I have always used a regular clevis in a hitch to tie off tree rope for pulling. The radius is really small on a clevis so i was trying to come up with different solution that would have larger diameter of at least 4". Was not sure if i hook a pulley to the hitch and then tie rope around that or not. Does anyone have any suggestions for hooking rope to vehicle?
The knot itself is probably weakening the rope more than the clevis hook. Even if you went to something with a 4" diameter, you still have the bends in the knot.
HolmenTree would be a great person to ask as he runs a one man tree service and has posted several pics of him using his truck to pull trees that are leaning or fallen against houses.
Baileys sells little plastic eyelets .. I think they might be called thimbles?? Anyway theyre not too large but they double the radius of the initial bend which puts more of the fibers in tension, adding some strength. If half the rope is in compression then youre working with less diameter.
A hitch ball will add some radius, just be sure to go around the hitch tube also so that your loop cant pop off.
Maybe a piece of pipe welded to a receiver tongue.
Has anyone used something like the Bend Right Rigging Ring?
lxskllr (http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=39990) I thought about taking a pipe and chaining it through the ends to the hitch. Then wrap rope around pipe and tie.
Scott,
Only one way to tie a rope to a pickup truck.
I use a Bee-Line eye to eye prusik, doubled like in my pics 16K breaking strength or approx.11K tensile doubled.
I put it on a strong stainless steel carbiner.
I never had a problem with this setup and have pulled some big loads with my 6.7 Cummins diesel 4x4 pickup in low range.
Always attach to front hooks and pull backwards .
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21589/20180919_101452.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1537371081)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21589/20180919_100754.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1537371183)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21589/20180919_102119.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1537371206)
Here's the tensile rating in single eye to eye.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21589/20180919_101519.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1537371404)
Do you pull it like in your picture without a knot in the pulling rope?
Quote from: ECSScott on September 19, 2018, 12:19:24 PM
Do you pull it like in your picture without a knot in the pulling rope?
Scott, on this 3/4" stable braid rope yes. The prusik will move about a inch then it will cinch.
This method is super easy to tie and untie. Plus highly adjustable.
On smaller diameter rope I go one extra wrap from 2 to 3 to prevent slippage.
A more basic question would be "If you're concerned about the rope breaking because of the clevis radius, do you really think you should be tying it to a vehicle?"
It's all about physics. If your vehicle is a multi-thousands of pounds piece of logging equipment then you are probably OK.
Best thing I ever learned don't line a tree with a rope or a light machine it's always fun watching a rig get pulled backwards or a skidder. Myself if something really needed lined I'd want at least a D7 on that line it might be overkill but if it breaks that cable or drags that 50k+ machine then it's probably something I shouldn't be messing with.
As long as the diameter of your clevis is larger than that of your rope, the knot is the weakest part of the whole system. It will break there before it breaks at the clevis. Any bend in the rope weakens the rope. What knot are you using?
Figure 8 has the best efficiency. In rope rescue we switched from bowline to figure 8 years ago because of that.
Quote from: firefighter ontheside on September 20, 2018, 10:18:09 AM
As long as the diameter of your clevis is larger than that of your rope, the knot is the weakest part of the whole system. It will break there before it breaks at the clevis. Any bend in the rope weakens the rope. What knot are you using?
Figure 8 has the best efficiency. In rope rescue we switched from bowline to figure 8 years ago because of that.
A Butterfly knot generally has better strength than a figure 8 knot, but a figure 8 is stone simple to tie and to inspect.
As you get into smaller diameters, a Double Fisherman's knot will even beat a Butterfly knot - but it has some real disadvantages - one being that once loaded it is extremely difficult to untie.
My experience tying a rope directly to a pulling vehicle towing ring etc is the Anchor Bend knot or hitch.
Very strong with its 2 non crossing leg coils and easy to untie.
Rather then just pushing a straight end of the rope under the 2 coils for termination, I make a slip with long doubled bight with the end of the rope.
Then when I go to untie I pull the excess end of the slip in the bight.
If in the very rare event I have to power pull a tree I don't play around.I have 2 600 foot reels of 1" three strand nylon and 1 300 foot reel .I just use a bowline and a big shackle and often with a snatch block two part line .I've also got 100 foot hanks of double braid Plymouth 5/8" but I don't use them to pull .
I might add I learned my rigging education from working as an industrial electrician that spanned 47 years .In that time period I've rigged pulls of armored cable of up to 2000 feet in length with cable that weighed 12 pounds per foot .I have never had a rope,splice of any kind or a shackle ever fail .
I only covered the pulling anchor point , but tying to a standing tree a running bowline works every time.
