bull rope for pulling trees over

[clearance]

Locally there is a wrecker service that uses his truck and steel cable that is well over 100 feet long to pull up to 15% leaners over houses to fall safely while a back cut is being used with a slow cut. This is not me before everyone commits on this. It does work or has for several that i have seen. I have often wondered with the stress load while there hasn't been a barberchair yet. Has anyone seen this done? It gets my blood pressure way up and its not even my problem.

I know all about it. There is no barberchair because they give the tree enough tension so it doesn't pinch the saw but not enough to make it chair. When the backcut is complete to the fallers satisfaction and there is the proper amount of holding wood left, the tree is pulled over. If you really want to prevent chairing, wrap the butt above the undercut after you have put in the undercut, use at least 3/8 grade 70 chain.

 

[Ax-man]

Personally I prefer the 1/2 Tru-Blue 12 strand from Samson, it is strong, relatively cheap and it will stretch alot when tensioned, when the tree starts to commit to the fall that stretch acts like a rubber band and helps the tree along. I don't do much vehicle pulling as we tend to use winches more than vehicles.

If you think you have to have a actual bull rope and heavy truck to pull a tree over nothing wrong with 5/8 Arbor Plex, same rubber band principle as that rope has a lot of stretch in it too, decent price and is also made by Samson. We have used our Arbor Plex bull rope to pull over many a big nasty tree with a 2 ton truck.

It isn't so much the rope as it the guy doing the cutting at the bottom and leverage you can get on the tree and the proper timing when to start the pull on the tree. A sloppy mismatched backcut to the notch and a thick hinge trying to overpower the tree with a big truck and rope is not a good way to get a tree down.

Larry

 

[moray]

Anyone use nylon? The local pro, who is an old-timer and works alone, uses 3/4" nylon 3-strand. When he needs to pull something, he pulls hard with his truck and sets the brake. I've seen him put 6 or 8 feet of stretch into the rope. Then he makes his final cut to release the wood. All that energy stored in the nylon produces a nice fast pull.

 

[Rftreeman]

yellow super braid plus 5/8 here, I have used it many times for pulling over very large trees with a truck, used them at my real job and had the truck's tires spinning on the ground, this was a flat bed rear mount bucket truck, I feel that the super braid plus is probably one of the best money can buy, they are easy too tie knots and untie very well.

 

[Thillmaine]

Bullrope

9/16th stable braid. This rope is strong.. I repeat strong. I have used it to pull an f-250 diesel out of a ditch, really yarning on it. Heavy truck with the diesel motor. A bit weird for tying knots I have some old climbing rope for rigging in the tree. just my 2 cents

 

[treeman82]

For pulling over large trees I have a mix of 3/4" stable braid and 5/8" stable braid.

 

[Fireaxman]

Anyone use nylon? The local pro, who is an old-timer and works alone, uses 3/4" nylon 3-strand. When he needs to pull something, he pulls hard with his truck and sets the brake. I've seen him put 6 or 8 feet of stretch into the rope. Then he makes his final cut to release the wood. All that energy stored in the nylon produces a nice fast pull.

Be VERY careful using nylon or any rope with stretch. If it does break, it can come back at you like a big bad rubber band. We lost a deck hand on a work boat offshore when the 2" nylon hawser he had secured in heavy seas to a platform bit broke at the platform and took off his head. I broke a new 1/2 nylon 3 strand with a 3130 Kubota about 40 feet from the tractor. It made the box blade ring like I had hit it with a hammer.

I vote for 5/8 stable braid.

 

[rebelman]

200' of 5/8. 100' of one inch. Heavy yes, but the confidence factor goes way up, and that helps. I have my groundmen lay it out for me after they untie it.

 

[Gscotth]

Also In Need of Guidance

Looking for help in selecting the best rope for pulling trees. Most trees I work with are about 18-30 inches in diameter Oak. My normal method is to establish the desired fall line, attach my pulling rope to the tree at as high as possible and then attach to my tractor and establish tension on the line. Then begin cutting with my chain saw. When I get ready for the final cut I apply more tension on the line and finish the cut. (Of course I always establish a clear line of retreat at right angle to the intended fall line before I cut.) I’ve been getting by with 100 ft 5/8 braided nylon but it’s only rated at about 4000lbs and I don’t feel safe with it for the larger trees and leaning trees where I need to put more pressure on the line. Planning on getting a pulley to allow me to offset the pressure and avoid getting lashed if a rope breaks.

Obviously I am not a professional arborist - Just a homeowner with about 18 acres of 60% wooded property to maintain. In the next few months I have to take down some trees leaning over our pole barn and I want to make sure the rope doesn't fail me. I've never missed a 'drop zone' yet and with these trees I can't afford too now. Can't afford to hire the pros to take all these down and I'm not about to start climbing these trees and let the wife collect my insurance early. I have 1 or 2 I may have to let the pros do but for the other 6-10 I can get it done if I have the right rope.

Thanks for any recommendations you can provide.

