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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Brian www.mibservices.co.uk on September 24, 2011 at 13:03

I use a long strong rope and pull it out via my tow bar on my van or pickup with a banks man in place for instructions on stopping and pulling and watching for pedestrians and traffic.

Works a treat provided you are close enough to the job in hand which by the sounds of i you will be. Or use a winch attached to your vehicle, you can hire them from most plant and tool hire.

Regards

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Permalink Reply by Steven Whitaker on September 24, 2011 at 13:05

I thought about this but wondered how professional it would look!  Beats hiring a digger I suppose......

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Brian www.mibservices.co.uk on September 24, 2011 at 13:13

Iv used diggers for this as well, both "techniques" work equally well, but a digger will add to the price of the job and for the sake of a small amount of hedging you are pulling, then it would be the tow rope and tow bar I'd choose, as long as you can banks the pull out.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Phil Voice on September 24, 2011 at 13:38

Hi Steven

 

You say 6m. I assume you mean length and not height?. How big are the stems?

 

I bought a winch (exactly the same as this one) very early on and used it for about 15 years before I had to replace it (due to cable fraying). It's a simple winch but extremely powerful and I've pulled out some hefty stuff with it. 

 

I paid £9.00 for my first winch from Blackbushe market in about 1985. They are a bit more expensive now but you could still get your money back in just one job.

 

Either anchor the winch to the base of a mature tree or to the tow hitch of a vehicle. I used a strop each end (or a long chain one end) so that the winch was always at a comfortable height to work.

 

Put the strop as high up as you can using a self tightening loop around several stems: by anchoring it low and then placing the loop as high as you can it increases the leverage.

 

As you start to pull, use a grub axe to sever the side roots as they become taught. As a few roots start to give way the process speeds up. 

 

A lot depends on the size of the provett.

 

We also hired in several types of winches depending on what we were doing (although I think there's fairly strict rules on how a winbch is used now).

 

Of course there's always a mini excavator - probably something I'd always opt for now if there's access.

 

 

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Steven Whitaker on September 24, 2011 at 13:46

Thanks Philip, this looks like a better option than just pulling it out with the van.  The hedge is 6m wide and about 7' high.

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Permalink Reply by Geoffrey King North Yorkshire on September 24, 2011 at 18:54

Where do you get these  Paul?

Paul @ PPCH Services said:

I do lot of this sort of work. What you want is a tirfor winch, I use a T516 and  a tow chain, the winch that  Phil links too will probably work but is a bit more awkward to use and less pull.  A tirfior for me is an essential tool in my van and used frequently.

 

A very easy and quick job with the tirfior, no ground chewing like with a digger and no burnt out van clutches........!!!!

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Geoffrey King North Yorkshire on September 24, 2011 at 19:24

Thanks Paul for your thorough reply.

Paul @ PPCH Services said:

I bought mine second hand on Ebay, they go for circa £200- £250. They are  very simple mechanically inside and very tough so you cant really go wrong second hand. The T 516 is about right in terms of pulling power and weight, the 518 does not have sufficient pull and the 532 is really heavy.

 

To maintain all you need to do is pour in engine oil periodically in to the mechanism and allow to drain overnight, too much oil can't kill it!

 

You may want to buy a new wire rope for it as often the ropes that come with the winch are too long to be practical, I find 10m is perfect plus a couple of 3m 3 ton nylon strops to use as anchors.

 

New you can buy them from a supplier like Stanton hope, they also stock spares and can order ropes etc:

 

 http://www.stantonhope.com/Tools_26_Equipment_170300_Tirfor_T516_Wi...

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Nick @ NM Garden Services Ltd on September 24, 2011 at 20:19

Yup, tirfor is the way forward. I paid under £50 for a TU16 from EBay. It's pulling power is incredible and have used it to rip trees out of the groundnin a fraction of the time it would take to dig them up!

Keep your eye out for bargains as the winches are not cheap new people but don't seem to know the value of them.

Nick

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Permalink Reply by 2p6qs98d2phid on September 24, 2011 at 21:07

Tirfor all the way for me, Ive got one of these not as good as a proper tirfor but still well made. Get a snatch block to double the pulling power and a few tree strops.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1600kg-Rope-Winch-C-W-20mtr-Rope-similar-...

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Phil Voice on September 24, 2011 at 23:58

You're right Paul, the small winch I suggest is only good up to a certain size.

I only used a tirfor winch once but I used to hire a monkey winch a lot.

Paul @ PPCH Services said:

I do lot of this sort of work. What you want is a tirfor winch, I use a T516 and  a tow chain, the winch that  Phil links too will probably work but is a bit more awkward to use and less pull.  A tirfior for me is an essential tool in my van and used frequently.

 

A very easy and quick job with the tirfior, no ground chewing like with a digger and no burnt out van clutches........!!!!

 

 

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Permalink Reply by 2p6qs98d2phid on September 25, 2011 at 0:24

Showing your age the Phil :-) Think they are banned over here now still made for export thou, am I right in thinking they have about 7 ton of pull? 

Philip Voice said:

You're right Paul, the small winch I suggest is only good up to a certain size.

I only used a tirfor winch once but I used to hire a monkey winch a lot.

Paul @ PPCH Services said:

I do lot of this sort of work. What you want is a tirfor winch, I use a T516 and  a tow chain, the winch that  Phil links too will probably work but is a bit more awkward to use and less pull.  A tirfior for me is an essential tool in my van and used frequently.

 

A very easy and quick job with the tirfior, no ground chewing like with a digger and no burnt out van clutches........!!!!

 

 

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Phil Voice on September 25, 2011 at 8:55

I did wonder Stephen, hence my previous comment:)

 

I used to hire a monkey winch from a guy who'd lost his leg using a tractor mounted winch after the steel rope snapped.

stephen Huxtable said:

Showing your age the Phil :-) Think they are banned over here now still made for export thou, am I right in thinking they have about 7 ton of pull? 

Philip Voice said:

You're right Paul, the small winch I suggest is only good up to a certain size.

I only used a tirfor winch once but I used to hire a monkey winch a lot.

Paul @ PPCH Services said:

I do lot of this sort of work. What you want is a tirfor winch, I use a T516 and  a tow chain, the winch that  Phil links too will probably work but is a bit more awkward to use and less pull.  A tirfior for me is an essential tool in my van and used frequently.

 

A very easy and quick job with the tirfior, no ground chewing like with a digger and no burnt out van clutches........!!!!

 

 

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