Stump pulling

Here are two harness techniques that use a single pulley to greatly improve the pulling power of your tractor.

Here's the first:

With the block chained at the high end of the stump you want to pull and a cable anchored to a bigger stump (or tree) run the cable through the pulley and then to your tractor's draw bar. This will give you about twice the pulling power compared to a straight pull.

Note the use of a steel wheel rim that's chained to the trunk base. This will leverage the stump up and out of the hole as the stump is pulled over.

In this second application, a cable is tied tight from the stump to the anchor point. The pulley is free to slide on this line and a third line can pull the pulley block to the side. This method will offer even greater pull at the start.

None the less... the "cable" I use is 3/8" and will stop my tractor's forward motion before it would break. I know some who use 1/2" because they use runs of several hundred feet with pulley's to double their pull.

Wire rope does not recoil when it breaks. It's a lot like chain but a LOT cheaper. However it doesn't grab onto itself like chain will so I use a length of 3/8" or 5/16" chain on the end of my cable for grabbing onto things. I don't remember the load strength of 3/8" wire rope but when I checked it out, it was more than strong enough for my needs. I've pulled the thimble off the end of my cables before (because I was too cheap to use two cable clamps) but I've never borken a 3/8" cable. I have broken several 1/4" cables.