Block and Tackle / 5 to 1 Tutorial | Mechanical Advantage system

Everything you need to know about setting up and using a Fiddle Block / 5:1 mechanical advantage hauling system for tree work. I put together 6 different systems and tested them all to see how much pull I could generate, and what their efficiency ratings were.
In this video:
00:00 Intro
01:37 Is it a 5:1 or a 4:1?
05:17 What do you need for a 5:1
10:51 Setting it up
24:00 Testing the units
Here's the final efficiency ratings:
Unit 1: CMI 2" Double Pulleys - 4.90 : 1
Unit 2: SMC AdvanceTech HX - 4.39 : 1
Unit 3: WesSpur Set of Fours - 4.24 : 1
Unit 4: Shaefer Marine Fiddle Block - 4.23 : 1
Unit 5: CMI 2" with Pinto - 4.54 : 1
Unit 6: Frankenstein - 4.33 : 1
"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master." - Ernest Hemingway
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- Patrick

[@Woodrats272xp]

Great explanation Patrick. Thanks again for sharing.💪 Keep it safe.

[@thepowerwithin2217]

You're a major influence in the tree world. I and many appreciate all that you do. 🙏

[@TreeMuggs_PatrickM]

All the best - Patrick

[@claytonclark8389]

I really appreciate your videos. This one is the bomb.

[@josephearl]

Thanks so much!

[@ajhobert]

Thank you for making your videos, I have learned so much from you over the last few weeks. I've been cutting trees since I could barely lift a saw and I'm still learning. We bought a camp lot and I'm preparing myself for the many mature pines that need to come down from the top. I'm 55, the climb scares me less than my lack of knowledge when securing a base knot. Thanks again for all the hours you must put into these videos.

[@ajhobert]

I meant a base anchor.

[@DDXY2K]

Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge, Patrick. 👊👊

[@DDXY2K]

Ti bloc helps too.🙂

[@howarddavidiii6171]

Thanks for this great tutorial, well explained . Cleared up some of My misconceptions.

[@DjeehBear]

Thank you so much for top quality comprehensive content. Once again learnt so much for you sharing with us. Keep it up Patrick. Wishes of good health to you and your family.

[@tedjohn441]

Thank you for taking the time to make this video I am sure it was allot of work!!!!!

[@creationcoach2703]

Thanks for the tests. I've wanted to see measured tests on these types of setups.

[@langmussen3169]

Thank you Patrick. This took time and I appreciate it. You're videos, depicting your expertise and technique, are fantastic! Happy New Year.

[@dcvariousvids8082]

You explained some things I’ve wondered about for a while; and introduced me to the Beckett. At the moment I use a homemade pull-kit, with two double pulleys. I put it together for occasional use for hedging. Mainly to pull trimmed or part trim stem/s, through a small thorn or visa-versa that I wish to keep upright but would get in the way of the hedge line. Sometimes the pleaches can be bent around, (if the’re not whole trees) but this tends to put the pleach and the upright against each other. So in wind, they’d end up rubbing bark-on-bark. Not really good for either in the longterm. Sometimes a small thin stem, can be temporarily pulled askew, a slight kink formed in the hedge and when the stem is released, the hedge bends around the tree but keeps the general line, while allowing the tree to be free of future rubbing. I recently used the kit, to help pull a large hazel against lean while coppicing. It did help get the tree over where I wanted. Though not using a static rope, made for perhaps more pulling. As I said, I originally made the kit for hedging, where manoeuvrability of the pleach, is often more desirable, than just pulling in one direction. So the use of rope with a bit of give, can be an advantage. But I think I’ll add pulleys with Becketts in future. Thank you for a great presentation.

[@CryptSak]

Great video. I find 5:1 is best when you have like 3 guys pulling. If I'm in a solo situation or I have one person pulling when I'm cutting, I always go with a 40:1 come along. Yet this stuff is good to know. 👍

[@neild7971]

extending the system fully can be awkward if the pull line is at a steep angle or the pull is on a slope where the line is soon too high to reach the prusik. i sometimes base tie and pull to extend the 5-1 up before fixing the pull line at the base. simple but can save resetting as the tree is tettering on its hinge.

[@DavidBoschGR]

Thanks for these carefully measured field measurements. I've been over estimating the amount of pull that I have been achieving by quite a bit. Thankfully, I can add two, and even three, workers into the system much of the time.

[@TreeMuggs_PatrickM]

Yeah same here, I don't really use the fiddle block without at least a 2nd person

[@abeltoomowlawncarecompany8481]

Cool you know I just bought one of those blue CMI pulley I just got one however and I I had from before Chrome double pulley 2in I do want to get another blue cmi , I guess for looks, I guess I think it'll work better too...

[@tedjohn441]

I work alone or with one other person. I use the Masdam rope puller. I would like to see the force that will pull compared to a 5:1. I never saw a use for a 5:1 unless you are going to lift something. The good one's are pretty expensive. I have also used a come along to get more pull. The downside to that is you have to have a very strong rope and a thick prusik as well.

[@MapStats]

Thank you for great information. Given medium sized trees and lean, what rope specifications, including diameter and breaking strength, are recommended within the fiddle block system and for the main rope connected to the tree?

[@dgoodman1484]

Love the content. Lines ales are so awesome because it allows you to actually test what’s going on in the real world and not just rely on mathematical formulas (which aren’t necessarily wrong but most often to simplified to give the true picture) At some point you have to test actual forces of a rope jack and maasdam. My whole system is set up for me to pull about 500 of force on a single strand but using the rope jack I don’t really know if I have an over engineered system or if it’s about to fail. They say a rope will be unsheathed at about a thousand lbs but how much cranking do you do to max out at about 500? 👍🏼👍🏼

[@CryptSak]

I find the weakest point in the system to be the prusik as long as you are pulling on a rope with 7,000 lbs breaking strength. The rope will begin to twist letting you know your getting close to point of the prusik slipping and melting the rope. 🤙

[@davidanglin4979]

It would be interesting to see how much effect pulley diameter has on efficiency. For example, a system comprised of only micro pulleys vs a system comprised of 2” or larger pulleys.

[@TreeMuggs_PatrickM]

Friction being equal, larger sheaves seem to be more efficient in my experience

[@ZEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO00]

How about demonstrating some rigging to pull large stumps......maybe 25:1 with a load of 15k pounds.

[@blackdotkiller1]

Is there a minimum distance between the top pully and the bottom one, or can they be linked together?

[@TreeMuggs_PatrickM]

The front pulley moves towards the back one as you tension. Once they butt up to each other then you can't tension any more...

[@sandycharlton8669]

I like my 5 to 1 system,s to have a prusik because when the mechanical system wear,s out you throw away the whole system when my prusik wears out I only replace the prusik. I don,t like fiddel blocks they break and are not durable.

[@abeltoomowlawncarecompany8481]

Okay so my question is do you think five people save five people your size can pull more than that and I'm talking about the first demonstration with the blue CMI double pulleys

[@TreeMuggs_PatrickM]

Yes for sure

[@neild7971]

@@TreeMuggs_PatrickM you said 400 as opposed to 170x5. did you try more static and dynamic ropes and different diameters?