Tree Wrap of Doom

woodlandfarms · Sep 2, 2015

I know it has been a while since I have posted one of my screwups, truth is I haven't been home since March. Long time no seat time... Well, This was a bit of a brain twister... It doesn't show because I am on a slope, but somehow I managed to get the tree in between the RFOPS and the engine tub. No way to get out but chainsaw, Gave the RFOPS a bit of a tweek as well. Not sure how I did it, but it involved the slope, and an old log hidden in the grass. Slid just perfect.

Miss me much?

MossRoad · Sep 2, 2015

Awww that looks like a crummy old cherry tree anyway... good riddance! :laughing:

I suppose I should ask if you tried full left turn and drive around to the downside of the tree, then crab down the hill. But with those chains and duals, you probably don't do much crabbing anyway, do you?

woodlandfarms · Sep 3, 2015

Those duals turn an easy walkout into a nightmare. Once you wrap it is real hard to unwrap. But getting the canopy jammed up was a trick I never saw coming. I have wrapped tons of times but this one got me completel stopped. Couldn't inch forward or backward.

boggen · Sep 3, 2015

can't say i have topped that. and not sure i want to top that.... due to most likely it would mean rolling the machine over into a tree and not just sliding it.

johara1 · Sep 3, 2015

Why can't you use the articulation to move you away from the tree side ways? Pick up the front by pushing down on the arms and walk it away, did this many times. jim

MossRoad · Sep 3, 2015

I still say that cherry tree was asking for it....

unch:

Ed of all trades · Sep 4, 2015

Did that with a log skidder once. Bigger tree and just as stuck. Ed

CobyRupert · Sep 4, 2015

Did something not quite similar with a Steiner dually articulating mower and a sloped lawn along a condo. Could not get that thing away from the condo. Had to take off the front mower. Yours is worse.

ponytug · Sep 4, 2015

Carl, You do have the most impressive gotchas. Where's the film crew when you need them?
Thanks for sharing the photos.
Any chance of using a come along and skidding the machine sideways? How about your neighbor with the D8?
At any rate, good luck in getting it out.
All the best,
Peter

tractchores · Sep 4, 2015

Not fun. I've done similar sliding into a tree, it takes a lot of yanking sideways or some fancy driving to get out. Cutting the tree is sometimes an option, but you don't want to make a bad problem worse and have it fall on the tractor!

k0ua · Sep 4, 2015

I did something similar working some gravel on a slope right next to a tree. it slid sideways and trapped the tree between the right front tire and the right hand step. I thought I was going to have to get the saw, but I managed to use the turning brakes and after a lot of inching with the hydrostat and the turning brakes, I managed to get it loose. Moral of the story is not to work too close to trees on a slope if the tree is downhill. Sooner or later you will be up against the tree.

Marks481 · Sep 4, 2015

How to unwrap from a bad tree wrap:

1. Tie a rope to the tree so when it falls it won't fall on the tractor when you cut it.
2. Tie the other end to your tractor so you can apply tension away from your trapped... trac...wait...

New plan...
1. Buy another tractor....

cqaigy2 · Sep 4, 2015

I've run into that a couple times now. So far, been lucky enough to be able to crab sideways uphill, to be able to drive out. Last time was close cause the ground was so soft.

woodlandfarms · Sep 5, 2015

First, I had to drop the tree to get out. Yes, I probably could have used a come along / d8 to pull me out but that wasn't in my cards. Got plenty of trees and this is an area I am clearing. Just dropped it on the tractor... PT's are all steel so unless it is a monster (this was maybe a 10 or 12" trunk) the tractor is going to be unaffected. I have had a good 18" top of a dead tree hit the FOPS while moving around in the forest. I was one heck of a bang but no damage.

What got me was that I slid in such a way I could not move at all. Crab, spin, inch, nothing. I have been tree wrapped a bunch of times but this was the first where I was stopped dead with the tree between the engine compartment and the FOPS.

actually cutting the tree proved to be a big issue. Lots of tension on the FOPS and engine compartment so I ended up pinching the blade on the saw a few times.. Glad I was deep down in a ravine because the air was thick with blue words.

Tmarks. Suggested you idea to the wife. Been sleeping in the truck since then thank you very much

MossRoad · Sep 5, 2015

It looked brutal.

SpringHollow · Sep 6, 2015

I have had to cut the tree out once. Way down in the woods and the PT slid sideways on the icy slope while duals were on and I was real close to the tree. I could have taken the duals off or gotten a winch but it was a pretty long hike out, I had a chainsaw with me, and I have been squeaking by this tree with my fingers crossed for years. It was not one of the trees I had planned on yanking out that day but it heats the house just as well as one that was planned for removal.

The "blue words" - I will have to let my neighbors know that was you and not from me while working with the painter's tape from ****. Bought the good stuff and even though it was on for only a few minutes, it not only ripped off the paint on the wall but the drywall paper that the paint was attached to. Red Green could get rid of the duct tape and use this easy release tape instead.

Ken

prs · Sep 14, 2015

Few months back I posted about a similar screw-up on Ventrac forum. Figured the guys would have a good laugh at the newbee. Turns out, several confessed to same experience. It was suggested to use the front implement and hydraulics to lift the tractor and articulated steering to scoot the front end away from the trap. But, on a decent slope and soft ground there is not enough purchase to do so. First time, I managed to get untangled. Second time, I had to use my other tractor and chain to skid the dual wheeled crab up and away from its snare.

prs

Dr_Zinj · Sep 14, 2015

Did that once with my Dad's tractor when I was 13, only it was against a telephone pole and not a useless tree. Boy was he pissed off. Had to dig a sliding trench for the tires, and then take the truck to yank it sideways out of there.