Knocking down trees with a crawler

[lastchancegarage]

Don't kid yourself Little John, I have 6 kids running around this property! When I say solo it's because I NEED it that way for now. Once the tree is down and cut to fireplace length, then I turn the kids loose. The oldest is a girl so not much help there , but the other 5 are boys . The oldest 3 have their own sized sledgehammers and wedges for splitting wood. It sounds like a chain gang some days when there's wood to split . For most of the yard operations involving the machines I have to make sure the "boss" has them occupied elsewhere. I have a couple of older tractors with trailers for them to move the wood around the property. My ultimate goal is to have enough equipment for them to use so that I can supervise from a rope hammock! Wish me luck!

[Little John]

Well, Good Luck to you Lastchance. You have a lot to look forward to ... trees and KIDS growin' up I mean. The rope hammock may have to wait !

[lastchancegarage]

As long as the "boss" has a "to-do" list, the rope hammock is a distant dream. But you know what they say, "Dreaming is free."

[dean r]

If all you have is a dozer to take the tree down, I found a method that worked well for me and is mentioned in part in another post is.

When I was in the SeaBees 30 plus years ago they had a manual on pushing trees down with a dozer. They suggest that you first cut the roots around three sides leaving the roots opposite the side you are going to push from. This "Helps" keeps the tree from falling back on you from a wind gust etc... Pine trees are usually top feeders and the roots are close to the surface. If you can just tip your blade make those cuts. Then of course push as high as you can and as a last resort you can build a ramp to get up higher.

You'll get the hang of it after awhile and know how much digging if at all you will need to do and watch out for, as already posted, falling limbs raccoons, etc...

I found that pushing them down with an excavator works best

[roadbuilder]

I realize this is an old topic, but one I find interesting. I'm kinda spoiled, having access to heavy equip for tree removal but on occasion use my dad's MC for things around the ranch when lowboying in isn't an option. We have a canopy on our MC, also a Braden winch. I feel most comfortable using a block strapped to a tail hold (usually a stump) in the direction of the desired fall. I don't use rope much as cables(wirerope) are commonplace out here in Oregon. The advantage of the block method allows you to pull in a direction taking you away from the falling tree, and a block doubles your pulling power and line strength. Keep in mind you must watch your tail stump for pulling. You can tieback the tail stump to others to give it strength. Not the best idea to tail to standing trees without tying them back. There are pages of regulations on these things in Oregon on what you can and can't do commercially . When I am concerned about lines breaking, I throw a sweatshirt or limb or something over the line between MC and the block. Hasn't ever happened but the theory is that the weight disapates the force downward. Most of the time when using MC I'm mostly concerned with where the tree will fall so I usually face the tree in the direction I want it to go, put alittle tension on the line, and start backcut leaving enough holding wood to keep tree from twisting off stump and giving me time to get back to MC. Don't push snags or deadtop trees. The top always seems to come back at the machine . MCs don't powershift to reverse very well. Even with the best eqiup. and guarding, tops can still get you.not to mention the trees that you are pushing/pulling the tree into/around . It's best and safest to fall trees into an open area and with their natural lean but there always is that road,propertyline ect. Take little time to think about what you are going to attempt ,what the outcome should be and all the chain reaction events that could take place. There are alot of ways to do things, and alot of cliche's fit most of them.

[fixedforever]

Just pulls trees down with a long cable. Attach like 1/3 up the tree. This is about the biggest size tree I am able to pull with my 1010.