#1 Pulling Stumps With Snatch Blocks Pulleys and 30:1 Mechanical Advantage.

This is the first video of many where I'll be pulling stumps with my tractor and a bunch of snatch blocks.

[@johnhenderson8360]

I like every bit of your rigging the pulleys but two things. Take advantage of your tall stump and hook up closer to the top and it will act like a lever against the back roots, pulling them first. Second, when putting the chain around the stump, its ok to wrap it once or twice, but the slip hook should be hooked back to the main chain (like you did later) that way it won't spin around the tree as you pull.

[@verdantpulse5185]

Water the ground around the stump with a sprinkler for a couple hours the day before pulling. The holding power of the soil will go way down, maybe to half.

[@brainhomestead6]

In Videos after this I’ve started doing this. I was even able to pull a stump with just my wife and I pulling by hand.

[@alexcarr8503]

Just wanted to let you know there are some good videos on here about fatalities from heavily loading lines and cables. Some scary stuff but worth the look. Kinetic energy and lines when they break. Also the little bar on the front of your tractor is not for pulling. Light material will fold up if any heavy load is placed on it. The loader is much stronger to tie to. I use ropes and pullies in my tree service business. I appreciate the effort you put into sharing your knowledge with us. Thank you.

[@brainhomestead6]

With the compound systems, by the time I get to the pulling force on the tractor, it’s pretty light. I just pull at idle and it doesn’t even drop rpm’s on the tractor. I’m going to start using a damping force on the synthetic rope though just in case something bad happens. I can’t find a reasonable place on my loader to attach the rope, the front guard on my tractor is 1/2” steel, which is why I was using it. I need to drop the tiller of the back and just use the drawbar, the way it’s intended.

[@brainhomestead6]

I’m not sure if you’ve seen my other videos, but my #2 video after this one I broke a chain, so I don’t use chains any more.

[@johngodwin7902]

I plan to watch all of these. Just what I was looking for

[@brainhomestead6]

I really appreciate it! I try to do different setups, simple and compound. I have done 6 videos and have 7 more to go. Then I’m back to dropping trees first and pulling stumps after. I’m going to attempt to drop trees AND pull the stump at the same time… I have 50-60 more to do at least.

[@davethompson3252]

I usually soak the ground for a while before pulling. Then sometimes when it is half way out I’ll get as much dirt as possible off the root ball with a hoe and hose. Pressure washer works even better.

[@Jimmy-Legs]

Good tip.

[@dale5898]

You are the most powerful Man in the County!

[@brainhomestead6]

LOL, I’m taking over the world one stump at a time!

[@benkanobe7500]

Why did you only anchor to your tree half way up? You lost all that leverage by not going up near the top (of the stump).

[@brainhomestead6]

Because I was worried about not enough wood at the top for the notch I cut in it. On videos after this I did have problems with the wood breaking because I put it too close to the top.

[@Ice2Ice1]

Great video. Nice try o see you demonstrate this!

[@brainhomestead6]

Always fun to use pulleys and use the tractor.

[@trentphillips2077]

Good job buddy

[@brainhomestead6]

Thanks, man. I’m learning and getting better each time!

[@chasl2216]

I would have attached close to the top of stump for a big big advantage, I would also go around & pull the stump on both sides, for no slip & the chain × 2

[@brainhomestead6]

I definitely should have doubled up the chain. It’s hard for me to pull it from both sides because I don’t want to run the tractor through the lawn. The weird part about this stump was the tow straps I ended up using would slowly walk up to the top and almost popped off, not really sure why.

[@user-zx4qm3vu2x]

Lots of fun watching! SInce are planting fruit trees anyway one might consider just "top working" those ornamental pears with a culinary variety right onto the stump. Lot less $ and trouble. Just as interesting perhaps. Would get nice fruit pretty quick on those massive roots. Too late now obviously but other viewers might consider.

[@timwoodger7896]

And that’s why they invented stump grinders 😂

[@brainhomestead6]

LOL, I had a bunch ground down last year and they have been kicking off mushrooms intensely ever since. I dug down and the remnants were chock full of termites. So… I pull stumps now.

