Tree puller

M

Mith

Active member
Knocked up this little contraption this afternoon.
A lady asked me to pull maybe 30 small trees out of the corner of a field, all are about 4" diameter.

I figured that the 3ph would be strong enough to pull them out whole.

So I made a hook :D Its the old PUH hook (I'm switching to a drawbar) I welded to a frame made from H beam. Its a bit rough, but works well so far.
I did a test stump in my garden, and then went down and pulled up 2 of her trees as a quick test.

It didnt break, but I need to make a U shaped bar near the toplink to catch the tree. I got clouted by one when it fell forwards as it was pulled out the ground.
 

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Looks like all that tree pulling has caused a leak!
Big puddle on the garage floor. I only noticed it leaking when I was laying under it fitting a drawbar. Looks like the banjo fitting for the loader lines is loose (fingers crossed)

One of these days I'll be able to finish a whole job without having to fix something.
 

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Terry, its a Ferguson TEF. Very similar to a 9N I suppose, only it has a diesel engine.

Maybe you could lend me your shiny new tractor :D I'll knock a bit of the shine off for ya!
 
Done some beating on it already, my daughter had a fit. She's more protective of it than I am. Get to make my first payment this weekend. :yum:
 
Good pics Mith. I think I see the tree that bonked you. Hope it didn't hurt to bad.

Did you figure out what the leak was?
 
The one that got me was about 25' tall, I was 'catching' them just being the toplink, but this one missed and came down between me and the fender and clouted my shoulder.
Reckon I'll weld on a bit of 2" box to catch the trunks, or maybe just chop all the trees off about 4' tall before I pull them out.

Oddly enough, the tractor hasnt leaked since. I think it might have just been leaking out of one of the loader lines (capped red in the pic) from the pressure of leaving the 3ph in the air. I've been leaving the 3ph on the ground and so far no juice has come out the lines.

Fitted a drawbar to the tractor too the other day. Boy was that one heavy bit of kit. Just about gave myself a hernia fitting it on my own.
 

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Mith, I'm really impressed. :respect::respect: That is one chunk of iron but what's wrong with a 20' length of chain attached to the tractor and just hauling ass out of there? I know that it's not nearly as sexy as your set-up but this winter I pulled a bunch of trees with a grab hook chained on to the grapple on the FEL, chain around the tree attached to the grab hook and backed the heck outta there. It just "sucked" most of them right out of the ground. They were a little smaller that those you are dealing with, 2" to 3" for the most part, but it was quick and easy. Besides, I don't weld nearly as good as you do so my fabrication skills are limited, and brute force is much more my style. More power to you bro'.
 
Frank, not enough room for the chain method unfortunately. With a 25' tree I'm going to need say 50' of room infront on the tree to allow for slack chain, tractor and tree falling room. I've got say 20', as you see in the first picture, I only needed to pull forward about 4' from the base of the tree to pull that root out.

Besides, there is something enjoyable about welding big lumps of steel together :D
 
You wont believe this!
Just got back from pulling another 5 trees, the bloody H beam along the bottom has got bent!
It still works fine, I just couldn't believe it! Its only slight, but I would have expected either the strap or a weld to break first.
Must have some well rooted trees around here :D
 
Mith said:
You wont believe this!
Just got back from pulling another 5 trees, the bloody H beam along the bottom has got bent!
It still works fine, I just couldn't believe it! Its only slight, but I would have expected either the strap or a weld to break first.
Must have some well rooted trees around here :D
Click to expand...

Just means more fun welding in some more metal! Going to my steel supply yard tomorrow. Need some general inventory.
 
I beams don't do to well pulling on them sideways. One thing that you might do to save your iron and possibly your noggin is to use a small block and chain. Tie off a cable, 3/8th should be enough for that tractor to a tree that you won't pull out, put the block on the one you want to remove. this will double the pull of the tractor and change the direction of the falling tree insead of right between the fenders.
 
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