Tight quarters removal

rtsims · Aug 2, 2012

Need some advice.

Here is the situation. This will be my first crane removal as the business owner. I have worked around cranes for 4 yrs, not as a climber. Im currently one of the 2 climbers in my outfit. My other climber has 8 yrs more experience than i and has done crane removals, so he will be going up on this one.
Now that thats out of the way...
I climbed this white oak last week limbing and rigging on the way up, oh and striped all the ivy off of it. I knew it was in bad shape. I got 20' from the top and realised it was becoming unsafe to climb. Really brittle. There was no way i was going to rig out the upper limbs and top.
Tree is 80' tall with a dbh of 18", nothing big just dead. Cant get to it with the bucket, cant use the other tree to rig out of or for a tip. So i decided im going to bring in a small crane. My maine concern is the butt swinging in between the houses when the crain picks it. Open to suggestions on preventing this. Im thinking of tying the butt off to the porty at the base, but that will still leave alot of variables, so really not a great idea IMO. View attachment 247080 View attachment 247081

Carburetorless · Aug 2, 2012

Put a tag line or two on it and you shouldn't have any trouble controlling it.

deevo · Aug 2, 2012

rtsims said:
Need some advice.

Here is the situation. This will be my first crane removal as the business owner. I have worked around cranes for 4 yrs, not as a climber. Im currently one of the 2 climbers in my outfit. My other climber has 8 yrs more experience than i and has done crane removals, so he will be going up on this one.
Now that thats out of the way...
I climbed this white oak last week limbing and rigging on the way up, oh and striped all the ivy off of it. I knew it was in bad shape. I got 20' from the top and realised it was becoming unsafe to climb. Really brittle. There was no way i was going to rig out the upper limbs and top.
Tree is 80' tall with a dbh of 18", nothing big just dead. Cant get to it with the bucket, cant use the other tree to rig out of or for a tip. So i decided im going to bring in a small crane. My maine concern is the butt swinging in between the houses when the crain picks it. Open to suggestions on preventing this. Im thinking of tying the butt off to the porty at the base, but that will still leave alot of variables, so really not a great idea IMO. View attachment 247080 View attachment 247081

60 tn crane with 120 of boom should lift that in 1 or 2 pics easy and swing it over the houses and onto the street, tag line it and you should be ok (looking at the pics) You have big ones for even going up that sketchy tree man! We took a 9500 lb spruce tree off a cottage Tuesday night in 1 pick in a really tight spot!

imagineero · Aug 3, 2012

You're probably sweating if it's you're job, but it's a very straightforward pick. If your climber and crane op are experienced it will be all over in an hour or two. Climber rigs his line on the ball and rides up to the top of the tree, rigs chains then lowers himself off. Crane op works out the ballance and positions himself accordingly. Make the cut and the butt shouldn't move more than a couple feet. If your climber and crane op communicate during the cut, the butt really doesn't need to move at all.

If on the other hand, your crane op is an idiot and your climber is clueless, then no amount of pre-prep will save you.

Shaun

jrider · Aug 3, 2012

Shouldn't this be labelled "Extreme Precision"? Sorry couldn't resist.

rtsims · Aug 3, 2012

imagineero said:
You're probably sweating if it's you're job, but it's a very straightforward pick. If your climber and crane op are experienced it will be all over in an hour or two. Climber rigs his line on the ball and rides up to the top of the tree, rigs chains then lowers himself off. Crane op works out the ballance and positions himself accordingly. Make the cut and the butt shouldn't move more than a couple feet. If your climber and crane op communicate during the cut, the butt really doesn't need to move at all.

If on the other hand, your crane op is an idiot and your climber is clueless, then no amount of pre-prep will save you.

Shaun

Your spot on. I know its no out of the ordinary day but like you said its my name and biz on the line. Crane work is just one of those things i havnt done as a climber so its hard to have good foresight. Crane op is supposedly really good, "does most crane removals around here", i personally have no idea but im a decent judge of character. I know the climber very well and he has his head on strait.
I think im just gonna show up with a camera and hang out in the shade while they get it done. No i couldnt do that but im looking foreward to it and hopefully climb the next one. Thanks guys, kinda puts me at ease talking about it.