Had 2 30 ft trees about 18 inch diameter we took down.Sicne they were dying they were a hazazrd to livestock and a nice place for a bee's nest. Once down the 4x4 Rancher would not pull the entire tree. Made a few ruts with all 4 tires spining. I had to cut the trees into 3 sections. So the rancher could handle it. Worked out great and got all of them dragged to the burn pile about 200 yds away with the logging chain.

Sad thing is I was not driving.. I let my brother have all the fun while I used the chainsaw. He had a good time and I was glad to see him have a smile on his face since he does not ever get to ride..To think some people call it work.....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

well if the wheels were spinning, there aren't many other quads that would have done any better. Sounds like you had the power, the tree was just too big for any quad to pull.

 

I think the rancher is only rated at 600 lbs for towing...and thats for something on wheels. On a dead drag like that tree, if it weights more than the quad and rider, then its not going to move.

 

His Rancher did fine. I do that type of work all the time and I gaurantee that size of a tree is one hell of a pull. Good machines will pull much more than their weight (with driver) of dead weight. I've seen it many times! my old foreman 450 excelled at that type of work. I doubt any quad would have pulled those trees....but maybe. The hard part is getting them stated, once you get rolling you can keep them moving pretty good though. From my experience (and lots of time spent in the bush) I would say that a Foreman 450, Rubicon, and Foreman 500 may have pulled those trees cut into 2 pieces rather than 3...that's the only difference, but it would also be harder on the quad. Good work though!

 

We tried pulling them whole and they moved a few feet but for safety reasons we did not want to keep yanking it with the chain. As the cleavis hooks could come loose and really causing some problems. The chains could also stretch when yanking causing failure.

I think it had the power, seems traction that was the issue.