I just took my maasdam apart to try to beat the handle back in place after folding it. On the center axle, I found a chewed up bushing, and the drum had a crack in it. It's alright for fence pulling, and other low impact/consequence duties, but I wouldn't trust it for any critical pulls in treework. Y'all might want to break your units down and give them a once over. None of the defects could be seen while assembled.
Maasdam Users - Inspect Your Puller
- Thread starter lxskllr
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gf beranek
Old Schooler
I wore out a number of those pullers over the years.
You use to be able to buy parts for them, I recall.
I remember the pawls use to break. Cast Iron.
When I worked with the phone company they tossed any puller with a bent handle. They said it was a sign the puller was maxed-out. I suppose.
You use to be able to buy parts for them, I recall.
I remember the pawls use to break. Cast Iron.
When I worked with the phone company they tossed any puller with a bent handle. They said it was a sign the puller was maxed-out. I suppose.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
The handle can be replaced for about half the cost of a puller. The working guts is within spitting range of a whole new puller. I was contemplating getting a new handle for this, but after seeing the other damage, it'll just be used for non critical stuff. They're pretty cheap anyway for the work they do. I can't really complain about the service it gave.
That sucks man, i hate breaking stuff. Any come along with a bent or broken handle should be removed from service, they are traditionally designed to have the handle fail as an overload protector for the chain so you won't drop the load. Once it's been overloaded to that point it can't be trusted until it's been rebuilt and inspected, you might be able to get replacement parts but it's usually cheaper, easier, and safer to simply buy new. If you find an old one with the hook cut off that's likely what happened to it.
Altissimus
TreeHouser
Agree ...
flushcut
TreeHouser
That sounds exactly how my puller failed. It had a good life and didn't owe me anything.
Patrick A
Treehouser
Thanks for the info. What is the max pull force your masddam have? I remember only finding a 1200lbs one and thinking it was low but after 4 years, it has met all pulling needs.
Altissimus
TreeHouser
eventually I skipped the Rope Puller completely , favoring the cable pullers attached to my ropes
tirfor winch?
Altissimus
TreeHouser
Tirfor is the big dog but have a couple of others as well , small and medium size hand winches ... when needed the Tirfor is always worth the effort to set up. Tend to use Gibbs Ascender from the hook to the the pull line , quick and easy to take out the sag and make the most of cable length ... also have Blocks for all the Cable and Ropes when need.
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Those would be amazing but come with a hefty price tag. In construction where overhead rigging is the norm pretty much all you see are chain ones, their ease of use and ability to tolerate abuse makes them the preferred version. They are very affordable and come in all sorts of sizes, and since a come along is lighter and easier toI use a 3/4 ton one with a 20' chain for my hand pull trees, if it's not gonna tip over in 20 feet of pull i have bigger problems 
They also work great for pulling failed trees back together, and for guying limbs that you'll likely overload while working. Chain falls work great too, they just don't have a free spool so it takes longer to set up, but if you have a longer way to go the ease of operating a pull chain vs the lever on a come along makes the chain fall usually the preferred tool for longer stroke operations. One thing to be sure to remember with come alongs and falls is that the load is held by the brakes when you come down, and a come along will free spool when slack is introduced while it's in lowering mode. So for safety you go down past what you want, then tighten it back to the desired length so that the pawls are engaged to hold the load securely.
They also work great for pulling failed trees back together, and for guying limbs that you'll likely overload while working. Chain falls work great too, they just don't have a free spool so it takes longer to set up, but if you have a longer way to go the ease of operating a pull chain vs the lever on a come along makes the chain fall usually the preferred tool for longer stroke operations. One thing to be sure to remember with come alongs and falls is that the load is held by the brakes when you come down, and a come along will free spool when slack is introduced while it's in lowering mode. So for safety you go down past what you want, then tighten it back to the desired length so that the pawls are engaged to hold the load securely.
Altissimus
TreeHouser
Much easier for me to trust than than the Maasdam which depending on the Rope could and would slip some ...
tirfors come in different sizes, 500kg pull till 5 t i think. i own a 800 kg and a 3,5 t one. i bought both second hand quite cheap but i guess they are more common in europe.
also the wire rope for the 3,5 t tirfor is on the annoying side of things
@Altissimus what kind of loads are you putting on your gibbs ascenders? will they not sever the rope?
also the wire rope for the 3,5 t tirfor is on the annoying side of things
@Altissimus what kind of loads are you putting on your gibbs ascenders? will they not sever the rope?
Altissimus
TreeHouser
Yeah , Tirfor I have is 5 Ton ... the Gibbs really saves time when pulling several stems same day , if it's just one or two heavy pulls I'll often just hitch the hook to the rope as running out of cable isn't generally a problem , more often used with the small and medium pullers ... agree on the Tirfor cable as mine came used as well , has a mind of it's own
BlackSmith
Uncivil
Love to have a tirfor that doesn’t need a proprietary wire rope.
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gf beranek
Old Schooler
"Love to have a tirfor that doesn’t need a proprietary wire rope."
Really? I had no idea.
Really? I had no idea.
BlackSmith
Uncivil
Mine are Griphoist brand. Only their cable will work or so I’m told.
SeanKroll
Treehouser
I had to get some heavy logs up a big hill, similar in strain to what you where up against on that oak (IIRC) log with end bind, perhaps. Were you pulling downhill or pushing against something like a stump for max pull on your Maasdam? Or was the overload from a different use?
Fwiw, some chaps, another rope flaked across the load line, or other dampener would be wise to use with that heavy of pulling. Treemaster 1/2" is around 6000# MBS, from what I recall, so 1500# WLL on the Maasdam is only a 4:1 safety factor on the rope, without deducting for knots/ bends.
