pulling OUT trees with a winch?

hey, this is a question i've had on my mind for a long time and have been wanting to ask someone about it (but have been afraid to, worried i'll be thought of as an idiot), hopefully there's someone somewhere who has actual experience with this.

is it possible to pull small (6 or maybe even 8 inch diameter at the base) trees OUT of the ground (roots and all) with a winch?

i don't have enough money to buy a backhoe. i've dug trees out by hand before and that's a lot of time consuming hard work. i was wondering if there might be a cheaper alternative to a backhoe and a easier alternative to a shovel.

these guys make a gasoline powered 12000 pound winch. i'm wondering if 12000 is enough. (i would imagine it is, though i don't want to buy the damn thing adn find out it's NOT.)

formatting link
here, my specific application is, i've got a swamp that's cluttered with trees and shrubs, i'd like to yank 90% of the trees out of that swamp and the areas that border the swamp. i've done this before (3 or 4 trees) with my compact farm tractor (24 horse) with a cable and two pulleys and it worked, but it just BARELY worked, traction is a problem (even carrying ballast). i have no idea how many pounds of pull i was achieving on the cable using the tractor. the trees that grow in the swamp have very shallow root systems and it's possible to just kinda yank them off like the SURFACE of the ground, but they're heavy.

does anyone here have any experience with this? or could you direct me to some other discussion group where the guys there would have experience with this?

Reply to
william wixon
Loading thread data ...

I've probably yanked 10,000 trees out over the years (apple orchard replacement)

trees pull WAY easier first thing in spring.

The force needs to be up. Pioneers put a large log in front of the stump and pulled with a team of horses with the chain going over the log.

My system uses a tractor loader with the bucket removed. And a one foot or so diameter welded up shaft right where the bucket would pivot. Pull the chain tight by lifting the loader. Then roll the buck cylinders back (wrapping up chain around the shaft) to pull the stump. You've got 10X mechanical advantage here. Even with a couple tons weight on the tractor three point, you can lift the rear tires off the ground on a big stump.

Or, if you got time, drill say two inch holes in the stump and fill with potassium nitrate fertilizer. They rot within a year. Then fill the holes with diesel and burn the stump out.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

On Aug 24, 12:21=A0pm, william wixon wrote: hopefully there's someone somewhere

=A0i was

Still a reasonable amount of work but it can be done. I have removed a number of trees this way, but none as small as 8 inches in diameter.

I used a string with a torpedo shaped weight to get the string over a high up branch. The reason for the torpedo shape is so the weight does not hang up in the branches when you want to pull it out and try again. On trees as small as 8 inch dia you could probably use an extension ladder to get a cable or chain around the tree near the top. Anyway get the string over a branch high on the tree, then use it to pull a light line, and finally a steel cable or chain.

Anyway you get the cable around the tree as high as you can and then use a come-a-long to pull. With a fairly big tree say an alder or fir that is 20 to 24 inches in dia., you are going to have to take a good strain, and then start digging on the side away from where you are pulling. As you dig the tree will start to lean and you will need to tighten the line so it has the same amount of strain. On small trees you might not have to do any digging. Or if you have to it will not be much.

If you can get a blasters permit where you live, I would recommend a cartridge of Tovex placed the best you can under the tree ( still on the side away from where you are pulling ) and tamped in. I have had no problems using electric caps set off by connecting them to 120 volts ac.

Do not cut the tree down first and then try to pull the stump out.

Dan

Reply to
dcaster

" snipped-for-privacy@krl.org" fired this volley in news:3643d84b- snipped-for-privacy@w17g2000vbn.googlegroups.com:

ACHU-Lee... we do it that way down in the cracker flats.

There's a simple, old way to "pop" even big taproot stumps that really works well.

It takes a team of mules... but I guess you could use a tractor.

A length (about 30-40') of light-gauge rail was used... but I guess you could use any metal bar heavy enough or even a larger diameter tree trunk. Betcha they used a trunk early-on.

One end of the long "popper" bar was chained to the stump so that it winds and tightens as the free end of the bar is walked in a circle around the stump. After a time, the stump almosts JUMPS out of the ground from the twisting action.

I've done it on up to 10" stumps with a 30' piece of rail. It took a lot of throttle just to move the rail, but it took the stump out like it was a piece of balsa.

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

It all depends on the winch, the rigging, and the stump.

If you compound your sling, you can improve leverage, and pull out stumps with an average size truck.

If you pull straight on the truck, either the stump, the winch, or the truck will give.

If you do have the luxury of a backhoe, and can cut roots, and loosen the root ball, that's the ideal.

