Tough take down, need the pros opinions here..

[Jkebxjunke]

I am not sure but your truck and trailer might be enough to stop it from rolling... if you tied it up good and chocked the wheels. One thing you have on your side is inertia. one of Newtons law's if I remember correctly... bodies in motion tend to stay in motion and bodies at rest tend to stay at rest.. It might be enough of a counter acting force that you can get in there to remove some more of the weight and stored up energy than by not tying it. and see if there is another anchor point that could help out with holding things stationary. Do you have access to a pole saw? I have a $99 from Lowes (electric) and it has helped out in a situation where there was weight toward a building... every pound you can remove from the tree on the side that wants to roll toward could remove a lot of tension due to the force multiplication of it acting like a lever. dang it its not coming out the way I thought it... but do you get what I mean? example .. a limb sticking out 10' to one side is going to exert alot more rotational force than one the same diameter that sticks out 2'...
just a thought. maybe some of the more scientific ones inhere can give a better explanation that I just butchered.

 

[ericjeeper]

That sort of resembles a beech I took out today

I did it this way. Drove dozer under it.. Stood on the hood. wraped choker around it.. attached it to the front of the dozer and backed up and ripped it off.
Dropped it down to where I could buck it into about 12 feet long sections then pulled it out.. LOL. Yeah I know you do not have a dozer. so start at the top and work your way back towards the butt.

 

[avalancher]

We got the thing on the ground yesterday, and i am glad we brought a little extra gear. We cabled the tree with a few wraps and then hooked it to the truck and trailer. Then we attached the winch cable from the front of the truck to a nearby tree and tightened the cable up. Chocked all the wheels on the trailer that was half full of wood.
I began by limbing everything on the uphill side away from the house, it was amazing to see how the tree kept tightening the cables as weight fell away from the uphill side, trying to roll towards the house. Finally down at the bottom we found the reason for the twisting. Underneath all that brush was a large branch bent like a bow, trying to force the tree over towards the house. After some careful cutting with the help of a few wedges to keep the kerf open we got the limb out of the way and the tree settled right back to where it was to begin with.
I then climbed up the long stem, stood on the stump, and cut the thing loose. it hit the ground with a thump and we cut the remainder up and loaded up.
I still have a lot of cleanup to do, but we pulled home one full trailer load and have one more, maybe two.
A lot of good white oak here, and I was glad not only for the wood but for the experience. It was a little white knuckle there for a bit, but it was kinda fun in a way as well.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

So, you took it down to size , eh ? Theres one under your belt that you can carry with you.

Congrat's

Glad to hear it came off without a mishap.

 

[The Lorax]

I got to wondering about a nylon 'jerk strap' for pulling it away from the stump. As a kid I kept 40' in the PU for when my buddies would call to get pulled out of the sand, mud, frozen pond whatever. You can hit the end a lot harder with one than with a chain. DONT USE CHAIN, CABLE or HOOKS to attatch it to the tree. Think of a 400 MPH slingshot with a #5 load of steel headed for the back window or house if the chain/cable snaps. Once you get it moving keep going a little ways to get it clear of the house.

Nylon sure works good but here is a tip, if you ever have to pull a rope hang something like a towel or a jacket in the middle of the line, if anything does happen and the rope parts, the material hanging in the middle will slow the free end from carrying too much kinetic energy to the other side.
Kind of like shooting into a sheet hanging on a line.

 

[Billy_Bob]

You are now an "expert" in my book!

You did a good safe job and took your time...

 

[darren_nh]

Congratulations!

 

[MJR]

Sounds (or reads?) like you did a perfect job. You were smart enough to ask before you started, used your equipment wisely, and learned a few things along the way. You have 9 out of 10 people beat out there and here as well. Very good job.

 

[strongback]

Good job! Glad to read that you were able to finish the job. Now we just need some pics of the resultant pile of logs/firewood and your mission will be complete.

 

[Jkebxjunke]

did you take any pics of the rigging?
I bet the owner is happy.

 

[avalancher]

did you take any pics of the rigging?
I bet the owner is happy.

Yeah, took some pics for some of the guys that I work with. They came over early in the morning, mostly in the hopes of loading up some rounds and scramming. They took one look at the situation and decided that the wanted no part of the operation. Im sure they will change their tune when they see all the nice oak I got out of the deal.
I will post them later today or in the morning.
Sad part of it is, there is a boatload more in this neighborhood to take as well. Mostly the stuff is close to houses etc, more than I am comfortable with myself. I gave them the contact info for Trevor here on the boards, Clearview tree service. Hopefully he wont cuss me out when he sees some of the leaners over the houses.
I did take one tree though, the house is far enough away, and i can take the tree down piece by piece with a minimum of rigging. I dont have a lot of gear, and I hate climbing with a passion. My carcass is a little big to stuff up a tree.