A standing tree pull calls for a big shot slingshot on a 8 foot pole shooting a throwline and weight bag to get the rope up (best invention ever)
Here I cut and pulled a 65 ft poplar that had a heavy side and back lean behind a shed and over 12K volt wires.
With 2 block pulleys, slings and lots of 3/4" stable braid rope attached to my pickup got er done. :D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21589/20180713_091607.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1537680161)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21589/20180719_133549.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1537680263)
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(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21589/20180719_134704.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1537680531)
I had 2 ropes rigged into that tree. One to pull on 2 anchored block pulleys with the truck. Plus another anchored with a 6 ton come along acting as a 90° degree to lay side rope to guide the tree down along side the shed and garage.
And how did you do the cutting and pulling by yourself? I know you work alone and that would be impossible.
Man, that was a difficult tree, congrats on the success! You aimed it perfectly, a little to the right and that shack would have been damaged. How do you do the cut on that height, with a ladder?
Quote from: teakwood on September 23, 2018, 09:14:20 AM
And how did you do the cutting and pulling by yourself? I know you work alone and that would be impossible.
Man, that was a difficult tree, congrats on the success! You aimed it perfectly, a little to the right and that shack would have been damaged. How do you do the cut on that height, with a ladder?
Yup been working alone for 10 years now.
No ladder.... after I got the 2 ropes all tensioned like a fiddle string I felled it making the cuts 6 feet high above my head.
Couldn't do it without these tools here. :)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21589/20180923_102447.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1537716995)
What do you do with the ruler/square?
Quote from: lxskllr on September 23, 2018, 11:44:28 AM
What do you do with the ruler/square?
I use the T square for sighting in anchor points for 90° degree to lay guy ropes on heavily side leaning trees.
Plus for gun sighting the facecut to lay in tight quarters.
When you're in the business 5 days a week removing trees in residential and commerical properties you need precision gun sighting. The sight marks on the saw are not good enough
If I can't find a 90° degree to lay anchor point for guying, I make one like this.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21589/20180601_095612.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1537725466)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21589/20180601_095558_resized_1.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1537725556)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21589/20180601_100716.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1537725668)
.
Interesting Willard
So you never have to cut and pull at the same time?
Quote from: teakwood on September 24, 2018, 08:34:07 AM
Interesting Willard
So you never have to cut and pull at the same time?
Like I said earlier if I have enough tension in the pull rope whether it's on the truck or ratchet puller on a back leaner I can just cut and the tree falls.
But if the back lean is too heavy I bore cut the back cut, leave a strap so the tree is not committed to fall.... for safety.
Then right before I go to the truck to pull it over I make a cut into the tree deeper then the thickness of the backcut strap... about 6 to 10 inches below the strap.
When the truck pulls... the strap wood breaks free.
I'd love to work with you for a couple weeks to learn some of your technique. If I were a kid, I'd offer to do it gratis, just for the learning experience. As it is, I'm too far away, too old, and too tied to my existing job to make the offer :^/
Quote from: lxskllr on September 24, 2018, 02:50:24 PM
I'd love to work with you for a couple weeks to learn some of your technique. If I were a kid, I'd offer to do it gratis, just for the learning experience. As it is, I'm too far away, too old, and too tied to my existing job to make the offer :^/
Your'e only 49 that's not too old, :laugh:
Quote from: HolmenTree on September 24, 2018, 10:32:07 PM
Your'e only 49 that's not too old, :laugh:
It's getting close to too old :^D
I think tree work would be easier getting into while young. Get your mistakes out of the way while still resilient. Me particularly though, I have a blown out back. It works ok right up until it doesn't, and then I'm out for a week or so. That's fine for doing stuff on my own, but not as cool when someone else is depending on you. I'm lucky that I'm a big fish at my current job, and they pretty much have to work around it, but not too many people need a dummy that can't even do dummy's work sometimes :^D
I'm looking for my exit from surveying, and tree work has been the closest thing I've been interested in in awhile. IT was on the table, but I don't think I could go to work in a box with bureaucracy every day. The boss is getting old, and I'm not really interested in surveying for anyone else. I don't need much money. Just a few bucks here and there til retirement kicks in. I've got my eye on a couple really small outfits that could possibly use occasional help. Just need to get my skills up, and have something to offer.
lxskllr,
worst thing to for your back is a leather belt. Years ago I had a period with a recurring pinched skyatic nerve in my lower back. I stopped wearing leather belts and started wearing stretchy elastic belts, wider the better.
Elastic suspenders on work pants do the same too.
I find the new stretchy denim jean material alot easier on the back too.
Even the newer heavy canvas work pants and bib coveralls have good stretch now....makes a big difference when your working.
Good luck with your future endeavors.