Winching and Trees
Submitted: Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 19:54
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Mad Dog (Australia)
Friends, I've read and learnt a lot over the years about safe recovery while in the bush but I've seen next to nothing about the selection of a tree as an anchor point for safe winching. what size tree ? are some varities better than others..stronger or deeper rooted, how to tell a goodie from a dud, do I need a bigger tree in hard ground opposed to sand, are wet trees better than dry trees. Lots of questions. I rang Vic Parks and asked what trees they endorsed for winching, think I got written off as a loonie...haha. If you think I'm a loon you can say so too.
Unless someone can steer me in the right direction I'll just have to go out and do some testing but don't really want to start pulling trees down.
Reply By: Joe - Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 20:10
Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 20:10
Hi Ray,
A chap I know really came unstuck recently with winching off a tree.
He own's a property in the Otway's and drove his ute down into a valley to get some wood. loaded the ute and then it started to rain, and could not get back up the track.
Not a problem, walked back to the
home and got the 4wd with the winch. Manouvers the 4wd part way down the track and edges the bumper bar onto a large tree trunk. Out with the winch to the ute, starts winching looking good..... the tree snaps...4by takes off down the
hill slippery
hill and takes out the ute.
Very intersting insurance claim on how he and his wife ran into each other on the
farm driveway.
Now if he knew how to identify a dodgy tree the incident may have been avoided.
So it's not a loonie idea.
Regards
Joe
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Mad Dog (Australia) - Friday, Apr 22, 2005 at 00:32
Friday, Apr 22, 2005 at 00:32
How long have you known Russell Coight, we'll have to get together one day...then again maybe not... hehe
Thanks for the story Joe, I didn't think I was a Loonie
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Reply By: Mark- Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 20:21
Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 20:21
Provided you attach your tree strap as low down as possible on the tree I would be confident to attach to the base of most any healthy hardwood tree of about six inches diameter or more. Smaller for some pulls, depending on how heavily stuck you are. Maybe larger if really stuck. If the ground is really sandy or rocky it may reduce the holding capacity of the roots.
The higher you attach the strap on the tree, the stronger/larger tree you will need.
I think you'd be surprised how strong most trees are when the load is applied primarily in shear (low strap) and not bending (high strap)
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Mad Dog (Australia) - Friday, Apr 22, 2005 at 00:35
Friday, Apr 22, 2005 at 00:35
Thanks Mark, selection is not too critical on level ground I presume but could be a catastrophe with poor selection on a slope..
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Reply By: MrBitchi - Friday, Apr 22, 2005 at 09:42
Friday, Apr 22, 2005 at 09:42
Back in my Army days, on exercise in ShoalWater bay, Studibaker wrecker bog to the eyeballs, winch (20tonne shear pin) connected to a 3ft diameter gum tree at ground level, pulled it clean out of the ground......:--O
Ended up needing a backhoe and 2 ACV's to get it out :--p
And no, I wasn't the driver.
Moral is you never can tell how big is big enough until you're safely out of the situation. Any size tree may let you down. A portable ground anchor is a safer more reliable winch point.
Cheers,
John.
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Follow Up By: Richard - Monday, Apr 25, 2005 at 09:42
Monday, Apr 25, 2005 at 09:42
how do you get them out the ground for a second pull though
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Follow Up By: Bonz (Vic) - Monday, Apr 25, 2005 at 18:42
Monday, Apr 25, 2005 at 18:42
In most cases they are pulled out with a rope attached to the back of the things, that is pulled out by hand back out the hole they made them selves, of course I have only seen this in mud and sand
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Follow Up By: MrBitchi - Tuesday, Apr 26, 2005 at 08:45
Tuesday, Apr 26, 2005 at 08:45
The only one I've used pulled out quite easily by hand. The design means they dig themselves in but the hole they leave means they're fairly easy to get out.
The three star pickets also works as an anchor but as you said you need heavy duty ones and they can be a real pain to get out again.
If it's really stuck use a shovel... :-)
Cheers,
John.
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Reply By: mattandlana - Monday, Apr 25, 2005 at 10:16
Monday, Apr 25, 2005 at 10:16
We carry three star pickets wired under the roofrack. I've read several times that 3 in series makes a very strong anchor (knock them in on an angle, bottom towards the car, winch from bottom of first one, top of first one tied off ot bottom of second one, etc).
Never had to use them because we try not to get bogged thesedays. Anyone done so?
Could extract them with the hi-lift jack if necessary I guess.
matt
AnswerID:
108071
Follow Up By: Richard - Monday, Apr 25, 2005 at 13:49
Monday, Apr 25, 2005 at 13:49
yeah. same trip as mentioned earlier, but earlier that day. worked a treat after a bit of fine tuning. i only had lightweight ones though, bent and mangled 3 and broke one, hence the reason i got stuck later... had no usable ones left, now carry 10 heavy duty ones. anyway i thought the reference was to those 'anchors' that look like a boat anchor, seen them advertised in mags etc. i asked someone once how do you get them out and was told 'with the vehicle pulling in opposite direction to winch pull', simple enough if you get out in one go.
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Follow Up By: Richard - Monday, Apr 25, 2005 at 13:54
Monday, Apr 25, 2005 at 13:54
'same as mentioned earlier' as in up the page a bit
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