Dropping a leaner

[TNMIKE]

We are recovering from a big winter storm in this area. The mile long road to my house was blocked by six downed trees. There were two black pine widowmakers over the road one of which I managed to get down with the help of a friend. The other is logged in the top of a beech off the road at roughly a 45 degree angle..

My plan is to cable the butt after cutting it and pull the tree down from the road with a tractor. I managed to score 120 feet of new 5/8 inch wire rope yesterday at the junkyard cheap.(16 bucks) Im going to have it looped on each end by compression fittings at a cable and rope company here.

I am planning on using a cable choker or a chain around the butt and pull butt to the side and hopefully off the limb in the top holding it. Does anyone see a problem with this plan?? Any suggestions? I am not a professional logger or arborist and would appreciate any insight. I know about cable breaking and creating a whipping hazard. Thanks...

 

[isaaccarlson]

just make sure there are no cars....

and don't get hurt...

 

[dingeryote]

Cable before you cut, and give it a tug or two.

Sometimes they will save you some dangerous cutting.

Also plan on the thing pulling back on the tractor when it goes, and don't get your axles crossed up on the line of force.

Drawbars ain't cheap these days...neither are hospitals.

Pics would help. But it sounds like half the leaners I pull free.

Now that ya have cable, look at snatch blocks and tree savers for getting the force off line of the tractor/come along, and for doing "face&fold" in tight spots.

16 bucks eh?

Great snag!

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[TNMIKE]

Thanks for the reply Dingeryote. I am thinking this through carefully before I do it and you gave me a couple of things to consider. I had about decided to try and pull it free before cutting the butt. And I had thought about being pulled backwards when it falls but I hadnt thought about having the axles directly in line with the pull.

I am pretty sure it will give me slack when it falls but with a tree its hard to know for sure. I have a big snatch block but I am not sure that I have room to use it. The road is narrow where the snag is and I have to pull down the road and would have to have lots more cable and the right tree to do it. I know the fall would pull me back hard if I used the block.

I am also thinking about using my 74 CJ5 with a 304 V8 in low range to pull it. Its lower to the ground than my tractor. I think I will go and get at least another fifty feet of cable while its still available and cheap. I cant decide whether to put a hook on one piece or just loops on all the ends. I got a nice hook in the same pile the cable was in.

I did find out that a bi metal blade on a cordless reciprocal saw wont touch the cable. It glides off it and ruins the teeth on the blade. I had to use a cold chisel and a 5 lb hammer on a piece of railroad track to cut it, and that took a long time. That stuff is tough.

I am going to wait for good weather too. Its just too wet to work it now. We have had rain on top of snow and then an ice. I have never seen so many trees down. Several areas have been declared disaster areas by the state. There are still people that have been out of power since December 18th. Old man winter has been hard so far.

 

[Turkeyslayer]

Thanks for the reply Dingeryote. I am thinking this through carefully before I do it and you gave me a couple of things to consider. I had about decided to try and pull it free before cutting the butt. And I had thought about being pulled backwards when it falls but I hadnt thought about having the axles directly in line with the pull.

I am pretty sure it will give me slack when it falls but with a tree its hard to know for sure. I have a big snatch block but I am not sure that I have room to use it. The road is narrow where the snag is and I have to pull down the road and would have to have lots more cable and the right tree to do it. I know the fall would pull me back hard if I used the block.

I am also thinking about using my 74 CJ5 with a 304 V8 in low range to pull it. Its lower to the ground than my tractor. I think I will go and get at least another fifty feet of cable while its still available and cheap. I cant decide whether to put a hook on one piece or just loops on all the ends. I got a nice hook in the same pile the cable was in.

I did find out that a bi metal blade on a cordless reciprocal saw wont touch the cable. It glides off it and ruins the teeth on the blade. I had to use a cold chisel and a 5 lb hammer on a piece of railroad track to cut it, and that took a long time. That stuff is tough.

I am going to wait for good weather too. Its just too wet to work it now. We have had rain on top of snow and then an ice. I have never seen so many trees down. Several areas have been declared disaster areas by the state. There are still people that have been out of power since December 18th. Old man winter has been hard so far.

