Using the jeep as a gardening tool

[Baseshakers]

So my dad needed help taking down some trees.





and after we took them down, i had to drag them to the brush pile.



we took down a total of 4 30+ foot pines. one was huge, i had almost all the line spooled out and the tip of the tree ended up 5' from the hood. i was pretty proud of the jeep, the winch pulled one tree down all the way to the root ball, no cutting required! however, one pull was so hard the engine turned over. (jeep was off, i was standing outside) all in all a fun and productive day, made a whole lot easier by the jeep!

[COH143]

I took out some small trees cutting them off at waist height, hooked up my 30-foot strap and yanked the stumps with the Jeep. Worked great. It is a utility vehicle after all.

[ZAEDOCK]

I consider myself a fairly experienced tree guy and just have to comment on the safety aspect. In looking at the pictures, I'm not sure why you needed to winch to such a small tree to fell it on level ground (30 ft is a small tree).

one was huge, i had almost all the line spooled out and the tip of the tree ended up 5' from the hood. i was pretty proud of the jeep, the winch pulled one tree down all the way to the root ball, no cutting required! however, one pull was so hard the engine turned over. (jeep was off, i was standing outside) all in all a fun and productive day, made a whole lot easier by the jeep!

You didn't have any weights on your winch line. With that angle and the softness of the pine, if it ever broke or cut through, the line would snap back and possibly kill you. You're also lucky the tree didn't crush you. It would have turned your fun and productive day into a funeral.

If your dad needs help, it's worth the money to call a pro. If you want to save money and feel comfortable, then cut the damn thing down the right way. People don't realize the forces involved with tree felling. A good friend of mine who owned and operated a tree felling business was killed 5 years ago this month when an 80' tall / 3 feet diameter white pine bounced off another tree and struck him. 30+ years experience and he died on the way to the hospital.

Sorry if I sound like the mother hen and thread killer. During the tornado cleanup effort, a couple of guys and myself managed about 80 folks with all sorts of equipment, over a long weekend, cleaning up several acres of multiple species of trees. We didn't have one injury. Just want you to be safe .

[Baseshakers]

fair enough. couple comments. i have synthetic line, so the snap back should be minimal. i also used the front controller hook up and stood way off to the side while pulling. a number of the trees were very close to the house, so we used the winch to ensure they dropped in the proper direction and avoided the house. (we had a very small window to drop them in to avoid damaging other trees/house) as for a "procedure," my dad was able to cut the wedge and backside with the tension minimal, then get way out of the way when i pulled it down. last thing i wanted was a 72 year old with a bad hip standing next to the base crowded in by other trees with minimal control on which way it was going to fall. i wish i'd taken pictures of the other trees (the one here was by far the easiest one) because they would demonstrate the issues we had. all that being said, i do appreciate the advice.

[nostaw]

I used my XJ to drag some trees out of the woods a few weeks ago... Worked really well... I did have one tree which was nasty to cut -- a red oak broken in 1/2, bottom partially rotted, next to/in a stream. I ended up notching the trunk with a saw and used the winch to pull it over with a snatch block, so it was falling away from the XJ. After that, hauling the trunks out was pretty easy.

Safety is important though... A lot of the forces involved are really big, but that isn't always obvious. I've got another standing (recently) dead oak and a couple pines (already down from Oct storm) to go after too...

JW