I need good rope for pulling trees

[muddstopper]

I bought a cheap 500lb rope at Lowes, just to have in the truck. Rope is meant more for dragging game than pulling trees. I did use the rope to take a few limbs out of a tree hanging over my brothers shop. I used a toss rope to get the bigger rope over the limb and a slip knot to pull it tight. Then hooked to a 2705 massey tractor. I put tension on the rope only with the tractor. While I sawed, my brother just hand pulled the rope and that was enough to steer the limbs off the shop. There was one big limb we waited to cut until the next day when I could bring a 3/8 wire rope to pull the limb. Using a block, we ran the cable to another tree and hooked the end of it to my truck. With me lifted up in the tractor bucket, I made a back cut about half way thru the limb and then got down. Pulling with the truck we swung the limb off the shop roof and actually jerked it loose from the main trunk. Which is what we intended to do. My little 500lb test rope wouldnt have held up to that kind of pull and my truck would never get the traction to break the 3/8 cable. I took home about a full cord of limb wood and building or nobody got hurt.

Pulling tall trees with a vehicle is iffy to say the least. Number one, is your rope long enough to keep from pulling the tree down on the truck. I have found that the higher in the tree I can tie the rope, the easier it is to pull it the direction I want it to go. Get to high and you can break the top out of the tree and then have no control. Its sort of a judgement call and if you have never done it, you have no experience to make a judgment call. I would guess there are a lot of folks here that can take your tree down safely once they had a look at it. I also suspect a few here would know when they where getting in over their head and walk away. My thoughts are simply, its your tree and your house and your power lines and your life, if you have any doubts at all of dropping the trees safely, hire a professional. It could be cheaper than making a mistake that could get you killed, or possibly tear up your house.

 

[KiwiBro]

 

[Armbru84]

https://www.bartlettman.com/STABLE-BRAID-ROPEbr78-Inch-diameter_p_1162.html

Agree on the power lines etc. but if your in a different situation and want to tie off the tree, rig branches, pull over some small trees or even just use it for tension the link above is good rope. We use it quite a bit.

 

[capetrees]

i have an older Willy’s stump pulling Jeep a 1955/cj 5 4 cylinder 134F head. I boxed the frame with 3/8” front to rear for strength and added weight, I added two Detroit lockers f&r with 5:38-1 gears. And four sets of ice cross link wrecker tire chains. Now I have some pretty large n tall trees to drop. I’m thinking about pulling them in the direction they need to go. What rope should I purchase? Diameter? Strength? Length? Is the rope at tractor supply good enough?

Or should I jack them? One ash tree is very large at the base. I understand how to jack them with a hydraulic jack. I have power lines nearby.

Or how much would a pro charge to put them on the ground? Just one tree?

one big question is whats meant by large and tall? What you think is tall, others may not. The higher the tie in point to the tree, the better the influence you'll have on pulling it in the direction you want and rope strength will still be important but a bit less important.

and yes, the weight of the vehicle pulling is a big factor, heavier the better. Saw a friend back his Toyota up and tie to a tree to pull opposite of the lean. Didn't happen, tree lifted the rear end off the ground, no traction. Buddy connected his truck to the Toyota and over it came in the right direction luckily.

 

[hseII]

I’ve done lots of felling being in the fire wood bizz. I can steer trees as they fall. But never cut trees near power lines or near houses. I just want to be safe. I have an open lot to drop it in about an acre. I have a husky 2100 with a 42” bar. I never jacked a tree but I seen it done on you tube.

[emoji1787]

What’s your Willie weigh?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[hseII]

Hire someone with Insurance if what’s on the ground within Falling distance matters.

We use this one mostly when pulling trees, however, pulling is supplemental to wedging.
http://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?category_id=3&item=1443#detail




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[Sagetown]

A Willey vs Big and Tall Tree ?
No thanks.
Any 5/8" x 150 ' rope with that type of capabilities. But it'll bite your pocket book.
But it won't work out at all without an experienced tree pulling driver tugging on the tree with the right sized vehicle while you cut the tree loose.

 

[Jaspernl]

Just a thought. Watch about 20 vids on YouTube, about things going wrong. Then, hire a friend, with genuine experience. Who logs for a living

seen a post somewhere els women thought she could fell a tree in germany with youtube guidence ,fire brigade hatt to do the rest otherwise it went over the neighbours house

 

[TimberMcPherson]

I dont know if this will be helpful, I realize this is an old thread, and I could write pages about this. MASSIVE subject and im unlikely to explain this well. but here goes

My simple answer is 16mm dynamic bull line and dont use the jeep. I dont know the size your dealing with but vehicles can be a bad choice.

Firstly no 2 tree jobs are the same, so its risky giving one size fells all advice. I have pulled over trees easily with a quad, I have struggle to do it with a 20t digger. So this is GENERAL advice. Pointers, not a "how to". To much winch power can cause barbers chairs. plunge your back cut if you have to.

