Redbug
Veteran Member
Good question AllToys. I was wondering, also. So, I Googled it...
How to Measure the Height of a Tree - wikiHow
How to Measure the Height of a Tree - wikiHow
Tree Removal with a Backhoe
- Thread starter alltoys
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Rice Rider
Bronze Member
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- Apr 14, 2009
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- Kubota L3400 HST 4WD
As always, this is a great forum and a thought provoking thread as well. I have taken down hundreds of trees with a chain saw and never had an accident, but I can see the upside of using the backhoe after thoroughly checking the canopy for dead limbs before approaching the tree. I have rigged numerous trees with lines to control the fall but I always use another tree to anchor a pivot point to with another hank of sturdy rope and some stainless steel carabineers. I then position the tractor pulling from the opposite direction of the fall line, when I am ready to make the fall cut, another person on the tractor puts tension on the rope and then I make the final cut. My property is full of rocks and 90% of it is on a slope so I think I'll use a combination of some of the methods discussed here and profit with the knowledge I have gleaned from this thread.
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Ive got an OLD ford gasoline backhoe and only once i got into a jam and couldnt get the stump and roots out. I was able to break it free and spin it in its crater. I was also using my fatherin laws old JD 420 bulldozer.We just couldnt get it out of the hole.MASSIVE. but lucky for me there was a guy doing a cesspool down the road from me with a new CAT 420. He said sure Ill pull the stump out for $50. After 2 hours he got it out. Im talking about a massive maple with root, volume size of a honda civic. Of course i wound up having to pay him $200. But it was worth every dollar. I have used the backhoe to push em over but it is dangerous and i only do it to very small trees. A bulldozer works much better for knocking them over. Either way its best to cut them first for safety reasons.
OP
alltoys
Silver Member
Do you hold the stick at arms length or at the tip of your nose?? I gather it would help to have level ground as well.
OP
alltoys
Silver Member
Those are excellent ways to find height of trees. Here is what I did to find out my tree height. I stood my 6ft step ladder against the tree walked back far enough to get the whole tree in a picture of the tree and the ladder. Went into the house brought up the picture on the screen of the puter, used divider from my old geometry set. Still have it from my school days. Set it to the measure of the ladder, moved it from end to end till I came to the top of tree.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Good pictures. I've never seen anything quite like it.
Of course, a picture of a tree on a backhoe just means that the tree fell on it. We don't know what happened or why it happened. I feel it's still safer by a very large margin to take a tree out with a backhoe then to use a chainsaw most of the time. I have three trees right now that need to come out, but are not safe to do so with the backhoe.
I'm sure that if somebody posted a picture of a car that had run into a tree and injured the driver, we wouldn't drive cars either.
Eddie
hbaird
Silver Member
My land has a lot of what I call 40ft stumps. Trees that died from being shaded out by faster growing trees. I don't see any safe way to deal with them. Some are so rotted the top can fall off from a small bump. I tried ONE time to push one over with my tractor. The top 5-6 feet fell back toward me. No harm to me or the tractor. Now I am careful to look up a lot when going in the woods. Large branches fall from the newer dead ones from time to time. I had one drop some 30 feet behind where I had just walked. It shattered when it hit the ground.
Eagleview
Veteran Member
Yes you hold it against the tip of your nose and sight over the top of it . An old logger told me about this trick , it is how they determine how long of a power pole they can get out of the tree before they fall it . It's the only practical way to do it as all the other methods require sun to cast a shadow , and the area around the tree needs to be clear etc .
hbaird , if it wont cause a grass fire , piling some dead branches around the base and lighting is really the only safe way to bring dangerous trees like your down .
irwin
Veteran Member
That's a good post hbaird, and a real caution for land clearing. I've got a few "big dead ones" that I've avoided for a couple years due to the dangerous nature. I also have live trees with some massive dead branches on them very high on the tree. Most my trees don't have branches the first 30 to 40 feet of trunk, not easy to address a big dead branch way up there.
I'd start the woods on fire
, mine are too close to each other, but that's an interesting idea if the situation was right.dirt ditch
Platinum Member
Good point.
Actually my favorite way to take out a large tree is to use a bucket truck to cut out the top branches, then push the trunk over with a big front end loader like a Deere 644. It may take a few shoves but the trunk will fall. If the loader has a clam shell (4 in 1) bucket, Pick the trunk up by the root ball and lay it in the back of a dump truck to haul to the dump.