Rigging tripod or A frame

I wonder if two logs forming an A-frame, butts sharpened to push into the soil, lashed together at the top with a block sling, maybe a bit of simple chainsaw joinery, like a tongue-and-groove, or some all-thread/ nuts, would work. KISS. Keep it super simple.

A guy line to keep it from rotating too far over. Maybe not big deal if it flops back. Maybe a lighter weight "kickstand" to prevent it from flopping over.
 

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Of the rescue tripods I've used, the Sked-Evac is by far my favorite. For cliff hauling usage, the TerrAdaptor system might be more versatile.
 
oceans said:
I get the sense this needs to be really big, yeah?
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in my dreams, it has telescoping articulating legs. height to apex about 12'-15' max and min to 6-8'? even with a chipper winch, it's nice to have a little vertical pick, a one cheeked block and a ball a few feet up from the choked end of the winch line could also be rad. Basically when the ball its the sheeve it rolls the winch line off the block to finish the drag..
 
Keep in mind how much pressure you're putting on the bank edge.


A tripod would allow the machine weighing 2500+ pounds to be in a safer location, in the event of a collapse.

Removing that machinr weight would leave more holding power for the bank.


A 2x8 or two under the front idlers would spread pressure across a wider area.



Snagging while winching or dragging material could be a sudden peak load.


What kinda loads?

Snag factors?





Some have heard that people dragging logs that hit a stump can have the tractor climb back over themselves, falling on the driver.

Funny factors at play, suddenly and with kinetic and potential energies involved.
 
evo said:
in my dreams, it has telescoping articulating legs. height to apex about 12'-15' max and min to 6-8'? even with a chipper winch, it's nice to have a little vertical pick, a one cheeked block and a ball a few feet up from the choked end of the winch line could also be rad. Basically when the ball its the sheeve it rolls the winch line off the block to finish the drag..
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Aluminum isn’t really cheap right now, but gosh, it’s long lasting and super light weight. It would be easy to make some telescopic legs with two sizes that sleeve nicely. One could be custom welded up top to have a yoke that the other side lays in and pins together.. You could work a variety of options for the feet.

When I was a kid, my father built a steel version of the tripod you posted earlier. We used it to pull some huge stumps out. The feet were simply square, flat plates with an 8” piece of round bar welded to the center. Those stuck up into the bottoms of the legs. It was mostly used on a lawn, so they were mostly adequate for that. In a wooded area, some other foot design might be better.
 
So, you want to be able to hoist things up the slope and grab the hanging load with the mini? What about potentially making a jib off the end of the mini and use it as a redirect right to the grapple?
 
evo said:
Basically when the ball its the sheeve it rolls the winch line off the block to finish the drag..
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There was a Canadian company that built a redirect just like that. Their system was built around using a 4WD ATV as a skidder. It would work with any standard winch too.

I've got a vague memory of someone cobbling something by taking one cheek plate off a pulley for the redi. Then a tapered sleeve was clamped to the winch line. The sleeve would shoehorn the cable off the pulley without anyone tending to it.

I could poke around in bookmarks to see if I can find it. Let me know.
 
27RMT0N said:
You talking about this one? https://www.portablewinch.com/collections/pulleys/products/steel-open-face-corner-block-o-4-inches

If so, I've got one (and their entire portable gas winch setup) and it is very slick. A little tricky to get everything setup just right, but it works well.

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Those are them! Interesting with the roller chain link.
Have you had any experience with them in a over “head” lifting experience like a vertical redirect in line with the pull?
 
I've never used it that way, but I imagine it would work just fine. Are you thinking of having it on an elevated point (hanging off the skidsteer boom or tripod?) at the edge of a bluff, so you can pull up to the edge and then have it detach once it is at flat ground and finish the drag? That should be totally doable.