I work in a very windy area, we get more 50kmph plus wind days than calm ones and you never know when winds are going to pick up and from what direction they will come. So most of the time we have to be sure whatever wind comes along, the trees going to go where we plan. We mostly use 1600kg tirfor or grip hoist steel cable winches. Portable, safe, easy to use and plenty of power. we have a little 800kg and a couple 5000kgs ones for the ugly trees to. Vehicles are unreliable and an expensive risk that I can seldom risk taking.

1) DONT BE A MISER WHEN IT COMES TO TIME OR GEAR THAT CAN SAVE YOU LIFE. If you think a 300 dollar rope is expensive, go price the med bills and having to buy firewood for the rest of your life should you get hurt. Minutes setting up beats months healing up.

2) NEVER set your pull line in a tree less than half way up its height. Hundreds of kilos of pull high up will out perform tons of pull down low.
If you were going to pull a guy to the ground you'd grab him by the collar rather than the belt. Good use of a throw line or big shot is one of the KEY skills needed to make the job safer and easier.
Obviously you dont set the line in twigs either but somewhere between 60% and 80% of the trees height gives you great leverage and adds the magic of elasticity in they system

USE ELASTICITY IN YOUR SYSTEM. When your pulling a tree, you can have a 2000kg cable winch pulling 2000kgs on it but once the tree starts moving, most winches do not match the speed of the moving tree. The risk being that the tree, although its meant to be following the course of the desired direction though your hinge, now MAY follow influence of wind, contact with other trees or lean angle or imbalance of the canopy.
There are 2 methods I use to counter this.
The first is simple, using the elasticity of the tree itself. Once my winch is set up I stand at 90degrees to the trees direction of fall and if I have someone else with me I have them load up the winch for a test pull, if im on my own I will either redirect the pull line through a pulley so the winch is positioned where I can judge the lean and pull of the cable, or I will make up a "sight" out of branches stuck in the ground lined up on a part of the tree (usually half way up the trunk) that I can check to see how much the tree is moving under winch force.
Depending on the tree you can get 4m bend at the top and a half metre of movement at 1/2 way up the trunk with a test pull. So as you cut the tree that bending force of the tree will assist the tree travel that much further.

The second is to add dynamic rope into the system from the steel cable to the tree, I use 16mm bull line, under load it stretches quite well and is as strong as I need. I have used doubled up 11mm retired climbing line to.

Once you know your winch system has the power to pull that tree over, I put just enough pressure to take the slack out of the line, and then do my face/scarf cut. Then I do my back cut far enough to start getting some wedges in. Then I crank up the winch to 50% of what I think it required to pull the tree over. I then cut more into the back cut until the winch is going to have the power to do the job.

Then the winch goes to work pulling the tree over. Sometimes you need to do a little more cutting on the back cut but its going to follow that winch line. i prefer making the winch work harder to fight the hinge. Here is one from a few weeks ago on very steep ground, note how well the hinge held

So for winching as discribed my shopping list would be
a grip hoist/tirfor winch of 3200 pull/1600kg lift with cable and handle
5000kg tow strop for winch anchor
120 feet of 16mm dynamic bull line
3 throw balls and a reel of throwline
A pulley and anchor strap that suits the 16mm bull line

 

[Ted Jenkins]

Very good summary. I have thousands of feet of cable larger than 3/8'' and several hundreds of feet of rope to choose from. So choose well and do not get in a hurry or hurry up to the hospital. Thanks

 

[Dave1960_Gorge]

i have an older Willy’s stump pulling Jeep a 1955/cj 5 4 cylinder 134F head. I boxed the frame with 3/8” front to rear for strength and added weight, I added two Detroit lockers f&r with 5:38-1 gears. And four sets of ice cross link wrecker tire chains. Now I have some pretty large n tall trees to drop. I’m thinking about pulling them in the direction they need to go. What rope should I purchase? Diameter? Strength? Length? Is the rope at tractor supply good enough?

Or should I jack them? One ash tree is very large at the base. I understand how to jack them with a hydraulic jack. I have power lines nearby.

Or how much would a pro charge to put them on the ground? Just one tree?

Reminds me of the tale an old logger/arborist friend told me. He took a job that required getting a big fir off the roof of a mansion in Mercer Island, WA ( on Lake Washington across the lake from Seattle, a millionaire neighborhood). Supposedly offered 30 k. , got the job. A 500 year old hold over tree, leaning hard on the edge of the roof 3 stories up with 150 ft of tree above that, 5 ft diameter on the butt. Failed from root rot. Can’t get a crane into the site.

So he hooks his way up the tree, takes some limbs off to skinny it up, ties a fat haul rope to it (probably 5/8, 30k test Samson stable braid). Ties the other end to a full sized dump truck loaded with rocks, and had it drive down a hill. Pulls the tree upright and lays it down in the yard. Has his crew clean it up after he goes home for a few beers, comes back and grabs the check for a days work (he just worked three hours). Only damage was a dented gutter, insurance company was happy to pay.

Point of the story— gotta have the right equipment, and a plan that will work. I think your Jeep might dig holes with the tires, and the tree might go where it wants to go—not necessarily the same place as where you want it to go. The rope breaking probably not a worry if you buy some new haul rope, 30k or better; you won’t be lifting the tree, just encouraging it to fall over; problem likely will be not enough friction under the tires to pull it over.

