Glad you were able to limp away from this one! I got a chill when I looked at the pictures. Hope you heal up quickly!
I met a gentleman last year when he gave me some reloading supplies. I told him I would bring him a load of firewood. While there, we were talking about him wanting to take down a big Alder tree along the driveway. A week later I called to see if it would be a good time to deliver the wood and his wife said he had been killed when taking down the tree. I don’t know the particulars of what happened but do know it involved his tractor and the tree fell on it. Very glad to hear yours was only a close call.
Glad to hear you are still here to tell the tale jrider ! The only thing predictable about taking down trees is that they are unpredictable. Y'all be careful out there...
Well I got back at it today. I cut up the tree that bit me. You can see where it snapped off. It was pretty rotten in that one spot and that’s the spot that was in contact with the pine tree it was hung up on.
I had said in a previous post to get back in the saddle but it sounds like some days off should be taken. Hopefully you're feeling better with each passing day.
That's great advice. We use the same set up on alot of the trees we pull, usually with a bit more than 90° angle. Increases the pulling power too. This tree was leaning towards the house. Tractor with cable attached and a big log in the grapple for extra traction. Block and cable anchored on a big sweet gum
Hey, my friend. That was a close call. So glad you and the tractor had minimal damage. Could have been so much worse. We've had a few close calls too. I thank GOD that you're ok.
Just thought I’d throw this out there. When pulling a leaner from the butt end sometimes the tree can come sliding straight back at you. Did one of those this winter. I envisioned it happening but the log arch couldn’t budge it with a 90* pull. The arch is much better at lifting than pulling. Just not enough weight in the arch and atv to do a lot of pulling. So full well knowing it was likely to happen I did it anyway. I needed that tree gone as it was leaning against a dead lumber tree I needed that day. I was right, came sliding straight at the arch and ran out of rope. Flipped the arch, no real damage to man and machine. Just something to keep in mind.
Leg still hurts but is definitely feeling better each day. A few new bruises have showed up since the weekend. Guess with the shock and the hard shot to the leg, I didn’t even feel them. Here is a drawing of the angles of the event. The ironic thing is I originally thought I would just use the tractor to push the log off the stump but I thought, nah, that will put me in the danger zone!
Never underestimate the force of a 20,000lb tree. edit: I paid to have a huge oak taken down over my house and the guy estimated it was 80,000lbs. 40” dbh
I got 2.5 (est) cord out of just the tops of two similar sized oak. That's only stuff that wasn't being taken to the mill or put through the chipper. It was (8) 330 gallon tote cages, plus one full 6x10x2' dump trailer of larger logs. The 40" stem (11' 4" dia): The pile of firewood, minus one 12" log they hauled up front (can't find the pic). They chipped most everything 8" and down. Sawmill bought the butt logs.
Back to the original intent of your post. I'm glad you're getting better. Things happen super fast don't they? As aside, what model is your 70 series JD? I have the 870, bought new in 1996. I love that thing.
It's a 1070. My brother in law bought it brand new probably around 1990 give or take. We bought it off him around 2004/5 and we love it. It picks up a lot of weight for it's size.
My 870 will get most stuff off of my flatbed that I can load with my MX5100 Kubota. I think it's due in part to the sacrifice of loader reach on the JD, but it does help with lift capacity. The Kubota loader dump pivot pin is definitely several feet forward of the axle compared to the JD.
