Help me push trees over and not die

[Georgia Iron]

Happy 2023 all. May your year bring good luck and prosperity...

Once you figure out your machine you can hook trees with the back of the bucket and pull them backwards on an angle and have them drop back towards the side of the machine. You must use the loader arms to apply pressure to the side of the tree as it comes backwards. It is dangerous but it is very useful when you must work close to houses and in areas where you cant push forward. Break the ground all the way around the tree before you start. Sometimes 3 or 4 deep depending on if it is a pesky sweet gum thats want to snap off instead of pull the root ball out. Do a test push and see if it will roll out, if not break the ground all the way around the stump -- if you need to get the whole stump out. I typically try not drive over trees that i have dropped unless i want to break up the tops.

On more than one occasion I have damaged both my track loaders having an odd smaller tree try to spear you off the machine once you start pushing threw smaller stuff and driving over it. They come up and try to get the radiator or snake threw the rops and spear you. Making a road and trying to save certain trees as you go, is when you get in to stuff that has a greater chance of getting you hurt because you bring the standing ones closer to you as you work. I have had the bucket up and had a chuck of tree fall on the bucket and bounce and hit me right in the face... Dead trees are very hard and in some parts of the forrest there are large vines that pull things out of tops of trees behind you and onto the back of your machine. Use a good tree to smack the dead one before you get near it..

For me the worst trees are a group of large trees that have grown up around each other closer together than your bucket width. The pulling technique will help if you can get the root balls to separate sometimes the root balls are connected and they will not separate and then you might as well be dropping 2 or 3 trees at the same time.

There was an older guy around here that used a loader a lot. He would push down trees threw standing trees to break them up. He had one do a wierd whip, it came back and part of it caught his arm and it was cut off. Make sure you learn about tree tension and spring back, limbs can cause the trunk to jump straight back out of the pile at you. When you use a machine to drop a tree they will build up tension when you bend the tree trunk or branch. Make sure that you relieve the tension before you or some else saws it up, the small stuff under pressure can get you. Pushing it over with the machine lets your brain forget that a 2" tree can hurt real bad if it love taps you under pressure.

Clearing and putting it in piles is different than needing to haul it off. I will clear a 100' - 150' wide area and pull out 10 or 12 whole trees and lay them out in a row not touching each other so that it is safe to saw them up with nothing over your head and no pressure on the trees... and I also try to move the trees CLEANLY and out of the dirt to help keep my saws sharp longer.

I have cleared lots of areas like you have in the photos and needed to haul it off. I roll the tops in to the road and try not to break them as they come down. I had a log yard willing to take the little ones and we carefully laid them over limbed them cut them to 18 feet or so and took load after load.

 

[charles walton]

Happy 2023 all. May your year bring good luck and prosperity...

Once you figure out your machine you can hook trees with the back of the bucket and pull them backwards on an angle and have them drop back towards the side of the machine. You must use the loader arms to apply pressure to the side of the tree as it comes backwards. It is dangerous but it is very useful when you must work close to houses and in areas where you cant push forward. Break the ground all the way around the tree before you start. Sometimes 3 or 4 deep depending on if it is a pesky sweet gum thats want to snap off instead of pull the root ball out. Do a test push and see if it will roll out, if not break the ground all the way around the stump -- if you need to get the whole stump out. I typically try not drive over trees that i have dropped unless i want to break up the tops.

On more than one occasion I have damaged both my track loaders having an odd smaller tree try to spear you off the machine once you start pushing threw smaller stuff and driving over it. They come up and try to get the radiator or snake threw the rops and spear you. Making a road and trying to save certain trees as you go, is when you get in to stuff that has a greater chance of getting you hurt because you bring the standing ones closer to you as you work. I have had the bucket up and had a chuck of tree fall on the bucket and bounce and hit me right in the face... Dead trees are very hard and in some parts of the forrest there are large vines that pull things out of tops of trees behind you and onto the back of your machine. Use a good tree to smack the dead one before you get near it..

For me the worst trees are a group of large trees that have grown up around each other closer together than your bucket width. The pulling technique will help if you can get the root balls to separate sometimes the root balls are connected and they will not separate and then you might as well be dropping 2 or 3 trees at the same time.

There was an older guy around here that used a loader a lot. He would push down trees threw standing trees to break them up. He had one do a wierd whip, it came back and part of it caught his arm and it was cut off. Make sure you learn about tree tension and spring back, limbs can cause the trunk to jump straight back out of the pile at you. When you use a machine to drop a tree they will build up tension when you bend the tree trunk or branch. Make sure that you relieve the tension before you or some else saws it up, the small stuff under pressure can get you. Pushing it over with the machine lets your brain forget that a 2" tree can hurt real bad if it love taps you under pressure.

Clearing and putting it in piles is different than needing to haul it off. I will clear a 100' - 150' wide area and pull out 10 or 12 whole trees and lay them out in a row not touching each other so that it is safe to saw them up with nothing over your head and no pressure on the trees... and I also try to move the trees CLEANLY and out of the dirt to help keep my saws sharp longer.

