Sapling Puller

chim

Well-known member

Equipment
L4240HSTC with FEL, Ford 1210
Jan 19, 2013
1,773
861
113
Near Lancaster, PA, USA
We bought some land that adjoins ours last Winter. Finally had a chance to start work on it last week. I began cutting off the low tree limbs and removing brush along the creek. There are a lot of saplings up to about 2" or so in diameter that need removed. Scraping with the buckket worked OK with the smallest ones. I didn't want to cut them and leave stubs sticking up so it looked like pullling them out was the answer.

On the way home this evening I stopped at a hardware store and picked up some pieces of chain, a safety hook and a repair link The 1/4" chain is rated at 800# and the 3/8" at 1340#. I would have liked a higher rating on the small chain but thought the smaller links would work better.

The small chain is in a loop that I wrapped around the saplings and took the end of the chain through the loop to form a sort of slip noose. The slip hook garbs the looped end and thr plain end is dropped in a slot on my homebrew "bucket hooks".

At little more than an idle I kept lift pressure applied while slowly moving the Kubota forward and backward about a foot or so. The saplings pulled out without much of a struggle. The chain loop wanted to slip on some, so I re-wrapped the noose to take advantage of nubs on those.
 

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skeets

Well-known member

Equipment
BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
14,163
2,827
113
SW Pa
Very cool, and the small chain will most likely slip up the trunk before it breaks I use a BIG OLD truck wheel chain them off and roll the wheel up close and chain to the draw bar and off we goo most time pulls them right up,,,
 

bandaidmd

Member

Equipment
B2620 w/LA364 FEL ,BH65, ssqa , 1982 B8200E w/BF300FEL
May 19, 2013
603
0
16
Middle of DELMARVA
I run the chain back over the top of the bucket and then forward under it so the chain dosen't ride up the trunk of the small stuff. Usually take at least a couple wraps to get a good bite.
 

Bulldog

Well-known member

Equipment
M 9000 DTC, L 3000 DT
Mar 30, 2010
5,440
73
48
Rocky Face, Georgia
I know a guy that has one of those brush tongs and he really likes it. Said it's alot quicker than having to rap a chain around things. He said to really work good it takes 2 people though, one to hook and one to operate the loader.
 

WFM

Well-known member

Equipment
L3800
Apr 5, 2013
1,192
503
113
Porter Maine
I finally got to use my logging tongs I bought at tractor supply six weeks ago. They latch on and hold. I hauled 8" stuff up to 18" oak....they work really really well...
 

bandaidmd

Member

Equipment
B2620 w/LA364 FEL ,BH65, ssqa , 1982 B8200E w/BF300FEL
May 19, 2013
603
0
16
Middle of DELMARVA
Very cool, and the small chain will most likely slip up the trunk before it breaks I use a BIG OLD truck wheel chain them off and roll the wheel up close and chain to the draw bar and off we goo most time pulls them right up,,,
that's a unique approach, In a former life you must have helped with the pyramids
:)
 

seanbarr

New member

Equipment
B7100DT (sold) - Branson 3520H
Feb 1, 2013
384
7
0
Deer Park, WA
I use the large brush grubber with my tractor and it easily grabbed it & spits it out like a wad of chew on those saplings I've been pulling out. I'm currently fashioning a setup to go on my ATV with an old 2" bike carrier with the same grubber. Hard to 'splain but will post once done but with the ATV, I'm able to move around much quickly than the tractor.
 

skeets

Well-known member

Equipment
BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
14,163
2,827
113
SW Pa
that's a unique approach, In a former life you must have helped with the pyramids

I don't know about that,, lol , Solomon's temple maybe
 

gpreuss

New member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L3200DT w/FEL, K650 Backhoe, 5' Rotary, 40" Howard Rotavator, 6' Rhino blade
Oct 9, 2011
1,166
6
0
Spokane, WA
I like it. It gets the job done.
 

skeets

Well-known member

Equipment
BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
14,163
2,827
113
SW Pa
That's pretty slick,, did you build it or buy it?
 

seanbarr

New member

Equipment
B7100DT (sold) - Branson 3520H
Feb 1, 2013
384
7
0
Deer Park, WA
magicheater,

It's ingenious! Would you care to post pictures on the setup? I'd like to see if I can try to make one.
 

magicheater

New member

Equipment
B26, B7800, Auto Tach-N-Go
magicheater,

It's ingenious! Would you care to post pictures on the setup? I'd like to see if I can try to make one.
It is pretty involved/complicated/precise. If you want to fool around with CAD-WARE I am sure you could come up with something. That is what I did. There are so many clearances to take into consideration that it is not just a thumb on a bucket sort of thing. I probably won't post any diagrams as I intend to market this in the near future. It also does 55 gallon drums but that is not quite as exciting as ripping stuff out of the ground! Here is what I pulled today.
 

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Eric McCarthy

New member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
Kubota B6100E
Dec 21, 2009
5,223
6
0
42
Richmond Va
Huummm.... this really has my gears grinding. I'm looking to expand my landscap biz in the future and get into some minor tree work and hauling. Your grapple looks like it would be perfect to pick up and load logs into a truck with.
 

magicheater

New member

Equipment
B26, B7800, Auto Tach-N-Go
Huummm.... this really has my gears grinding. I'm looking to expand my landscap biz in the future and get into some minor tree work and hauling. Your grapple looks like it would be perfect to pick up and load logs into a truck with.
This particular grapple is not the best for that, but it can. I have designed and built others that are better for loading trailers.
 

Eric McCarthy

New member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
Kubota B6100E
Dec 21, 2009
5,223
6
0
42
Richmond Va
So far from what I see something of that nature would be ideal to grab and load 8-10 foot logs gently into the back of a dumptruck, rather then lifting and dumping over the side and breaking the truck body all to pieces.

I've seen way to many truck bodies and dump trailers destroyes with area tree companies because idiots dump loads of logs over the side rail of the truck rather then gently end load them from the back of the truck. Your grapple would sovle that problem and allow you to gently place logs into the bed.