[@timwoodger7896]

@@brainhomestead6 I’m from the U.K. and know nothing of termites! But as for mushrooms, some people inoculate tree stumps with edible mushrooms to decompose the the stumps and as a bonus free food ! But each to their own I guess! You just wouldn’t catch me stretching a chain like that as they have the potential to take your head off or even cut you in half 💀

[@Jeff-rk8hq]

@@brainhomestead6the most tactful response ever whilst still destroying mr obvious’ less than helpful comment because as your past experience has shown stump grinders are only as good as the operator anf they do have limitations as well and then finding one to foot the bill is in itself a crapshoot. Excellent video though thanks for sharing your knowledge. And mr obvious I’m only giving you sh*t but try constructive criticism next time instead of the painfully obvious

[@donaldsmckenzie8227]

Kerosene the rest😅

[@mattmarzula]

​@@Jeff-rk8hqcouldn't hear anything relevant over that passive aggressive fanboy sucking sound. I could have removed this stump by hand with a shovel, an ax, and a come-along. Probably would have taken the same amount of time.

[@RyeOnHam]

Don't know if it's been mentioned before, but you could saturate the ground the day before to make it easier to pull.

[@brainhomestead6]

I did this for one, but in GA I’m in compacted clay so most runs off. I can kind of get it to work if I put it at a dribble for a couple of days. I usually wait until after a rain to pull.

[@bsrcat1]

Great job on understanding pulleys and mechanical and nice rigging 😁👍. Terrible understanding on how to rig chains though. If you make a slip loop with your chains, it will bridal the stump whenever you pull and continue to bite harder when the direction changes. Not downing because whatever works works, just saying there's easier ways to do a job.

[@brainhomestead6]

You’re right and I stopped using chains now in subsequent videos because straps are cheaper, lighter, and easier to deal with. Plus, I really don’t know about rigging chains correctly.

[@johnsellers9623]

First thing is that rope would have scared me enough to at least throw something over it incase it snapped. The other thing I was wondering is if you would have had better leverage putting the notch for the chain closer to the top of the stump?

[@Jamoni1]

Don't choke the stump once then wrap it. Wrap it two or three times, THEN hook it back to the chain. It'll avoid all that unwrapping it did.

[@noroomforgloom]

So it can be done. Pulleys, snatch’s, cable and chain systems it’s amazing and super interesting. Depending on force needed one can achieve the ability to do the smilingly impossible with even simple setups. Bottom line this can be extremely dangerous and destructive even if you know what you are doing. I’m lucky to be a (retired) heavy tactical career first responder and still alive to talk about it. Yeah, it can be done but I cannot even began to express how serious one should take and exercise safety and to know by educating one’s self and taking and practicing all necessary precautions. In the real world it can get very ugly in an instant, I know. Be careful out there!

[@brainhomestead6]

Thanks, I appreciate it. Fortunately, on compound systems, I’m always at the end of the third part of the compound system so it has the lowest tension and usually by the time it reaches maximum force, I’m 80-100’ away behind the tractor.

[@Ed-ym4tu]

Nice video, thanks for sharing. I've been working on the same project, but haven't wrapped my head around the rigging yet. It confuses me because the stump is the load, but at the same time it's a non moveable fixed point anchor in the rigging setup. I see a lot of setups where people are saying it's a 2:1 MA where I believe there is no MA, but the load is halved from the winch. Your setup looked good, but I don't want to invest that much in hardware. I've got a 16k winch and three pullies, I feel like that should be enough and would exceed the working load limits of my straps to go more.

[@brainhomestead6]

What clarifies it for me is when I do a force vector analysis of the system. This will show you whether there’s a MA or not at a given point or if it’s just a redirect pulley. I think my video #4 or #5 I had a bigger description at the beginning to explain it a little better.

[@dontdoit6986]

You'll want to have two of the pulleys on the main anchor and one pulley at the load. You run line through one of the anchors, then through the load pulley, through the second pulley on the anchor, and finally attached to the load. Tug from the beginning of your line. It's a 3/1 system.