For cutting the cable use a grinder (hand held)it has worked good for me. I used a regular grinding disk, but would imagine a zip cut disk would work better.

 

[TNMIKE]

Thanks for the tip turkeyslayer. If I was at home I could do that. On the yard I cant. I dont have a cordless grinder. It will be a hammer and chisel if I get it.

 

[floyd]

Or cut with torch & weld up the strays.

 

[TNMIKE]

The scrapyard owner charges 20 dollars for torch work. (he doesnt want to do it is why) Im going to try and talk him into doing it for me as I am a frequent flier there. I dont relish chiseling the cable in two again. When I take it to the rigging company to get the loops in it they can cut it clean. The loops will be made with compression ferrules and there will not be any loose ends. Same with the hook it I put it on one end but right now I am shying away from that thought.

 

[stihlcrazy20]

cut off saw with diamond blade. we use it to cut anything and everything. if it will cut the frame of a 79 ford in half and 3/4 inch rebar it will cut the cable with ease

 

[dingeryote]

LOL!!!

The old CJ5 eh? My last real Jeep was a 72' w/304 punched out and warmed over, glass body, lift, 44's. Bambi destroyed it and me.

Stick with the tractor for more weight and a lower gear, as ya get more control. If needed pull from the front.

I like the loops on cables so they can be dropped into a Pintle hitch or just shackled to whatever. I wish I had more cable though..never seems to be enough chain or cables.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[AT sawyer]

Wire rope ratings

For what it's worth, 5/8 wire rope is pretty stout stuff. You'd likely damage your vehicle before snapping the wire, providing you don't shock-load it. Others here are more familiar with wire rope handling than I am, but if you got your wire at a salvage yard, it might have already had some hard use. Take a close look at the condition of your wire and compare it to the examples on this site:

http://www.rigging.net/wire.html

 

[Gologit]

For what it's worth, 5/8 wire rope is pretty stout stuff. You'd likely damage your vehicle before snapping the wire, providing you don't shock-load it. Others here are more familiar with wire rope handling than I am, but if you got your wire at a salvage yard, it might have already had some hard use. Take a close look at the condition of your wire and compare it to the examples on this site:

http://www.rigging.net/wire.html

Great post...thanks for the link.

 

[TNMIKE]

Thanks for the link. Great info. Even though it was at a salvage yard it is brand new. It was on a wooden reel with factory tags. From what I have read the minimum breaking strength is 33,000 lbs. I dont have any equipment that will come close to testing the wire. Im really not worried about breaking it in the use I intend it for.

There is at least a hundred more feet on the reel and Im going to get the rest of it monday morning when the yard opens.

 

[mdavlee]

You can braid cable back together to itself and use crosby cable clamps on it and save yourself the time and money of the compression fittings. They braid it together and then put the compression fittings on it. I made some chokers out of leftover 1/2 cable and just braided it with no clamps and it pulled a F450 dump truck out with a JD5420 tractor. The main thing is inspect the cable and make sure it isn't mashed or cut anywhere.

 

[TNMIKE]

Well I got my cable terminated today and I thought you might be interested in what I wound up with.

I got loop two terminations put on a 100 foot piece and 50 foot piece of the 5/8 cable. It turns out that it is crane cable and the cost new is $ 3.34/ foot. ( it cannot be braided) I have $22.00 dollars in both pieces.(scrap price) The ferrulles were put on with a 500 ton press. I got a ten foot cable choker made out of new 5/8 cable with a loop on one end so I can connect it to the longer cables. I got two 3/4 inch screw pin clevis to connect it all together. My bill at the rigging company was $92.00. I have $114 dollars in everything.

The rigging company has a 100,000 lb load test frame that they proof test cables and chains with. I had never seen one of these or a 500 ton press. The ferrulles start out rectangular with rounded corners and end up round after they are pressed. It was an interesting morning.

I may go back wednesday and get the rest of the reel. I would say there is another 200 feet on it at least.