 

[TK48states]

Here’s something else, I pull with a Wrangler front winch, always raise the hood up, yeah you can’t see as well but if that cable snaps under tension it can take out the windshield and maybe your face with it.

 

[fishdrivel]

i have an older Willy’s stump pulling Jeep a 1955/cj 5 4 cylinder 134F head. I boxed the frame with 3/8” front to rear for strength and added weight, I added two Detroit lockers f&r with 5:38-1 gears. And four sets of ice cross link wrecker tire chains. Now I have some pretty large n tall trees to drop. I’m thinking about pulling them in the direction they need to go. What rope should I purchase? Diameter? Strength? Length? Is the rope at tractor supply good enough?

Or should I jack them? One ash tree is very large at the base. I understand how to jack them with a hydraulic jack. I have power lines nearby.

Or how much would a pro charge to put them on the ground? Just one tree?

You were given good advice about asking on the internet.
As a professional, qualified arborist, I have seen a lot of things that I cannot unsee.

A funny story instead of one of the many gruesome stories:

I gave a bid for removal of an easy tree (for me) around the corner of a job I was doing. I was referred by their neighbor.
My bid was $50 higher than another bidder I did not know.
While working on my project, the lady who did not hire me came running around the corner and cried for "help!"
I followed her back to her house and there stood 2 guys staring at the tree I had bid on.
There was a chevy pickup tied to a pull rope that was strung through the top of a tree standing 30 feet in front of the subject tree.
The bid tree had been cut and was laying on the woman's roof. The Chevy was hanging from the trunk of the other tree and was 3-4 feet off the ground. They asked me what to do. I said, "cut the rope" and walked back to my job.

Very few climbers die from falling. Rigging and electrocution cause far more deaths. You have both hazards on your project.

 

[fishdrivel]

Here’s something else, I pull with a Wrangler front winch, always raise the hood up, yeah you can’t see as well but if that cable snaps under tension it can take out the windshield and maybe your face with it.

There is a reason why power linemen do not use wire rope for rigging.....

 

[CJ1]

Go to knot and rope supply. Then arborist bull rope. I use a 3/4" rope with a breaking strength of 23000lbs. I always get 150' and have them braid a loop with a thimble in the eye. I also have a older 1" nylon rope that I will use as a safety with a 4k comealong to put tension on the tree for wind gusts. My smallest anchor vehicle is 7000lbs. No advise given unless I am there. If I am going against the lean and it is bad it gets 2 ropes and a loader pushing. I don't take chances and have not had a incident. Cj

 

[Okie]

I do lots of tree felling. (guiding them in a intended planned direction)

Some things that I do and use.
Hardhat (wide brim type)
First I do not use ropes. I use chains and cable.
I use big snatch blocks (pulley blocks) and remote operated electric winches. I can operate the winch pulling power from a remote location, at the tree being cut or in a safer place. I always use double winch line rigging. If using the winch from a vehicle I have the vehicle anchored or tied to a good dead man, such as a big solid stump.
Dead trees are not safe to be cutting or dead limbs above.
By having the winch remote operated I do not have to depend on hand signals to a helper.

Your jeep is too small in weight for use a for pulling or as a dead man anchor. (use a winch)
Practice on smaller stuff first.

If you have to ask about how to do such safely you should not be trying such.

 

[preventec47]

i have an older Willy’s stump pulling Jeep a 1955/cj 5 4 cylinder 134F head. I boxed the frame with 3/8” front to rear for strength and added weight, I added two Detroit lockers f&r with 5:38-1 gears. And four sets of ice cross link wrecker tire chains. Now I have some pretty large n tall trees to drop. I’m thinking about pulling them in the direction they need to go. What rope should I purchase? Diameter? Strength? Length? Is the rope at tractor supply good enough?

Or should I jack them? One ash tree is very large at the base. I understand how to jack them with a hydraulic jack. I have power lines nearby.

Or how much would a pro charge to put them on the ground? Just one tree?

HUSKYBILL- You never did tell us how your project turned out. If you were
involved, tell us how you did it. IE. What worked ?

 

[rabbit box]

Sampson has come out with a 6 inch rope. This was displayed at the arb expo last weekend in Asheville N.C. and I only thought grade 70 chain was a challenge to work with.

 

[Bill G]

Sampson has come out with a 6 inch rope. This was displayed at the arb expo last weekend in Asheville N.C. and I only thought grade 70 chain was a challenge to work with.

Six inches is huge. Here we have barge rope for 1200' by 105' barges but I do not think it is quite that big. I am thinking about 4 inches and actually not bad to work with BUT that is on short lengths

 

[Section VIII]

Go to knot and rope supply. Then arborist bull rope. I use a 3/4" rope with a breaking strength of 23000lbs. I always get 150' and have them braid a loop with a thimble in the eye. I also have a older 1" nylon rope that I will use as a safety with a 4k comealong to put tension on the tree for wind gusts. My smallest anchor vehicle is 7000lbs. No advise given unless I am there. If I am going against the lean and it is bad it gets 2 ropes and a loader pushing. I don't take chances and have not had a incident. Cj

I second the Knot and Rope Supply bull rope.