My biggest issue with the release system is that it has to be placed in the exact right place on the line, to release at the correct moment, and that requires some trial and error. Not a flaw by any means, just part of the setup that needs to be done right. Sometimes that will be right near the load, but not always depending on the situation, especially if the open-face block is hanging higher up in a tree (because you don't want to lift the load up into the air). Depending on where your winch location is, if it is close enough, often times it is easier to just slack off on the line, and from where you are standing, whip the rope so it falls off the block, not using the release mechanism at all. That said, the system gives you those options and it sure beats dragging material up steep hills by hand.
 
Someone mentioned an orchard ladder earlier. I hoisted a small generator up a vertical cliff one time using a 12 foot aluminium orchard ladder with a line to my truck bumper holding it out at an angle over the cliff edge. Second hoist line through a snatch block hanging from the top of the ladder. I bought the ladder a few years earlier on sale for $250., about 2/3rds off, and have used it a zillion times around my place. The wide feet make them so much safer on softer ground.
 
I recently used one of these extendable ladders to raise heavy items out of my basement. Rated at 300 pounds per side, so 600 pounds for a load hanging from the center. The wide legs make it stable once it's guyed one way or another. It's also nice because you can climb it to change out pulleys, guy lines, etc. Folds up nice and portable.



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27RMT0N said:
I've never used it that way, but I imagine it would work just fine. Are you thinking of having it on an elevated point (hanging off the skidsteer boom or tripod?) at the edge of a bluff, so you can pull up to the edge and then have it detach once it is at flat ground and finish the drag? That should be totally doable.

My biggest issue with the release system is that it has to be placed in the exact right place on the line, to release at the correct moment, and that requires some trial and error. Not a flaw by any means, just part of the setup that needs to be done right. Sometimes that will be right near the load, but not always depending on the situation, especially if the open-face block is hanging higher up in a tree (because you don't want to lift the load up into the air). Depending on where your winch location is, if it is close enough, often times it is easier to just slack off on the line, and from where you are standing, whip the rope so it falls off the block, not using the release mechanism at all. That said, the system gives you those options and it sure beats dragging material up steep hills by hand.
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I didn’t exactly have that in mind, but more along the lines of when you want to winch with a high point so your not plowing. I could see a sudden load release on a bi/tripod not ending in the best way, but it could be slick ones the load gets to the a frame it’s released from the block and gets drug under the legs.
 
evo said:
This might be going a little too specific, but I’m curious about A frames or tripods to rig from. I’m problem solving for a job, but have ran into the issue many times where it would be greatly beneficial to drag shit from a high point.
I’ve seen the swinging log arch booms for loading trailers. I’ve hung blocks high as I can reach with a ladder or by hand for skidding brush. I’ve hung blocks to yard up slopes greater than 70degrees .
I’ve moved rocks with a chain hoist and a tripod. I see it in rescue rigging all the time, or other rigging applications but never for tree work!
When using the high(ish) blocks to yard it always seems advantageous. Meaning using what’s at hand on site (other trees etc), almost always at the sacrifice of what could be done with a quickly deployed tripod.
I just yarded a chipper truck loads of brush up hill by hanging multiple redirects. That and the Facebook adds for a boom attachments for skidsteers got me thinking of a job I have in the near future.
Im restoration pruning some trees down a nearly vertical bluff that have been previously topped. A mobile 12’ high point with two stabilizers would be the ticket for moving material off the winch on my mini.
has anyone here used or had a application for a rigging tripod? It seems the rescue ones are fairly short, and I’ve never seen the others I’ve used for sale?
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We have this onsite every day! It's called a grapple truck.

Ours is rear mount, and I have a hydraulic winch with Amsteel mounted on the back. We just put a redirect on the top of the frame and it makes a great anchor that's good for 60 ft per minute line speeds.

Or we can put a redirect on the top side, and pull a rope with a mini for ever faster line speeds.

We don't utilize it often, but it comes in handy on occasion.
 
@27RMT0N

Thoughts on the tree mount kit for the portable winch? I've Been dragging my feet on that purchase for a while. How well Does it protect keeper trees ?
 
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