Any trick methods of small tree removal in lieu of a Brush Grubber?

Robert P

TreeHouser
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
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From what I see Brush Grubbers work, thinking about ordering a couple of different sizes, wondering if there's any method you know of for pulling out small trees/root balls that works about as well to save on the expense of buying a Brush Grubber or two?
 
Need the roots out? Pull with truck & chain directly, skip the trinket. (A good bull rope or ratchet strap could substitute for the attachment to the trunk instead of the gadget.) Otherwise, flush cut + drip or few of Tordon.

Mechanical advantage could be your best friend on larger diameters:
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We use these blocks in our rigging efforts. Do you have a Maasdam?
 
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Need the roots out? Pull with truck & chain directly, skip the trinket. (A good bull rope or ratchet strap could substitute for the attachment to the trunk instead of the gadget.) Otherwise, flush cut + drip or few of Tordon.
The thing is getting the chain to grip the trunk hard enough to pull it and not slip - which of course is what the Grubber does.

On the trunks big enough, I'm thinking cutting a notch with a chainsaw that a loop of chain would catch on would work. I don't have a lot of them to do, probably fewer than 20.
 
Are you good at rigging knots? You should be able to create sufficient friction to grab the sapling and not slip, esp. if tied off in 2 places on the trunk (higher up and at the base).
 
Cut the stump low,sprinkle it with powdered milk,cover it with a tarp for about a week .Uncover it .The mushrooms will eat it up in a year or two .
 
By the time you buy 2 Brush Grubbers, you could just rent a mini excavator for a few hours or full day and pull them out, dig them out if needed. Or buy a winch, as Burnham recommended -- Harbor Freight has some cheap ones. Depends on what you want to invest in and what you have to work with (4x4 truck? Small tractor?).
 
We were initially going to call our business Arbor Frieght, but figured we would get sued or cease-and-desisted right away.
 
God bless Harbor Freight!!!

If it’s something you need once, I’ll agree. Daily use is a no go. Of course I’m still using tape measures from ten years ago that were bought there. My brother gave me a dozen of them for Christmas one year. He had a coupon that made them a buck a piece.
 
The thing about a good winch installation is, it offers pretty much unlimited options for useful applications to arb work. None of those other things do.
 
If it's something you need once {from Harbor Freight}, I'll agree. Daily use is a no go.
For sure that's our take on things -- great for infrequently used tools, or disposable applications. We have this 1" air impact from them, use it about 2x a year and it works just great for that frequency of application. Why tie up $500 in a better brand one for that level of use?
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But we're not likely to buy a Harbor Freight winch for our trucks, as we would want something 100% dependable for pulling trees over or rigging use in our demanding work applications. So like Burnham suggested, we'd go with a Warn winch. But for Robert's application, I think that would be good bang for his buck.
 
An appropriately sized chain, with many wraps/ turns should grab onto a lot.

A sawzall goes a long way, and a cutter mattock, as well.
 
Put an electric fence around the area, set some wild boars loose and after a couple of weeks you can pull those trees and scrubs out by hand.

Then toss the boars on the grill.
 
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