[@Ed-ym4tu]

@@dontdoit6986 yep, thanks for getting back to me. I finally wrapped my head around it. Most of my confusion was coming from the fact most text book descriptions are for pulling loads and the focus is on reducing the force required to lift it. With stump removal we are more concerned about maximizing force on the stump. I have to think more about block and tackle setups for it to click.

[@fricknjeep]

hi there fun show i pulled a 40"did. oak with a winch . i was pulling 40,000 lbs . about 100 feet tall cabled it high . you may have seen the video , well done john

[@brainhomestead6]

Awesome, I’m pretty sure I have seen it. I watched a ton here before doing anything. BTW, how do you pull them down without destroying the rope? Doesn’t the tree fall on it and damage it? I have a bunch of 80-100’ that I need to drop and I’d like to save time and remove everything all at once.

[@fricknjeep]

@@brainhomestead6 hi i use steel wire rope 1/2 , john

[@brainhomestead6]

@@fricknjeep hmm, it looks like I’ll have to get some. Do you use a winch?

[@buggsy5]

You didn't need it for that first stump, but you lost a lot of the available leverage by chaining up at the middle instead of notching the far side of the top of the stump and attaching the chain there.

[@brainhomestead6]

For sure. I just rewatched this video yesterday and I noticed the same thing.

[@jolllyroger1]

To pull stumps look up KZbin videos stump pulling with a frame ... redirect the pull up with a frame and the stumps come out like 1/10th the effort

[@jolllyroger1]

Soak the soil overnight before pulling helps a lot too

[@jolllyroger1]

Why didn't you use the extract 2 times force you would get by chaining as high on the stump as possible

[@ghidfg]

do the two anchor trees combined share the same load being put on the stump? or is it somehow less because of the pulley system?

[@brainhomestead6]

It’s is less because the pulling force is less due to more anchor trees, but there’s also another component to this that I didn’t touch on in my video. In my normal 30:1 system, if I’m putting in 100lb of force, there’s 3000lb of force on the strap that connects to the stump, but there’s also 2400lb of force going to the first anchor tree. BUT, because the anchor tree and stump are anchored at one place (roots), this is creating a torque, so we need to look at this system in terms of torque as well. I usually put the anchor tree strap about 1’ above the ground, so the anchor tree would have (2400)(1)=2400ft*lb of torque on it. Whereas the stump I usually put the strap about 3’ up, so (3000)(3)=9000ft*lb of torque. So, as you can see, you can actually use a smaller tree as an anchor as long as you’re pulling a stump from a high enough position on the stump.

[@brianbowles3421]

Break the roots on the opposite side your pulling direction.

[@brainhomestead6]

I may have to do that when I get to the bigger trees. So far I’ve just been able to brute force my way through it.

[@mkenton3]

You said in your previous video that you would go over how you delt with the tab on the end of the lines. Looks like you put thimbles on the ends. Is that right?

[@brainhomestead6]

Yep, that’s right. They’re from a company called Factor 55 and the part is called The Splicer. I’m finishing the video on it right now and I’m going to upload it in a couple of hours.

[@brainhomestead6]

I’m uploading that video right now, should be up in 2 hours or less.

[@yaykruser]

I only pulled coniferes with my chain hoist, and they usually have 4-8 big roots and thats it. Interesting to see that this oak has thousands of small roots, wonder if the 5ton capacity would even be enought for a beast like this ... Will you film the other ones too ?

[@brainhomestead6]

You bet, I’m going to film all of them with different setups, maybe get a winch and set it up like you said. I have at least 30 stumps on my property, a video for each one.

[@yaykruser]

@@brainhomestead6 You bet I'm subscribing for that ;) Just keep in mind that a winch gets weaker the more you pull in, so those smaller ones that are close together are gonne be difficult to remove. Id say for those that are close together one of these cheap 6ton lever hoists would be a good option. Then again you would have to reset the hoist multiple times to pull the slack out of the line on longer operations-there is no optimal solution I guess. Cant wait to see how you get rid of them.😁

[@brainhomestead6]

@@yaykruser Most of them I have figured out, but I have at least 6 on my property that are going to be a challenge.