 

[Grace Tree]

You can pick up 150 ft. of 1/2" Husky rigging rope for around 100 bucks. That's 9000 lb. rope. Assuming you're using a steady pull with the tractor and not a rolling start "jerk", it should be enough for what your doing. I'd suggest that you pick up 150 ft. of cheap throw line and a throw bag to place your pull line as high in the tree as you can. Leverage is king and a 50' lever is better than a 30' lever so the higher the better. Learn a couple of easily untied arborist knots and make sure there's good attachment to the tractor with no sharp bends that will reduce rope strength. Good luck and thanks for bringing up an old thread. I'd forgotten how many interesting members aren't here any longer.
Phil

 

[AT sawyer]

Ever used a Griphoist? My favorite non-motorized machine. Pricey retail, but only a couple hundred bucks on Ebay. Uses a steel cable and puts any other come-a-long to shame. Once you have one, you'll use it for everything except making breakfast.

http://www.arboristsite.com/forestry-logging-forum/150714.htm

 

[lone wolf]

I have never broke a half inch line trying to pull over a heavy leaner. When a half inch line is broke it's usually due to leaving too much holding wood or just pulling too dang hard which runs the risk of a barber chair.

Then you aint pulling very hard because you can break that size rope very easily!We are talking about with a truck right?

 

[capetrees]

5/8 Tree Master. Never failed. Attach it as high as possible and pull. Good for offsetting also. 12K breaking strength.

 

[defensiblespace]

If you are just pulling trees over, I recommend arborplex or a 3 strand rope like promaster. You can find them on the Wesspur site. They are fairly inexpensive for arborist ropes, but strong enough to get the job done. I would choose your thickness depending on the application you are using it for. I personally use 3/4 arborplex. It has gone through hundreds of cycles of pulling trees and is still in great shape. It is also a fairly easy rope to tie and untie knots.

 

[sgreanbeans]

If you cut your notch right and have the right amount of holding wood, it shouldn't matter what type of rope u use. If you pull and the rope breaks, then u didn't have it cut right. Very rarely do I ever hook up to a vehicle/machine. If you have blocks, or even some biners, u can set up a hasty fiddle block set up and give you groundies the power of 5. I seen a guy try and pull a tree over with his F-250, had about 30% holding wood, it came over a bit then decided to set back, pulling the back end of the truck up in the air. That is when I stepped in, told that crew to get outa the way, smacked a wedge in to get space for my bar, zipped it real quick then pushed the tree over by hand. All about the holding wood. Dude was mad and glad at the same time, didnt like me barging on his job, I didnt care, someone was going to get hurt. He was glad that the tree was on the ground and so was his truck. Home owner couldn't thank me enough, he was so shaken I thought he was going to hyperventilate. Other tree guy slid me a bill, I gave it back and told him to buy some education.
When I do hook up to a machine, old triple strand is what I use. I only hook up if I do not want to be near the tree when it does come over (no good escape), most of the time, I stay right there, until its on the ground. When chunking down a big log that has a small drop zone, I will throw a line around, and tie it off to my machine, just to make it easier on the me when I am in the air. I am pretty small, so I need the extra muscle!

 

[RVALUE]

I have snapped a 1/2 cable, (probably at a weak spot or knot) and went to a 5/8 cable and swaged hook.

Haven't broke that yet!

We pull out some decent sized trees.

 

[climberjones]

Be VERY careful using nylon or any rope with stretch. If it does break, it can come back at you like a big bad rubber band. We lost a deck hand on a work boat offshore when the 2" nylon hawser he had secured in heavy seas to a platform bit broke at the platform and took off his head. I broke a new 1/2 nylon 3 strand with a 3130 Kubota about 40 feet from the tractor. It made the box blade ring like I had hit it with a hammer.

I vote for 5/8 stable braid.

Is that hawser rope black ive got about 2 or three hundred foot of some big black rope probably at least two inch that i bought from a guy that said it was off a tug boat sure would like to know the load rating on the stuff ?

 

[Bomber]

I was trained that if you can't drop a tree or stalk by hand using straight rope or blocks and pullies you should limb it out and rope it down. I mostly use half inch. Pulling a leaning tree over with a machine you can never tell exactly how much force your putting on that rope and how much damage is occuring to the fibers. Plus to me it looks unprofessional.

 

[Ax-man]

"Unprofessional" to use a vehicle , can you explain that one??? I really don't see where it makes that much difference as far as your professionalism goes using one method or another. Whatever is the easiest and fastest to set-up to get the job done is what matters.

 

[Bomber]

"Unprofessional" to use a vehicle , can you explain that one??? I really don't see where it makes that much difference as far as your professionalism goes using one method or another. Whatever is the easiest and fastest to set-up to get the job done is what matters.

I have never needed a vehicle to take a tree down. Always done it by hand rigging or cranes. When a homeowner or landscraper is taking down a leaning tree it is always tied to a vehicle. I just see it as unprofessional, why hire an arborist to do what a homeowner can do with a couple of friends, truck (with banjo music playing), and a case of beer.
We all have been trained differently so to each his own.