I thought you were pulling out stumps... my bad! I see it is a little root, haha. I have a stumping chain on one of my Stihl's to take care of that kind of stuff.
Pulling up hickory trees
- Thread starter m32825
- Start date
Carl: Neat jig. I thought you might have some trouble keeping the chain from slipping off the "U". How about a "v" on top and a cross piece on bottom and a leg. The leg even might have some differing hinge places, depending on layout.
Attachments
gssixgun
Active member
Equipment
L3600, FEL, SnoBlower, Box Blade, Rear Blade, Forks, Cultivator, Plow
http://usaforks.com/products-page/B...tree-puller/?gclid=CPbm09D23rsCFbA7MgodWWAA2w
Thoughts ???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyiTojC2vGM
Anyone used it ???
Thoughts ???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyiTojC2vGM
Anyone used it ???
Okay, new and improved. I call this version "Mr. T" because of the shape and because it lays trash-talking hickory trees out flat on the ground... 
Still working with 2x3x1/8" box beam. I've got about four feet of height and width now with 1/4" gusset plates front and back. Added a grab slot for the chain on top.
Didn't have any problem with it falling over side to side during pulls, and soft soil wasn't a problem. Pull to get the chain tight and take out all the slack, then go back and adjust the chain position before pulling the tree. With the base near the tree for maximum leverage you don't get a lot of lift per pull. Smaller stuff comes out on the first pull, just pull the tool over and keep dragging. On larger stuff you might have to iterate a few times, but seeing the entire surface around the trunk lift out of the ground makes the time spent satisfying. The chain slot worked well, but I bent it trying something that I couldn't budge, so it needs to be beefed up.
I included a few pictures of test subjects, a couple different sized laurel oak stumps and a decent hickory. The hickory came out nice and clean, without a lot of devastation around it. The laurel oaks have spreading roots and require more clean-up afterwards, but it's still minimal compared to digging them out with the grapple. Pictures have a chunk of 4x4 in them for scale.
In addition to beefing up the chain slot, I'm going to use a thicker chain from the tree over the top because the mechanical advantage I'm getting applies to that part of the chain, too, not just what I'm pulling up. Also thinking of adding a rebar "hoop" over the top of the chain slot to wrap up anything headed upwards from the tree if something breaks.
-- Carl
Still working with 2x3x1/8" box beam. I've got about four feet of height and width now with 1/4" gusset plates front and back. Added a grab slot for the chain on top.
Didn't have any problem with it falling over side to side during pulls, and soft soil wasn't a problem. Pull to get the chain tight and take out all the slack, then go back and adjust the chain position before pulling the tree. With the base near the tree for maximum leverage you don't get a lot of lift per pull. Smaller stuff comes out on the first pull, just pull the tool over and keep dragging. On larger stuff you might have to iterate a few times, but seeing the entire surface around the trunk lift out of the ground makes the time spent satisfying. The chain slot worked well, but I bent it trying something that I couldn't budge, so it needs to be beefed up.
I included a few pictures of test subjects, a couple different sized laurel oak stumps and a decent hickory. The hickory came out nice and clean, without a lot of devastation around it. The laurel oaks have spreading roots and require more clean-up afterwards, but it's still minimal compared to digging them out with the grapple. Pictures have a chunk of 4x4 in them for scale.
In addition to beefing up the chain slot, I'm going to use a thicker chain from the tree over the top because the mechanical advantage I'm getting applies to that part of the chain, too, not just what I'm pulling up. Also thinking of adding a rebar "hoop" over the top of the chain slot to wrap up anything headed upwards from the tree if something breaks.
-- Carl
Beefed up the chain grab, capped the tubes, cleaned up the welds, and put some paint on it. There's a Tennessee fan out there somewhere thinking, "I gotta make me one of those!"
-- Carl
-- Carl
Carl: Nice job and the presentation is great. Your description of the process also will help the guys. The successive pulls statement also will help them. I suspect a two person operation would go faster, right.
I appreciate the kind words. The discussion here made me think the problem through and consider a bunch of alternatives, changing my mind about what to build. I like what I've ended up with and wouldn't have got there without help from you guys, thanks!
-- Carl
The paint dried on Mr. T and the weather cleared up so I got a chance to test him out.
First thing I learned is that all that angst I had about "should I paint it, or just go ahead and use it?" was a waste of time. Just go ahead and use it because it doesn't look "all purdy" long. Powder coat would be better, but that's a whole different big project...
Used it to pull up a number trees and stumps of various sizes and settled on the following order if it's an area I am clearing: I first try to scrape them out with the box scraper, then wrap a chain on it and pull, then use Mr. T on it. If I know steps one and two aren't going to work (e.g. hickory), or it's an area I want to minimize the damage to, I skip those steps and call on Mr. T to help me out.
One of the most helpful things I learned from this thread was to wrap the trunk a couple times when using a slip hook to choke it. I had been using a single wrap with mixed results, but the double wrap has worked every time.
I wasn't able to bend or break anything on it, so the proportions seem to be in the ballpark. I'd guess it's a little over thirty pounds, so it's nice that it rides on top of my box blade so well.
-- Carl
First thing I learned is that all that angst I had about "should I paint it, or just go ahead and use it?" was a waste of time. Just go ahead and use it because it doesn't look "all purdy" long. Powder coat would be better, but that's a whole different big project...
Used it to pull up a number trees and stumps of various sizes and settled on the following order if it's an area I am clearing: I first try to scrape them out with the box scraper, then wrap a chain on it and pull, then use Mr. T on it. If I know steps one and two aren't going to work (e.g. hickory), or it's an area I want to minimize the damage to, I skip those steps and call on Mr. T to help me out.
One of the most helpful things I learned from this thread was to wrap the trunk a couple times when using a slip hook to choke it. I had been using a single wrap with mixed results, but the double wrap has worked every time.
I wasn't able to bend or break anything on it, so the proportions seem to be in the ballpark. I'd guess it's a little over thirty pounds, so it's nice that it rides on top of my box blade so well.
-- Carl