[@yaykruser]

@@brainhomestead6 What if you use your tractor as an anchor by wedging the fork in the ground and putting something infront of the tires?

[@brainhomestead6]

@@yaykruser that’s a good idea! I can do that and either get a winch or use the car to pull.

[@buggsy5]

Rather than getting a roll-off for everything: If you do not burn firewood yourself, there should be plenty of people around that would be happy to come and cut everything above the root ball off and haul it away for free.

[@brainhomestead6]

I can’t find anyone to take it. Most of it is pine so people won’t buy it to burn. The lumber mills and people who make wood chips won’t come out for fifteen trees. They want acres.

[@michaelangelo7511]

I would have hired a backhoe or excavator.

[@brainhomestead6]

If it was a one time thing that would be cheaper, but because this is a recurring expense it ends up being cheaper to buy the equipment.

[@Captain-Awesome]

If you want to make another one of these videos come to Dallas, Texas. I have a project where we have to clear some trees. Would you like to come and make a video?

[@brucemartini2288]

small "kerf" or notch near top of stump for strap to sit in, prevent it slipping off🤔

[@brainhomestead6]

I’ve started doing that on subsequent videos, but that has introduced other problems. Mostly that I’ve been breaking the top of the notch out.

[@yukonheart]

What do you use for rope or cable ??

[@brainhomestead6]

I use 3/8” synthetic winch rope. It feels like plastic, but has a 23,000lb break strength.

[@BeowulfNode]

Having the chain on the stump being pulled, unwinding looked concerning. Should he have instead, had the chain go from the pulley, wrap around the tree a few times, come off the other side of the stump than the first side, then put the hook on the pulley, or hook on the to the first side of the chain?

[@brainhomestead6]

The chain broke on the link the hook was attached to. I think if I use chain again I’ll make sure to do multiple passes to spread the load on more of the chain. It broke in video #2, and video #3 I switched to tow straps instead of chains and I like that way much better.

[@BeowulfNode]

@@brainhomestead6 In the first video, it looked like you had the chain hooked around the tree, then with the single remaining end wrapped it around the tree a few times, then took that single end to the pulley? If so then I can see how that would just unwind the wraps around the trunk until it got to the single loop around the trunk.

[@brainhomestead6]

@@BeowulfNode close, I wrapped the chain around the tree a few times and hooked it. Then on the pulley end, I fed the hook through the shackle/pulley combo and used the hook to attach to itself to make a loop. Right at that point where the chain broke in the second video was where the chain hooked to itself and caused cross-loading. The hook broke the link it was attached to.

[@brianermeling2764]

Chain needs to be at the top of tree to pull

[@brainhomestead6]

Yeah, this one came out alright, but my video #2 shows my chain snapping and launching the snatch blocks at the camera, but didn’t do any real damage. After that I switched to tow straps instead of chains.

[@johnpierce6025]

and you were worried about what ur tractor was gonna do to ur lawn lol

[@brainhomestead6]

I did end up tearing up my lawn a bit more than intended, but I planted a grass that spreads aggressively, so hopefully it grows back together in the next year or two.

[@jkmcp45]

Dyneema rope doesn’t throw hardware like other ropes if it breaks you should of choked that stump alot higher right over the top for better leverage Take a bar and bar the roots out

[@brainhomestead6]

Yeah, I’ve gotten a lot of tips on these videos and I appreciate all of them! The video #2 after this one, I broke a chain and I switched to tow straps instead of chains. I was able to use the tractor and get the roots mostly removed. In the subsequent videos, I’ve started pulling higher on the stump.

[@JamesDavis-pv1hh]

Anyone else think this guy sounds like mr garrison from South Park ?

[@brainhomestead6]

LOL, I’ve never been told that before.