I have cleared lots of areas like you have in the photos and needed to haul it off. I roll the tops in to the road and try not to break them as they come down. I had a log yard willing to take the little ones and we carefully laid them over limbed them cut them to 18 feet or so and took load after load.

If the older fellow you are talking sbout is from Dallas,Ga. I know him very well.and the way you described is not the way he lost the arm from the elbow down. If you are talking about him,he was clearing pines and just running in second on a 955 and hitting the trees about 10' up and slapping them down fast,it was August I think in '93 and very dry, one tree did a barber chair and shot back and as he spun his torso to avoid it he had his arm raised and the butt caught it and pinched it off against the the clearing screen on the back of the cab. You might be talking about someone else,but regaurdless clearing is dangerous work and even experienced operators have accidents, more when in a hurry.

 

[Georgia Iron]

Charles,

Sounds like the same person, if his name was Donald. My dad went hunting with him and told me about the injury. He told me the basic story, he always said the tree whipped back and took his arm, you put a few more details on it for me. Thanks. My dad did not want me to purchase a track loader due to his friend being hurt. He thought I would get hurt using one. Which I have had a good many close calls including almost sliding one straight into a 25' deep trench that I had dug out with an excavator, when i was swapping some real heavy wet top soil for good fill.

Trees have almost got me several times. I had an 8 inch green popular whip towards me as sprung out of the bucket it missed the rops and came in the front towards my head, it was so fast and violent that you did not have time to put your hands up. I look for it now... on another time one rode up on the track as I was backing and it jammed straight threw the right side, pushed across my right shoulder and buried itself into the headliner and bent before i could get the machine to stop moving. It ripped a hole in the headliner and insulation. Then a few years later, red wasps built a nest in the hole and when I got into the machine they tore me a new one.

For those that dont know when you push up trees with giant root balls most of the time when it separates both sides can move or roll so leave an exit ( a clear way for you to get away from the stump and tree) and let go of the saw if something moves. When you cut off a stump that weighs 5000 lbs whats left of the tree might decide to come towards you.

I am lucky I learned on an open cab machine because if it were enclosed it would have lost a lot of glass. If a 953 can do it, I have done it, what is amazing to me is these machines have 14,000 plus hours and they still work and work hard...

I would suggest that if you are going to clear trees and brush to attach some expanded metal or something to protect yourself from them. It is only a matter of time before something happens and you may get lucky or you may eat one.

 

[chidog]

Pushing down trees? I depends on the size. The most dangerous tree is a vine maple, they can break things, including your arm, head etc. if not removed correctly. Most all my clearing was done with a Beals clearing rake.
6 to 14 inch diameter no digging needed but that is D8, those will stop a D6, depending on species and ground conditions. For any tree clearing it is best to log it first, and then split the stumps, medium size with the rake and really large stuff maybe 30 inches up with a stump splitter, makes it easier to burn them or chip them. If you don't want the wood find some logger that does that removes most of the danger mentioned from the others that posted above. If any is marketable you could even get some gas money from it.

 

[charles walton]

Charles,

Sounds like the same person, if his name was Donald. My dad went hunting with him and told me about the injury. He told me the basic story, he always said the tree whipped back and took his arm, you put a few more details on it for me. Thanks. My dad did not want me to purchase a track loader due to his friend being hurt. He thought I would get hurt using one. Which I have had a good many close calls including almost sliding one straight into a 25' deep trench that I had dug out with an excavator, when i was swapping some real heavy wet top soil for good fill.

Trees have almost got me several times. I had an 8 inch green popular whip towards me as sprung out of the bucket it missed the rops and came in the front towards my head, it was so fast and violent that you did not have time to put your hands up. I look for it now... on another time one rode up on the track as I was backing and it jammed straight threw the right side, pushed across my right shoulder and buried itself into the headliner and bent before i could get the machine to stop moving. It ripped a hole in the headliner and insulation. Then a few years later, red wasps built a nest in the hole and when I got into the machine they tore me a new one.

For those that dont know when you push up trees with giant root balls most of the time when it separates both sides can move or roll so leave an exit ( a clear way for you to get away from the stump and tree) and let go of the saw if something moves. When you cut off a stump that weighs 5000 lbs whats left of the tree might decide to come towards you.

I am lucky I learned on an open cab machine because if it were enclosed it would have lost a lot of glass. If a 953 can do it, I have done it, what is amazing to me is these machines have 14,000 plus hours and they still work and work hard...

I would suggest that if you are going to clear trees and brush to attach some expanded metal or something to protect yourself from them. It is only a matter of time before something happens and you may get lucky or you may eat one.

Yep,that's him. I probably would know you if I saw you if you ever bought any parts from L&N back when they were selling Cat parts mostly. I learned on open cabs too,with noone to teach me anything. I just had a strong desire to do it and I've had too many close calls to list them all. Hope you continue to be safe and profitable in the business. P.S. I'm from Rose's Store Ga. same as Donald H.

