Need a little advice here from the experts... Every once in a while a run into a situation that could use a rope/cable winch when cutting a tree down or getting leaner or branch unstuck. Right now I have a 12" dead standing oak that has a good lean towards my fencing. I think a rope puller would help drop it in the opposite direction to avoid landing on the fencing. Found the Massdam 1/2" rope puller sold almost everywhere. Looking at maybe 120 or 150 feet of rope and maybe have a hook added to one end of the rope? Thoughts, suggestions... I'm all ears.
I have a 190' rope that I use with a Wichard pulley and the 4x4. Pulley lets me get outa the way. That puller you're looking at is interesting. I've only seen cable pullers.
I have never used one but those who have sure like them. I can definitely see the benefit of having one. Read the reviews on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i:aps,k:Maasdam Rope Puller
Used them at work a few times and have had ropes so tight almost to the breaking point but always like to rig off something with a block or Clevis and sling so as to be out of the way or so not to smash the hoist
I have a ratchet puller that uses a small drum of cable. I think the lead is only about 10', however that's never been an issue. It also has a 2nd hook, mounted to a pulley; this allows you to double your MA if necessary (but 1/2 the length of the lead). I've used it a couple times getting snags down, and one time to be really sure about the fall of a tree that was close to the road and the telephone lines. I wouldn't recommend using it how you're thinking though, at least not without seeing the tree in question. You can snap your hinge - especially on a dead tree - if you have to lever on it too much. Probably better to try getting one like that to go sideways instead of completely backwards.
All good replies...I saw the Amazon reviews, all good stuff... I think in my situation this would be a good additional tool that would just increase the safety of dealing with a few situations. This is just a rope, it can't overcome the laws of gravity, but may help steer a few questionable trees to fall in the desired direction. I should try to take a few pics, but this is not a big tree, game plan would be to set the rope up then make the initial cut and and then bore cut the back cut, drive in wedges, tighten the rope little by little, until ready to release the back cut. Rope is long enough to keep me in out of harms way. Tree is only leaning about 10 degrees, should be a good situation to use a rope in my humble opinion. If it goes sideways no worries.
Around here they are called come-a-longs. The problem with using them for felling trees it that yes, they will pull and pull quite a bit but very, very slow and if you needed to quickly put on some pressure, good luck. They do have their place and I have moved a couple logs but never tried guiding a tree down with one.
I've used comealongs with chains to pre-load trees, or get them un-hung. The process is a PITA, rig tree, load come-along, cut notch, reload, back cut crank some more, and finish cut hopefully without a barber chair. 100-120' of rope will stretch more than pull. Best to find a nearby pull point with a snatch block and hook it to a truck
If you use the Masdam, it works best with 1/2" 3-strand rope (treestuff.com sells them with Samson Pro-Master 3-strand ), but it will work with any 1/2" rope you have.
