Making a ground anchor where none exists

emr

emr

Cheesehead Treehouser
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Nov 5, 2006
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Location
Neenah, Wisconsin
Sometimes you want to fell a tree in a specific direction and you need to pull hard but there is no suitable anchor to use, so what do you do?

In the past I have used a floating anchor where I string a rope between two trees. One end is tied off to a tree and the other is anchored with a porty. I have tied a prussic to slide along the rope to the correct a pull line and fiddle block to. This works for me but I am always nervous about how much pull this setup can actually handle. One variation that I saw in the TCIA Rigging book was to use a large rescue figure eight instead of the prussic.

I am working needing what other options there are out there. I think earth anchors would work but they are a pain to put in and take out. I also remember seeing some people will drive several pieces of pipe into the ground and lash them together and use that as an anchor but that really seems to be time consuming.

It would be great if someone could invent an anchor that we could use to pull trees with and maybe even rig off of.
 
The military has specs in thier old rigging manuals, You can as you say drive rebar into the ground and lash them together, Different amounts and depths as well as lashing methods will provide different strengths.

We use the screw in ones with a simple auger on the bottom, about 3 or 4 feet long. Have use them for pull anchors and redirects on truck pulls. The boss puts em in like this /l with the rope attached to both and the direction of pull to the right. I like em like this /-/ with the pull towrads the right and the back one backing up the front one. The dash indicates a tightened strand from the back to the front
 
bonner1040 said:
The military has specs in thier old rigging manuals, You can as you say drive rebar into the ground and lash them together, Different amounts and depths as well as lashing methods will provide different strengths.

We use the screw in ones with a simple auger on the bottom, about 3 or 4 feet long. Have use them for pull anchors and redirects on truck pulls. The boss puts em in like this /l with the rope attached to both and the direction of pull to the right. I like em like this /-/ with the pull towrads the right and the back one backing up the front one. The dash indicates a tightened strand from the back to the front
Click to expand...
That's a picket anchor out lined in The Working Climber series 2 and it works well for hard pulls.
 
Screw anchors work, they are a bear to put in and take out. Duckbill anchors work good as well and are much easier to install. You can leave them there when you are finished if you please, just cut the cable off below the surface of the lawn.
 
Some picket anchor options:
 

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Thanks for the pic. Maybe because it's unfamiliar to me but I would have a hard time really pulling with that set up.
 
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  • #12
I like those Duckbill things. The models 68 and 88 have good holding at 1100 and 3000lbs. Might look into those.
 
That picket arrangement can be hell-for-stout. I've built a couple, used heavy duty T posts...worked like a charm, 5 or 6 posts...just keep the back ties low and the anchor point at ground level.

I used one to take the end of the cable on my Warn truck mounted winch, run down a very steep and rocky slope to a block chained to a Chevy S-10 upside down in a river, back up to the winch. Pulled that little truck out and up through the boulders no real trouble...beat the snot out of it, though. But the picket held!
 
Burnham said:
That picket arrangement can be hell-for-stout. I've built a couple, used heavy duty T posts...worked like a charm, 5 or 6 posts...just keep the back ties low and the anchor point at ground level.

I used one to take the end of the cable on my Warn truck mounted winch, run down a very steep and rocky slope to a block chained to a Chevy S-10 upside down in a river, back up to the winch. Pulled that little truck out and up through the boulders no real trouble...beat the snot out of it, though. But the picket held!
Click to expand...

I bet it did "beat the snot out of it" :lol:

+1 on the T-posts, B. FWIW: I put together a very simple T-post 'puller' by linking a slip hook to a grab hook {5/16}. Put the grab hook on the T-post and run a digging bar through the slip hook. Pry up on the bar and the grab hook progressively catches the nubs of the post and I can 'Jack' the post right out of the ground.

Works good, cheap, light, easy to carry, easy to use and easy to lose :)
 

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I saw a house mover move a house using 4 old truck axles driven in the ground and chained off like that picket line deal . He had an old Dodge winch truck that must have came over on the Mayflower with a flat head 6 engine .Must have had a thousand to one reduction on that winch . I don't think it moved more than an inch in 5 minutes .
 
bonner1040 said:
Is that from the army rigging manual? I had a 1970 edition that looked just like that... Had cool diagrams about to cut a spar and winch it up in a field, you would guy it out and make a gin pole with it... Pretty cool stuff.
Click to expand...

Here's a current link:
Field Manual 5-125 - Chapter 4, Anchors and Guy Lines, Figure 4-5. Picket holdfasts (loamy soils)

The parent link {with links to other FM's}:
Field Manual 5-125 - Rigging Techniques, Procedures, and Application

The gin poles you refer to are in FM 5-125, Chapter 5

Lots & lots of "Pretty cool stuff." Enjoy! :D
 
emr said:
Sometimes you want to fell a tree in a specific direction and you need to pull hard but there is no suitable anchor to use, so what do you do?

In the past I have used a floating anchor where I string a rope between two trees. One end is tied off to a tree and the other is anchored with a porty. I have tied a prussic to slide along the rope to the correct a pull line and fiddle block to. This works for me but I am always nervous about how much pull this setup can actually handle. One variation that I saw in the TCIA Rigging book was to use a large rescue figure eight instead of the prussic.
Click to expand...

As long as there's a good tree, you can just use a rigging block as a re-direct and adjust the length of the tether, and then pull with equipment. Simple set up and very effective... shown at 2:20 below


<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/plEfr6XGZd4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #21
Thanks but that's not how I roll. And if I could get equipment to the tree, I would just hook on the a truck and attach a fiddle block or my new GRCS truck mount.
 
emr said:
In the past I have used a floating anchor where I string a rope between two trees. One end is tied off to a tree and the other is anchored with a porty. I have tied a prussic to slide along the rope to the correct a pull line and fiddle block to. This works for me but I am always nervous about how much pull this setup can actually handle. One variation that I saw in the TCIA Rigging book was to use a large rescue figure eight instead of the prussic.

I am working needing what other options there are out there. I think earth anchors would work but they are a pain to put in and take out.
Click to expand...

Having some sort of earth anchor that was easy to set and remove would be a great addition to the tool box.. If you are going to set up a system anchored to two trees, its going to be faster, safer and stronger to simply use a redirect rigging block positioned on an adjustable tether anchored to the first tree, and then use your fiddle blocks, rope come along, GRCS, or other pulling system on the second tree.. The idea of setting a fig 8 midline between two trees is ridiculous, and a other perfect example of why I thought the A&S of practical rigging was a complete waste of $$$.
 
I guess the above post is a perfect example of what makes me such an argumentative fellow... This is an extremely important tool to have available for pulling heavy backleaners and such.. Being able to dial in exactly the angle of the pull line is crucial. Combine that with the pulling power of a heavy truck or loader, and you can take some big heavy back leaners with 100% confidence!
 
Well you know you can cut it up,slice it 40 ways to Sunday and use any fancy riggens you want to, skid loader or no .When it all gets down to the basics it's just simple physics the rules and laws of same have never changed in all of recorded history .

You gotta use what you got and nearly every situation is different .What works in Alaska or Philly will work just as well in Oslo ,Nottingham or Toledo Ohio .

An anchor is an anchor an immovable object for all intents .The base of a stout tree works just as good as the hitch of a D8 Cat or the anchor of the USS New Jersey .Just whatever you can find ,the battle ship anchor of course is not really practical .

I for one adhere and subscribe to the KISS theory --keep --it --simple --stupid
 
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