented for a weekend like Eddie was doing. Lots of money saved compared to hiring it out.

 

[Captain Dirty]

. . . I tied a 5/8" braided cord as high as I could reach and routed it around the base of another tree that was in line with where I wanted the tree to fall. I pulled at 90* so there was no chance of it falling on the tractor. . .

Once, I threw a line over a limb, tied off one end, and pulled on the other using the limb as a block or pulley to double the force. The rope chaffed on the limb and parted. Now I will put a block on the line and tie the two ends together to form a continuous loop. When I pull on the block the block can move on the bight till the strain on each leg is equalized and there is no impetus to chafe the line against the bark.

 

[Captain Dirty]

Bullwinkle123 -- Many threads, especially those with high common interest, like this one, take on a life of their own and run long after the OP's issue is resolved.

 

[the viking]

Tree slaughterhouse! Cut 2 more pines for the mill yesterday using plastic wedges to direct the fall. 45 years of falling and milling with a timber fallers license per state regulations. I encourage people to have professionals do the work when in doubt.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

I'm doing something similar at my place. I have a few pines that have died that are going to be a problem if they fall on their own. Because of what's around them, I don't have a good location to drop them. Every spot that it will fall, will damage something.

Next week I will rent a towable lift. In order to get the lift next to the trees that I want to remove, I will take out about a dozen trees this weekend. The lift is great for pruning branches too high up to get to safely with a ladder, and also great for topping a tree and working your way down, cutting it into small pieces.

I'll pick it up on a Saturday morning and return it Monday morning, so I will also have plenty of time to trim everything along my driveway.

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Depending on how far those trees are leaning over your shed, I think this might be a good option if you can find a way to cut the trees into small enough pieces that you can hold onto and not let them fall on the tree.

Well, I don't know about that towable lift, but I have in the past considered buying some kind of used cherry picker (for lack of a better word) for a completely different problem, which is maintaining a very tall (and largely useless) building I have that is nothing but a drain on my bank. Time to add tree maintenance to my list of reasons to reconsider the search for estensible bucket type devices. Last time I had painters out to reach the high places it cost me $300 a day to rent one, plus time to pay people to work with it, including driving it the last mile to the house because they wouldn't deliver there due to road quality and truck size.