I have a few trees leaning over my garage and a shed. Nothing too big, maybe 10” diameter to 18 “. A few years ago I would just pull them over with a come-a- long, but I’m getting older, and getting more cautious, I guess. Thinking of getting a battery powered winch to put strain on them when I fell them. Any recommendations on how much power or which winch, or is it a risky idea. Thanks!
I think it is a good idea. I have used a powered winch to put pressure on a tree or even pull it over many times. The one I use is only a 5000-pound winch. It works great and I have pulled some big trees with it.
Battery kind of limits you if you mean a stand alone winch that has its own battery. If by battery you mean 12v that runs off vehicle power, then your options are near endless. I have a Warn Pullzall that is rated to 1k and if you use a snatch block you double that. That's not a huge amount of pressure. I've had it for quite a while so I was curious what else is out there. A quick scroll through Amazon shows many options that have about the same rating and one that is rated at 2200#. Double that with a snatch block and now you have some force. It's not cheap though at close to $900.
I used a winch many times it was a 8000# ramsey mounted on my truck but more times I used the rope come-a-long that hooked to any length of rope they worked excellent also a lewis winch is another option but pricey JB
Thanks guys, I can’t fit a large vehicle into the area, but I could bring the winch in on an atv. I thought I’d run the winch off a separate 12 volt boat battery. I’ll do some looking on Amazon.
The winch I have is just a harbor freight 5K lbs and I paid around 150.00 dollars for it. It is mounted on the front of my utility trailer, and I have used it multiple times.
Get a good bull rope and a pulley and work it from an angle (if you have room for that) a buddy in a heavy vehicle pulling and you sawing.... Keep in mind that the higher you tie off the tree, the better mechanical advantage you'll have and a smaller line will do. This probably is cheaper than a bargain winch and I think you'll have better results. What might you use later? The rope or the winch, that might help with your decision.
I do both depending on the situation. But that cheapo winch has served me well for quite a few years now and I do not need a buddy to operate it.
I took this elm down with the cheapo winch on the front of my trailer. As you can see it needed to fall away from power lines a house and propane tank. The winch did just what I needed it to do.
I only need to drop a few trees, but my son is starting to burn wood at his new (to him) house. I’ll see he wants to do, since he’ll be doing more cutting in the future Thanks for the advice, guys!
