found another use for the skid steer...

murphy4trees

TreeHouser
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Nov 28, 2008
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Philadelphia PA suburbs
I had a large removal of lots of ash trees over the weekend.. Bucket was maxed at 75' and taking out 35' tops. Most had to be lowered which was pushing limits of my comfort zone... The last big top on the tree closest to the housse was leaning right over the boom. NO way to swing it safely so after much consideration I put a block high in another tree (actually a spar by that time) in the middle of the yard, tied off below the cut and using a ground redirect had the skid steer pull the entire tree to get the top to lean in favor of the yard and away from the boom.. Bombed the top with no pull line and managed to just thread the needle between another tree and the static pull line... actually had to cut notch and back cut then move away and use a pole saw to trip the top... It was cool...Thinking there was probably 1,500-2,000 lbs of force on the line.... maybe more..
 
Great solution to your problem. Simple but brilliant. That's how to utilize the equipment to your advantage.
 
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  • #5
here's the cut

When I said I used the pole saw to" trip" the cut, I just used it to push the top to get her to let go, not sawing
 

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  • ash top tapered hinge with static pull.jpg
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  • #6
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A54YXMQRze8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This is the top of the tree in the middle of the yard coming down. we ended up using the spar for a support line and the static pull line
 
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  • #7
Last summer I had a similar situation and used an big tree across the yard with a high pulley set to pull a big top over, not realizing that there wasn't enough play in the line, for the top to make it to the ground.. The big top floated right down as usual, then just before landing made a quick stutter, which was accompanied by what sounded like a gunshot. Jerked the whole front of the skid steer several feet off the ground before breaking the rope... brand new block and sling.... true blue broke at the knot which was a running bowline..

Didn't want to make that mistake again, thus set up the pull line below the cut
 
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