 

[ippielb]

You have to set yourself up into a position where you can push the trees somewhere. Plan out your clearing with set brush pile locations. Clear a wide swath of trees to the location and then push everything out and away from where your pile will be. Then you can back out and start pushing everything into a pile. cutting the trees off at the base with the bucket is counter productive Its far easier to remove a stump while its still attached to the tree. The small little trees just rake with your teeth of your bucket to the side. Rake, turn left, Back up, another swath raking and then turn left. Make yourself a windrow of small piles or brush in that wide swath you make with a clear path to the brush pile. That way you can focus on pushing and cleaning the brush pile alone the path shedding dirt, organic, leaves etc.

If you're worried about the small twigs and branches you'll be there all day long burning fuel. Try knocking over one bigger tree with lots of healthy limbs and just dragging it across the ground instead of carrying it. It'll help you clean up.

 

[Voodooburner]

Been raining for days, maybe get back to work tomorrow

 

[cw4Bray]

I've had two bad experiences with trees. First was when the bucket slipped off the trunk, I wasn't wearing my lap belt and got thrown from the machine head first ! Put a goose egg on my noggin. The wife was watching and pee-d her pants laughing so hard - at me. So much for love...

The second episode, I was pushing the trunk with my mini and didn't have the blade down for stability, The tree was close to folding over when the machine fell over on it's side. Hydro-static lock and a broken con-rod right through the block resulted.
I learned from both accidents.

 

[Georgia Iron]

I've had two bad experiences with trees. First was when the bucket slipped off the trunk, I wasn't wearing my lap belt and got thrown from the machine head first ! Put a goose egg on my noggin. The wife was watching and pee-d her pants laughing so hard - at me. So much for love...

The second episode, I was pushing the trunk with my mini and didn't have the blade down for stability, The tree was close to folding over when the machine fell over on it's side. Hydro-static lock and a broken con-rod right through the block resulted.
I learned from both accidents.

What kind of mini was that you were using?

 

[Georgia Iron]

Yep,that's him. I probably would know you if I saw you if you ever bought any parts from L&N back when they were selling Cat parts mostly. I learned on open cabs too,with noone to teach me anything. I just had a strong desire to do it and I've had too many close calls to list them all. Hope you continue to be safe and profitable in the business. P.S. I'm from Rose's Store Ga. same as Donald H.

Hey, Charles I just realized I missed replying to you. Thanks for the kind words. If you need anything come see us.

 

[cw4Bray]

What kind of mini was that you were using?

Bobcat 418 maybe 2300# ? The machine fell on top of my leg trapping me under it, fortunately the ground was soft and gave way enough, that I didn't break any bones. If I had not been trapped under it, I could've been able to shut it off - before the crankcase oil went into the intake and seized the engine.
That was a $6,000. tree/engine !!! The worst part is; I know a guy that would've taken the tree for free, for the fire wood, and he does a good job of cleaning up after himself.

 

[OzDozer]

Not too many guys have a machine fall on them, and live to tell the story!
Saw some graphic photos over 20 years ago, a guy in Asia was driving a high-track Cat with no cabin or ROPS up a set of ramps onto a trailer, on a wharf.
The tractor flipped straight over backwards, and that operator was just a red smear on the wharf when they lifted it off him.

 

[Welder Dave]

A pic. of that was shown on here. There was a video but it was deemed too graphic to show.

 

[Willie B]

Mother's half brother was killed when a crawler he was operating went over backward. He left a wife & two sons, both in diapers. Wife went crazy & the sons were raised by a step grandmother.

Family story is it went over backward. Nobody seems to know the details. I envisioned it being a crawler without a blade, likely a log arch or winch. Loggers are known to rig their load pretty high to prevent logs from digging in.

 

[charles walton]

Not too many guys have a machine fall on them, and live to tell the story!
Saw some graphic photos over 20 years ago, a guy in Asia was driving a high-track Cat with no cabin or ROPS up a set of ramps onto a trailer, on a wharf.
The tractor flipped straight over backwards, and that operator was just a red smear on the wharf when they lifted it off him.

My Great Uncle slipped off the tail of his lowboy while unloading his 941 and rolled down a road bank and ended up pinned to the ground by the bumper on his abdomen. He lived for 21 days until gangrene took him. This was in 1975 when hospitals in our area were not state of the art.

 

[Voodooburner]

Thankfully I have full ROPS and I installed seat belts after the previous owner cut them out…so there is that

 

[skyking1]

Wish I had an airworthy 310 to fly on down and give you a hand. Welcome back to your thread. We have the endless rain this year

 

[Voodooburner]

I

Wish I had an airworthy 310 to fly on down and give you a hand. Welcome back to your thread. We have the endless rain this year

love the twin cessnas. I have to do recurrent on them tomorrow.

 

[skyking1]

you fly them 135?

 

[Willie B]

Thankfully I have full ROPS and I installed seat belts after the previous owner cut them out…so there is that

Be ever conscious that a seat belt won't save you if it isn't buckled. It is SO easy to rationalize "I don't need it now, I'm not doing anything dangerous". I myself was tossed out of a backhoe. I had 1/10 of a second warning, not enough to even grab for something to hold.