I was able to spin the choke of the rope around the log that was too heavy for me to mini-loader yard up the hill, directly. It made all the difference, rolling versus skidding.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #20
I folded the handle on the oak by digging in, and cranking back on it with everything I've got. I've had it pretty close to folding a few other times doing similar things. You can feel the handle get weird in your hand when you're getting close.
Yea, I should have weighted the line, but I didn't. I always do it when pulling with vehicles or something like that, but seldom with the maasdam. I should. You're right in the line of fire cranking on that thing.
Yea, I should have weighted the line, but I didn't. I always do it when pulling with vehicles or something like that, but seldom with the maasdam. I should. You're right in the line of fire cranking on that thing.
SeanKroll
Treehouser
I had a rope-hinged sheet of plywood cut into 4 pieces as a chip catcher, for onsite chipping, and as a stump grinding screen. Once, I fed the rope through the seems to skid out some logs which would have been way easier with rolling it out of the brush.
I figured out on that job, that rolling logs tend to go off of a straight line, and rolling them up on to a piece of wood at the balance point makes it easy to keep it going down the side of the house to the street by occasional adjustment. I'd figured out a bit before that time, that its possible to spin a good-sized log 180 degrees if you balance it on a piece of wood. Luckily, a chainsaw is just what you need to shape a piece of wood, if you don't have a good one readily available.
Rolling keeps the bark way cleaner for milling. When you go to mill a log, using a small chainsaw as a debarker on the bar-nose side, will help your milling chain stay sharper.
I figured out on that job, that rolling logs tend to go off of a straight line, and rolling them up on to a piece of wood at the balance point makes it easy to keep it going down the side of the house to the street by occasional adjustment. I'd figured out a bit before that time, that its possible to spin a good-sized log 180 degrees if you balance it on a piece of wood. Luckily, a chainsaw is just what you need to shape a piece of wood, if you don't have a good one readily available.
Rolling keeps the bark way cleaner for milling. When you go to mill a log, using a small chainsaw as a debarker on the bar-nose side, will help your milling chain stay sharper.
gf beranek
Old Schooler
Tifor has been around for a long time. I always thought they were rated by their line size, which I long assumed was standard 5 /16, 3/8/, 1/2 inch.
Proprietary branding is often the same as standard issue, but sells at a higher price.
Proprietary branding is often the same as standard issue, but sells at a higher price.
thats what i always thought
The Tirfor originated in Schweiz.
The Patent was bought by Tractel, and manufactured from the end of the 40es on.
Somehow the patent wasn't strong enough, one story I've heard is that the inventor started producing winches on his own.
That would be the Habegger winch, produced in Thun, Schweiz, of which I have one.
It is indistinguishable from my original Tirfor.
There is also the Eureca bear pull, which is again a Tirfor copy.
They are of equal quality as far as I can tell.
When I logged in Schweiz, the locals swore the Habegger was by far the best.................I worked just outside Thun
The Patent was bought by Tractel, and manufactured from the end of the 40es on.
Somehow the patent wasn't strong enough, one story I've heard is that the inventor started producing winches on his own.
That would be the Habegger winch, produced in Thun, Schweiz, of which I have one.
It is indistinguishable from my original Tirfor.
There is also the Eureca bear pull, which is again a Tirfor copy.
They are of equal quality as far as I can tell.
When I logged in Schweiz, the locals swore the Habegger was by far the best.................I worked just outside Thun
Marc-Antoine
TreeHouser
Then there are the china versions, much cheaper and easily found on ebay and amazon. Not quite as durable as the nice brands, but do the job and good enough for an occasional use.
I have a 0.8 and a 3.2 tons.
I take the Massdam rope puller only as a 0.4 ton. By construction, it has a 10:1 MA, I guess my own pulling power horizontaly should be around 90 lbs on the handle, and that coincidentaly begins to dammage the rope at this point. I didn't bend a handle yet (beside a tree falling on it), but for me, no, not 1,5 klbs. It is so convenient to setup tough, that I use it most of the time.
The cable itself of the tirefor and the global weight make it a hassle to setup, but you can really count on it. The pulling force is what it is, but the sens of security is unmatched by the rope puller or the ratcheted ones in general. In my feeling at least.
The cable is particular in the sens of it has a more densily packed construction and a smoothness on the outside. It has to sustain a severe crunching by the internal jaws, not just pulling. So it has less void inside, a steel core instead of a fibrous one and a compressed surface. Downside, the cable is way less souple than the average cable. But I guess that the industry uses the same type of cable in other applications.
I have a 0.8 and a 3.2 tons.
I take the Massdam rope puller only as a 0.4 ton. By construction, it has a 10:1 MA, I guess my own pulling power horizontaly should be around 90 lbs on the handle, and that coincidentaly begins to dammage the rope at this point. I didn't bend a handle yet (beside a tree falling on it), but for me, no, not 1,5 klbs. It is so convenient to setup tough, that I use it most of the time.
The cable itself of the tirefor and the global weight make it a hassle to setup, but you can really count on it. The pulling force is what it is, but the sens of security is unmatched by the rope puller or the ratcheted ones in general. In my feeling at least.
The cable is particular in the sens of it has a more densily packed construction and a smoothness on the outside. It has to sustain a severe crunching by the internal jaws, not just pulling. So it has less void inside, a steel core instead of a fibrous one and a compressed surface. Downside, the cable is way less souple than the average cable. But I guess that the industry uses the same type of cable in other applications.
