Other uses for a winch

bucky

bucky

E CLAMPUS VITUS
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SoCal/North Dakota/ N Az
So I planted a 2” cactus 20+ yrs ago. It grew to 20’ and got top heavy and was starting to lean against my garden shed threatening crash down on it. It had to come down. Most of it was over the shed so cutting it piecemeal was out. In comes the TJ. I pulled into the back yard and hooked the winch to a branch, made a back cut and down it went. Next was the main piece. Same procedure, back cut and pull. I had to block all 4 wheels because the cactus was moving the TJ. Next was the stump. I had to have the wife stand on the brakes but the winch made quick work of the stump. All this was done without a single thorn incedent.
Todays project is loading about a ton of cactus pieces into the dump trailer.
I’ve yet to use the winch for a vehicle recovery but I’ve moved 2 large storage sheds previously and now this cactus removal.

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Wow that's really cool you got to watch that cactus grow that tall... Kinda sad to have to get rid of it!

I've used mine to manhandle this junk around probably more times than I've used it for actual recovery.

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bucky said:
I pulled into the back yard and hooked the winch to a branch, made a back cut and down it went.
Click to expand...

Can you describe this in more detail?

Did you hook up the winch line to the cactus and reel it in so there was tension pulling the cactus in the direction you wanted before you made the cut?

For the cut, did you make the cut from below and behind from where the winch line was wrapped around the trunk?
 
Guess I learned something about cactus today. We don't have them here, I always assumed they were about the texture of a typical potted succulent someone might have in their house. I guess it must get pretty woody to support something that heavy and tall.
 
GregBelleville said:
Can you describe this in more detail?

Did you hook up the winch line to the cactus and reel it in so there was tension pulling the cactus in the direction you wanted before you made the cut?

For the cut, did you make the cut from below and behind from where the winch line was wrapped around the trunk?
Click to expand...

I took it out with 3 pulls.
GregBelleville said:
Can you describe this in more detail?

Did you hook up the winch line to the cactus and reel it in so there was tension pulling the cactus in the direction you wanted before you made the cut?

For the cut, did you make the cut from below and behind from where the winch line was wrapped around the trunk?
Click to expand...

I took it down with 3 pulls. There were 2 main upright branches. Luckily I have an 8’ gate on the side of the house that allowed me access to pull in the only safe direction. I hooked a tree strap as high as possible with my 10’ ladder. I put some tension on it and did a back cut with a Sawzall where I wanted it to separate and pulled it down. I did the same with the other branch. The cactus was resting on my shed and I needed to have it fall between a tree and cactus along my fence line that I wanted to save. Both landed exactly on target. I left about 4’ of stump to give me some mechanical leverage. This is where I needed to have the wife stand on the brakes because even with the wheels chocked it was pulling the TJ. The roots did pull up my side fence but the leaning of the cactus had already broken the post. There was a substantial root going under the concrette approach to the shed and I cut that off with the Sawzall because I was afraid of lifting the slab up. I got everything picked up and loaded into my dump trailer today. The hardest part of the job was dealing with temps in the high 90s.
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
Guess I learned something about cactus today. We don't have them here, I always assumed they were about the texture of a typical potted succulent someone might have in their house. I guess it must get pretty woody to support something that heavy and tall.
Click to expand...

Yes the larger woody pieces needed to be cut down to manageable size with a chainsaw. I used an old bar and chain because cactus and palm trees will gum up everything. The rest I just cut up into smaller pieces with a machete. It’s full of water so I estimate that it weighed around a ton. I’ll let it all sit in the dump trailer for about a month to bake out the water before taking it to the dump. No need to pay dump fees on water weight.
I did video it just incase it went south so I could post it online somewhere. I would post it here but I don’t know how.
 
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bucky said:
I took it out with 3 pulls.


I took it down with 3 pulls. There were 2 main upright branches. Luckily I have an 8’ gate on the side of the house that allowed me access to pull in the only safe direction. I hooked a tree strap as high as possible with my 10’ ladder. I put some tension on it and did a back cut with a Sawzall where I wanted it to separate and pulled it down. I did the same with the other branch. The cactus was resting on my shed and I needed to have it fall between a tree and cactus along my fence line that I wanted to save. Both landed exactly on target. I left about 4’ of stump to give me some mechanical leverage. This is where I needed to have the wife stand on the brakes because even with the wheels chocked it was pulling the TJ. The roots did pull up my side fence but the leaning of the cactus had already broken the post. There was a substantial root going under the concrette approach to the shed and I cut that off with the Sawzall because I was afraid of lifting the slab up. I got everything picked up and loaded into my dump trailer today. The hardest part of the job was dealing with temps in the high 90s.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I've got some bougainvillea I'm thinking about removing and you had me thinking about the winch for a minute. But I think they're way too close to my new fence, so I'll likely have to dig and sawzall them out.
 
PSA...get a short length of chain, a choker, a cheap throwaway strap...use that instead of wrapping your winch cable around something.

-Mac

P.S. Just bought a 3" x 20' strap off Amazon for $12. Lab tested...my ha ha ha...

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I had them back in the day. While the flowers are beautiful I could not deal with the constant mess they made so out they went. I don’t know how substantial the roots are but bushes need a slip connection so it tightens up and won’t pull off. My cactus roots were substantial but I have sandy soil so other than the root under the slab they came out clean.
 
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I was thinking prickly's in your rope next time you pull it out. I'm an idiot that likes to touch everything I see, didn't grow up around cactus but learned real fast first time I was close to one
 
inkedrose said:
I was thinking prickly's in your rope next time you pull it out. I'm an idiot that likes to touch everything I see, didn't grow up around cactus but learned real fast first time I was close to one
Click to expand...

I had some in my tree strap but I cleaned them all up. Winch rope never touched the cactus. I have several cacti in the yard. The most dangerous one is a cholla that I planted to stop people from jumping my back fence. It has 1.5” spikes which go in like a hot knife through butter but are barbed and are bitch to remove. I had a 6” piece imbed itself in my leg on a trip to Az. I drove all the way back to SoCal with it stuck to my leg because I did not have the proper tools to remove it. Every now and then I find a piece missing because someone jumped my fence and took a souvenir with them. Works better than a watch dog.
 
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Parbuckling is a technique used to roll things like capsized boats and roll heavy logs. Here is a photo of my parbuckling adventures after hurricane Helene.

Anchor one end, in my case to my Smittybuilt bumper. Wrap a wide towing strap around the object. And start winching.

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