But it all comes down to leverage and rigging, and multiplying force by the number of sheaves, and whether or not the original point of attachment is a truck sliding on the tires on wet grass, or a 3/8" deadman chain slung around a 36" diameter oak.

Hook it up, and pull. I guarontee within one minute, you will find your weak point, or the stump will come out. Learn how to multiply your force with multiple sheaves, and your answer lies there.

Steve

visit my blog at

formatting link
of free books while they last!

Reply to
Steve B

I've done trees of that size before with a one ton engine crane. These were evergreens if it makes any difference, I think they tend to be shallow rooting. It wouldn't pull them out on its own but would lift the stump enough so you could tell where the next large root was holding on and dig down to cut that, then repeat. It didn't take long before you got the final crack and the stump lifted free. For the lifting I drilled a 1/2 inch hole through the top of the stump and put some steel bar through to attach the lifting rope.

Reply to
David Billington

Get a big long crowbar. Decide which way you want the roots tipped out of the ground. Pound a hole on the other side. Pour in a couple pounds of bacon grease in the hole. Drizzle just a little bit on top of the stump.

Check in the morning to see how far the bears got on their job. Repeat as needed.

Reply to
Cross-Slide

I was thinking the same thing, but with a 2T engine hoist. I've not tried it with the engine hoist, but I have pulled out that size tree with a backhoe loader bucket (rated for 5,000# lift) and a chain with no issues.

Reply to
Pete C.

Ooohhhhh ..... I have to get someone to try this! I will stand well back though.....

Pete

Reply to
Pete Snell

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Dan

Same here, pretty much.

If the tree has spreading roots like red oaks, clear the ground on the far side of the stump. When you see a crack open above a root, dig down and chop it.

Trees bend and rope stretches a long ways when the line is attached up high, further than the pull of the usual cable puller. I attach two lines at the lower end and use two pullers alternately. Instead of a second puller you can maintain your progress with a 2" cargo binding strap with a big D handle for leverage.

jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

"Correct" spelling (by consensus) is "wench." - Usenet Head Office

I don't have any experience with what you propose, but you can buy an electric wench that size for about $300 and power it with a car battery. That's what I use to raise and lower my turbine tower.

formatting link
Better yet, use a pair of T105s, for a total of about $550 for wench and batteries.

Wayne

Reply to
wmbjkREMOVE

Make that

formatting link

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

Yes. Back in the early 1960s my parents had a house built on a wooded lot near Seattle; my father soon learned he really hated both madrona trees and stumps left in the ground.

He built a winch based around a 120V 1HP motor, a boat-load of gear reduction, and a home-made block-and-tackle arrangement with something like half a dozen pulleys at each end and what I remember as a 3/8 wire rope. The power switch was on about a twenty foot cord.

He'd chain his winch very near to the bottom of the biggest tree he could find nearby and climb a ladder and chain the other end to the tree he wanted to remove, as high as he could reach. He'd then get as far out of the way as possible and hit the switch.

The combination of gear reduction and pulleys was such that it was on the order of 10-15 minutes to pull a tree out. But he never encountered a tree he couldn't pull roots and all on our property, and many of them were one hell of a lot larger than 8 inches diameter.

Reply to
Joe Pfeiffer

I've always thought it would be fun to burn out a stump with oxygen - ordinary welding oxygen, with about 6' of 1/4" or so stainless steel tube; start a little fire on top of the stump, and blow O2 on it. Would that work?

It might make a good youtube video. ;-)

Good Luck! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

Have you looked into rental?

Good Luck! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

Rich Grise fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@example.net:

It'll work.

Let's say the stump weighs 150lb. About half that is carbon. Let's delete the moisture, and say 60lb. It takes 32/14 oxygen to burn carbon. So it'll take about 137lb of oxygen to burn 60lb of carbon (not counting losses and H20 from the hydrogen in cellulose). A more reasonable figure for burning wood would be 200lb oxygen per 150lb stump.

There's about 13.38 pounds of oxygen per 150cu.ft. cylinder, so it'll take 15 full 150cu.ft. cylinders to burn a 150lb stump to the ground.

Good luck!

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

I'll never forget going to a NASA exhibit in about 1966. The guy dipped a cigarette in LOX. Then lit it up. It burned like a rocket engine

Reply to
Karl Townsend

Use a solid form of oxygen.

formatting link

Reply to
kfvorwerk

I'd expect the welding oxygen to really heat up the fire. Please let us know how it works.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Ah. Shades of "Barbecuing With Liquid Oxygen."

Steve

visit my blog at

formatting link

Reply to
Steve B

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.