[@smctree]

Hate to say it, but for the price spent on all that wonderful rigging gear, you could've rented a brand new grinder! Knock out your stumps with plenty of time left to do all your neighbors too!

[@brainhomestead6]

The problem with grinding here is the remaining roots turn into termite colonies. I grinded a bunch two years ago and now they’re rotting underground and I’m getting pits all through the yard where stumps used to be.

[@smctree]

@@brainhomestead6 Good point. Besides that, you probably got to a rewarding "I told you I could do it!" with the wife.😀

[@brainhomestead6]

@@smctree believe it or not she doesn’t really pay attention to what I buy. She’s usually the one holding the camera so she knows what I bought. I think she was probably waiting to see if it worked before giving me a hard time!

[@johnschoen703]

Just goto the town hardware store and get some TNT

[@brainhomestead6]

If it wasn’t so close to the house, tannerite would definitely be a fun experiment!

[@stever7638]

Nice set up well done… but I have to ask, where's the line breakage dampers?

[@brainhomestead6]

I saw those, and for safety, I know I should still use them, but I’m using synthetic rope which stores way less energy than steel cables. My #2 video a chain broke and although nothing bad happened, my dog was out running around and I realized how bad it could have been because there was a good amount of recoil from the broken chain as you can see from the video. I don’t use chains anymore either, I switched to tow straps since they’re more robust and hold less potential energy than chains do.

[@randythomas3478]

Damper blankets are missing! DANGER! WARNING!

[@brainhomestead6]

I know, a whole bunch of people have scolded me on that. I’ll make sure they’re on for next pull.

[@emonsahariar9292]

I just don't know why the stump puller people doesn't use kinetic energy from their vehicle with a much cheaper pulley system.

[@brainhomestead6]

Good question. There are a few reasons. The first reason is that things go wrong sometimes and you need to have time to react. Another reason is because it’s much harder on the vehicle to do it that way. If you use a higher kinetic pulling force, that means there’s a higher potential energy in the system initially, and if something breaks, the cables/pulleys/shackles come flying out with WAAAAY more momentum.

[@emonsahariar9292]

@@brainhomestead6 I appreciate your reply.

[@larryhearell9580]

because they have some idea of what can go wrong and you don't have a clue.

[@jasontaylor2035]

Well for the money you spent on ropes and pulleys couldn't you just rent a Stump grinder? Plus your pulling up the root wad and now you have to fill them voids.

[@brainhomestead6]

I could have rented a stump grinder several time probably, but I had some grinded 2 years ago and that has created several problems. First, the remaining roots turn in to terminate havens. Second, all of the roots left eventually rot and starts collapsing, leaving craters in the lawn. It also kicks off mushrooms like mad and I lose a few trees every year, so I would have to perpetually rent a stump grinder or buy one outright which would cost way more than this rigging equipment.

[@captainkirk1745]

Why didn't you go with tractor instead of risking lawn mower clitcjes/hydrostatic dives? Tractor FIRST!

[@brainhomestead6]

It was more of a test and I was curious. I don’t like using the tractor first because these are on the lawn and the tractor leaves deep tracks in the lawn. Once I get to the back part of the property, I can use the tractor first all the time!

[@dale5898]

Archimedes???

[@brainhomestead6]

I’m no where near that smart!

[@tpep1693]

That chain needs to be rigged different.

[@brainhomestead6]

Yep, in the #2 video after this one I snapped it. Starting at video #3, I went to tow straps again. I need to find better quality chain. I’m lucky it didn’t break here.

[@ridermak4111]

1. Put a 12” carbide tooth demolition blade in your sawzall and cut the roots that it will reach in a 3-4’ diameter circle. 2. Along that same circle, dig a moat trench 8-10” deep and run a dribble hose of water for 24-48 hours. 3. Add the rig below and you might not need any pulleys. Although it is in a different form, when you get the angles just right there is tremendous MA to be had. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ppTGpnSLg9yZrZo

[@brainhomestead6]

But then what would I do with all of this rigging equipment?!?!

[@user-bp6yw1ge8d]

Boreing

[@brainhomestead6]

Thanks!