Does anyone know if the 1/2" rope made by Blue Ox (the orange and black arborist rigging rope) will work in a Maasdam rope puller? I've e-mailed the same question to Blue Ox and Amazon but have heard nothing yet. Thanks!
All I know Ralph is that you definitely can't push your tractor out with one But you might check on the stretch factor, I'm thinking that a climbing rope may have some give built in to it where a "bull" type rope would not. For use in a mechanical pulling situation my thoughts are that you want a non giving rope for results and also if something were to happen, a strechie rope will contain a lot of energy reaching the breaking point. Synthetic winch rope is very popular in these situations.
While I'm sure that 1/2" rigging rope might work, I don't think it's ideal. It has to do with the braid of the rope. The one you are asking about seems to be similar to a 24 strand double braided rope. I can't tell because the description doesn't really say. Maasdam says the puller works best with a 3 strand single braided rope. Having said all that I've had great luck using 1/2" arborplex rope with my puller: ARBOR-PLEX ROPE<br>1/2 Inch diameter Arborplex is a 12 strand double braided rope. I believe the issue with the puller is how flexible the rope is. Most (not all) rigging ropes tend to be on the stiff side and don't want to run through the bend radius on the puller's cams. Also the higher the braid count on a rope the more "slippery" it becomes further working against the design of the puller.
I’d stick with a three strand. The drum in the puller is built to bite it and like Barcroftb said about ropes and flexibility and such the three strand will hold body better as well as make the bend. Other stuff will run in it but watch out for slippage and even hard starting.
The Blue Ox rigging rope might work, but it is not ideal. The Maasdam pullers definitely work best with 3-strand. I use Sampson Pro Master 1/2" 3-strand and it never slips. I have tried other smoother bull ropes and they tend to slip.
Looks like I'll have to sell the unused rigging rope I have and purchase the correct rope. That's what happens when a rookie doesn't do his homework. I've been cutting for years and never needed it but now I find myself in a position to have to use rope and puller to keep my trees from landing on the neighbor's fence. Lesson learned; look before you leap toad!
Save it and use it when you need longer. Tie it to the rope you'll get to put in the puller. Just my opinion. Sent from my SM-T280 using Tapatalk
EXACTLY!!! The other rope will be tremendously useful thousand ways. It may also work in the puller. Taking a quick look on the internets and it looks like you can find a 150' hank of Samsmon ProMaster 1/2 for right around $70-75 before shipping ($0.49ft)
P.S. TreeStuff.com always runs a 7% discount with the code "ONLINE" Unfortunately, you need to spend $100 with them to get free shipping. I'll bet you can find something(s) else you "need" to get the total over $100
