Where to connect a chain to pull trees/brush

[SFish]

Actually, it doesn't matter how low you hook a load on a tractor. If you have enough traction and torque it will flip over backward. Take this thought experiment- A tractor not towing anything applies power to rear wheels that are chained down so they can't rotate (extreem traction) will raise the front end off of the ground and flip over. If you can't turn the wheels, you turn the tractor.

Like others above, I think common sense is the most important safety device on my tractor. There are unavoidable situations that call for non-optimal hookups, think it through and go slow. Steve

 

[JB4310]

I sure wish I had pictures of an Allis-Chalmers C I owned back in the 1960s that I used for logging. We used it to pull log sleds long distances after we pulled huge loads of logs out of the woods with our two Belgian horses.

The closest I have is this:

This is a small 17 hp tractor I owned several years ago. If you look closely, you will see a piece of chain hanging from the front "bumper" I made for this tractor. I also welded a loop under the fixed drawbar hitch at the back of the tractor. I used this little tractor to pull some huge loads of logs on 'sleds', much like I did as a teenager with our team of horses.

The chain hooked to the front bumper. It passed through a loop (clevis) at the back of the tractor. The front would dig down before the back. It was very safe.

I like this concept, at first I thought it might try and flip on it's nose, but I guess it couldn't with the chain going thru the loop on the back, must have had some super front end traction, maybe hard to steer sometimes?

So maybe right in the center of the 2 axles under the tractor, with that chain guide under the rear axle would be the ideal spot???

 

[David Cockey]

The significance of the drawbar hitting the ground is not that the drawbar somehow acts as a stabilizer foot and holds the tractor up, and I apologize for implying this.

The reason a tractor overturns is that there is a forward propulsive force caused by the rotation of the drive wheels and the friction of the drive wheels on the ground. There is an equal backward force caused by the tow chain and the object being towed.

The overturning torque is the product of one of these forces and the height of the attachment point above the ground.

As the tractor starts to overturn, the end of a drawbar of the proper length will automatically be lowered. If the end of the drawbar hits the ground, its height above the ground is zero and the propulsive force and the towing force are both at exactly the same height, thus no overturning torque.

If you want to measure whether your drawbar will lower to the ground before the tractor overturns you have to realize that the pivot point for overturning is going to be the bottom of the rear wheels. If you measure the distance from a point on the ground midway between the rear wheels and the tow ball or hook on the drawbar, and compare this to the height of the drawbar above the ground I think you will find that the drawbar will lower to the ground long before the tractor has reached a dangerous angle. (I said "dangerous", not "uncomfortable", my pucker factor would be very high if anything even close to this happened.

Thanks, good explaination. Much appreciated.

 

[David Cockey]

Actually, it doesn't matter how low you hook a load on a tractor. If you have enough traction and torque it will flip over backward. Take this thought experiment- A tractor not towing anything applies power to rear wheels that are chained down so they can't rotate (extreem traction) will raise the front end off of the ground and flip over. If you can't turn the wheels, you turn the tractor.

Like others above, I think common sense is the most important safety device on my tractor. There are unavoidable situations that call for non-optimal hookups, think it through and go slow. Steve

I agree if the tires are chained down or otherwise prevented from rotating by the ground the tractor can be flipped.

But tires are very rarely prevented from rotating. As long as they can rotated the tractive force on the tires will be opposite to and equal in magnitude to the force exerted by what the tractor is pulling and pushing, plus any resistance to the tires moving. And the force exerted by the chain, etc. will have an effect on whether the tractor flips or not, with that effect dependent on the height of the attaching point.

 

[CurlyDave]

I agree if the tires are chained down or otherwise prevented from rotating by the ground the tractor can be flipped.

I have read of at least one practical example of this.

A farmer was killed in an overturn when he started to move his tractor after the wheels had frozen to the ground.

Now, I suspect that there is a lot more to this than it appears. Probably parked in deep mud, tractor sat for several days and a hard freeze.

Anyway, the way to prevent this is to move in reverse for a few inches, or feet, when the ground has frozen since you parked the tractor.

 

[pat32rf]

I remember my dad burying the old 9n one time, no winches back then. He chained a small log to the rear side of both back tires just above the mud, then slowwwllyy backed up til he was resting on the log and filled the holes with brush for the front ires to ride over. The safety boys would have a fit if they saw this today but it worked for him.

 

[JIGBUILDER]

the big ice storm before xmas left my place in a mess, and most of northeast OK. I pull tress with a chain from a big ol' clevis off the hole in the end of the swinging draw bar on my FT60 with FEL. For brush I find a 3/8" wire rope (cable) with hooks on both ends work great. I lay out the cable and stack up enough brush, with the big ends toward the tractor, hook the cable up and as the tractor moves forward it chokes up tight around the front of the brush pile. Drag it out to my burn area, unhook and use the FEL to load it on the pile. Works great but the hardest part is for this old man is up and down off the tractor. I like the cable over my nylon straps as brush is hard on nylon. My tractor with FEL weighs around 6500 lbs and working on wet/damp ground doesn't get enough traction to bring the front end up from the draw bar. But I still have one foot on the clutch just in case. Be careful out there.
JIM

 

[daTeacha]

All this discussion about flipping end over end makes me think of the tractor pulls at our county fair. Those guys usually have the front end several feet off the ground and bounding up and down like a yo-yo before the sled finally quits moving.

The suggestion about connecting to the front end of the tractor is pretty good, but be careful about what you connect the chain to. The structures at the front are not necessarily designed to deal with those kinds of forces and you could break something expensive. If the chain guide at the back should let go, you will be very glad if you're just pulling straight ahead. It could be interesting if the chain gets into contact with the rotating rear tires.

 

[MossRoad]

All this discussion about flipping end over end makes me think of the tractor pulls at our county fair. Those guys usually have the front end several feet off the ground and bounding up and down like a yo-yo before the sled finally quits moving. ...

They also have wheelie bars to keep 'em from going over. I'm pretty sure all tractor pulling associations require them.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's a link to the tractor rollover video thread posted in the safety forum. Be sure to watch them all.