GRCS - Stump Pulling

[chris_girard]

I saw an ad for the GRCS in this months Tree Service mag in which Greg Good was demostrating pulling out a stump with the rig attached to 3-4' high stump.

He had blocks set up to give him what looked like a 3:1 MA but I could not see his other anchor point.

I would never have thought of using this setup. I usually will use a 2-ton come-along.

There are all kinds of things that the GRCS can be used for.
What do you guys think of Greg's setup, have any of you seen the picture?

 

[brendonv]

Looks neat, think it's a pine in what looks like sandy soil.

I want one.

 

[chris_girard]

What do you think the anchor point is and does that look like a 3:1 MA whith the block?

 

[Jamin_Mayer]

How big was the stump Chris?

 

[chris_girard]

I spoke with Greg through an e-mail and this is what he told me:

"I am glad you liked the ad. We were called to an old customers property to remove a small dead spruce tree. They wanted the tree and stump removed asap as they were selling the house and had a showing the next day. Because the property was a long drive from our shop we didin't want to make an extra trip with the stump grinder, so I decided to just pull it out. We mounted the GRCS on the stump we were pulling and put a block on an anchor tree to go get a 2:1 MA. When we couldn't quite break the stump loose with 2:1 we added another block on the stump to get 4:1. That gave us enough power to begin to lift the root plate. Once we got some roots to start lifting, we began cutting them with an ax, after that it was all over in a hurry. All told it took about 20 minutes.

You will notice in the ad that we had a block above the ! GRCS to lead the rope into the upper fairleads. The way the geometry of the mount works, leading the rope through the top fairleads into the winch causes the top of the mount to bite onto the stem, which prevents it from slipping. Also we mounted the GRCS on the stump that we were removing because if it did slip or damage the bark it did not matter.

The GRCS can be used for lot of things other than tree dismantling. The essence of the GRCS is that it provides alot of mechanical advantage using just a rope. For example next time you have to install a cable in a tree and need to pull 2 leads together, put a block on one lead, run a rope through the block and tie it to the other lead. Then have your groundman do the pulling with the GRCS. Power when you need it, fast and easy."

There you have it from The Man.

 

[familytree]

ive never thought about that application before with the grcs, we always yanks out the stumps on smaller bushs that we remove because we dont own a stump machine, sometimes it gets a bit difficult and we end up walking away and let a stump machine come in their, next time ill use our grcs to see how it goes, thanks for the post chris

chis, guys who just pushed the complete order button today

 

[Jamin_Mayer]

I'd like to see the ad!

 

[Norm_Hall]

Greg's the man. I would have never thought of that. Betcha he's got more up his sleeve!

 

[chris_girard]

Norm, I can't wait to see what Greg comes up with next.

 

[spaceslug]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd like to see the ad!

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah...me too. Any links for that people?....

 

[chris_girard]

I've been trying to find an online copy of the ad, but no luck yet.

I'll ask Greg if he can email some photos to me that I can post.

 

[brendonv]

Took this pic from the issue for you guys.

 

[TreeCo]

That is crazy!

 

[chris_girard]

Thanks for posting that Brendon.

 

[brendonv]

No problem. I needed the e-mail anyway for the dvd. Definitely getting one this season.

 

[chris_girard]

You won't regret it. Like Greg shows in his ad, the GRCS can be used for much more than raising and lowering wood.

 

[brendonv]

Can you run 3/4" in the GRCS?

 

[hl_tree]

5/8" is the biggest that I would recommend in the winch. 3/4 it's gonna pop out. For the bollard, you can go with 1" if you have any on hand.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Very innovative use of pure power. Isn't there any fear of being inline with the line and/ or sudden movement or snapping of the stump? If the top terminated leg came not just to the stump, but up, over and down thru a V; wouldn't it be grabbing a higher point of leverage, leaving more room to place the pulley at higher leverage and; give more rotational/ less linear pull on the stump??

 

[chris_girard]

[ QUOTE ]
Very innovative use of pure power. Isn't there any fear of being inline with the line and/ or sudden movement or snapping of the stump? If the top terminated leg came not just to the stump, but up, over and down thru a V; wouldn't it be grabbing a higher point of leverage, leaving more room to place the pulley at higher leverage and; give more rotational/ less linear pull on the stump??

[/ QUOTE ]

I would think that as Greg was cranking on the winch and they could see the stump lifting, they could chop through the roots lessening the tension and minimizing the risk of being in line of the pull or snapping of the stump.

Obviously, you would want to make sure that the tree was sound enough for this tech. I would also think that you wouldn't want to leave too high a section of tree due to a longer moment arm creating too much force at the stump (pivot point) and increasing the chance of the tree snapping.

I would also think that the GRCS has enough pulling power that you don't need to leave a high section to rig from.