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01z71

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01z71 Enthusiast

01z71

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During the week I had to pull a full size pine tree with my truck in 4HI. I had to pull it from a field in the county right of way about 200ft. on the road and then into a field of my friends. It got hung up going off the road through a ditch and then back up into the field. I had to keep tension on the rope for about four minutes while he tried lifting the tree with a front end loader so I could keep pulling it.

 

My temp needle (Record Temps this week) went over almost to the 260 mark. I stopped pulling on it an opened the hood. It returned to a little under 220 after about 5 minutes.

 

My front fenders were very hot to the touch when I opened the hood.

 

Any fluids I should worry about changing? I checked the Tranny fluid and it seemed o.k. The truck is an '04 Z-71 5.3L and about 28,500 miles on the clock. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

By the way, I don't plan on puuling any more trees. I had to pull five in all. I have no idea how much a pine tree weighs but with the way the truck and the tractor stuggled it must have been a lot.

snoman Senior Enthusiast

snoman

Posted
Posted
During the week I had to pull a full size pine tree with my truck in 4HI.  I had to pull it from a field in the county right of way about 200ft. on the road and then into a field of my friends.  It got hung up going off the road through a ditch and then back up into the field.  I had to keep tension on the rope for about four minutes while he tried lifting the tree with a front end loader so I could keep pulling it.

 

My temp needle (Record Temps this week) went over almost to the 260 mark.  I stopped pulling on it an opened the hood.  It returned to a little under 220 after about 5 minutes. 

 

My front fenders were very hot to the touch when I opened the hood.

 

Any fluids I should worry about changing?  I checked the Tranny fluid and it seemed o.k.  The truck is an '04 Z-71 5.3L and about 28,500 miles on the clock.  Thanks in advance for the help.

 

By the way, I don't plan on puuling any more trees.  I had to pull five in all.  I have no idea how much a pine tree weighs but with the way the truck and the tractor stuggled it must have been a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

260 is WAY too hot. I would change tranny fluid and hope that you did not damage seals in tranny and have trouble appear later. It was not a wise move to do this on a hot day and in hi range as it added a lot of strain and heat to tranny.

01z71 Enthusiast

01z71

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yeah, wasn't the wisest thing I ever did. I got nervous when the Engine Temp went that far. It normally stays under the 220 mark. I am planning on changing the tranny fluid.

pm26 Senior Enthusiast

pm26

Posted
Posted

Forgive me for asking the obvious: why didn't you cut up the tree into say three equal sections and pull each? It would have been a lot easier on the truck. Pulling a whole large tree would be something I could do with my deuce and a half, but that's not a pickup truck.

snoman Senior Enthusiast

snoman

Posted
Posted
Forgive me for asking the obvious:  why didn't you cut up the tree into say three equal sections and pull each?  It would have been a lot easier on the truck.  Pulling a whole large tree would be something I could do with my deuce and a half, but that's not a pickup truck.

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure this would have helped much because most of the load would have been the root and dirt ball on the tree.

ken1mod Senior Enthusiast

ken1mod

Posted
Posted

While pulling the tree wasn't the brightest thing to do with your beautiful truck, The short distance and time and your watching the temps means you didn't hurt anything at all.

 

Changing all the fluids like recommended here will never hurt and will make you feel better but, take it from a Chevy commercial-user work truck,overloaded trailer towing guy, these trucks ARE tough. If you did this all day and had coolant spraying all over the place, it would be worse. These trucks are not fragile.

 

While 260 is feverish, I am not sure it would have turned on the idiot light in vehicles so-equipped.

 

Ken

snoman Senior Enthusiast

snoman

Posted
Posted
over the place, it would be worse.  These trucks are not fragile.

 

While 260 is feverish, I am not sure it would have turned on the idiot light in vehicles so-equipped.

 

Ken

 

 

260 is too hot anyway you cut it and though it will not be fatal most of the time it can cause seal damage that will surfaice later in life. It can also cause head warpage if it is working hard because at those temps there will be hot spots in heads because the coolant will be gassing and bubling in those area limiting heat transfer as you are very close to biol temp. I had a old plow truck that years ago had a stuck thremostat when plowing one day. I limped it home using the heater to keep it from redlining but it delevolped a bad rear main seal oil leak a few weeks later and when replacing it I found the old seal had been cooked a bit and was hard. When you get above 220 you need to cut back some and at 230 or more it is time to stop what you are doing and cool off if you plan to keep your vehicle for a while. Myself None of my vehicle have ever exceeded 210 and if they ever hit 220 or so I would be getting them cooled down before I worked them hard again. Older engine and seal seem to be more effected by heat than newer ones that the seals are still fresh in. Same with trannies.

01z71 Enthusiast

01z71

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for the replies. I used 4 HI because after the tree was cut it fell and I was sitting on the road pulling it out of the field. I didn't want to use 4LO on the dry road. Lesson Learned. I changed the T. Case Fluid Already. The stuff that came out was clean and blue.

 

I am going to change the tranny fluid and hope I didn't do ant long term damage.

 

The truck still runs and drives fine.

pm26 Senior Enthusiast

pm26

Posted
Posted
Forgive me for asking the obvious:  why didn't you cut up the tree into say three equal sections and pull each?  It would have been a lot easier on the truck.   Pulling a whole large tree would be something I could do with my deuce and a half, but that's not a pickup truck.

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure this would have helped much because most of the load would have been the root and dirt ball on the tree.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, it would have helped because If he towed just the roots and dirt, it would have been very easy. The weight added by the tree trunk is very substantial, plus it will not allow the roots to bounce up over obstacles, as is the case if you just tow the roots. I have done this without any problem with a compact Nissan pickup.

snoman Senior Enthusiast

snoman

Posted
Posted
Thanks for the replies.  I used 4 HI because after the tree was cut it fell and I was sitting on the road pulling it out of the field.  I didn't want to use 4LO on the dry road. 

 

 

4LO on dry pavement is not harder on the Tcase than 4HI but as you learn, HI is a lot harder on engine and tranny.

snoman Senior Enthusiast

snoman

Posted
Posted
Yes, it would have helped because If he towed just the roots and dirt, it would have been very easy.  The weight added by the tree trunk is very substantial, plus it will not allow the roots to bounce up over obstacles, as is the case if you just tow the roots.  I have done this without any problem with a compact Nissan pickup.

 

 

 

 

 

I would not be so sure. I have cleard my fair share of woods and removed trees seperately as well but I usually use a dozer or a backhoe. I cleared about 1 acre to the ground on my property last fall with a 95 hp 10 ton dozer and some of the trees were about 30 to 40 feet tall. (dozers are great for clearing fence lines too) The heaviest part by far is usually the root ball on pine tree because they have a lot of fine roots close in that tend to hold a large and heavy ball. Hardwood trees are a bit different because they have a wide area of roots that are not as dense and when you push them out with a dozer you usually break the main roots and not bring up as much dirt.

95Sierra2500 Senior Enthusiast

95Sierra2500

Posted
Posted
Yes, it would have helped because If he towed just the roots and dirt, it would have been very easy.  The weight added by the tree trunk is very substantial, plus it will not allow the roots to bounce up over obstacles, as is the case if you just tow the roots.  I have done this without any problem with a compact Nissan pickup.

 

 

 

 

 

I would not be so sure. I have cleard my fair share of woods and removed trees seperately as well but I usually use a dozer or a backhoe. I cleared about 1 acre to the ground on my property last fall with a 95 hp 10 ton dozer and some of the trees were about 30 to 40 feet tall. (dozers are great for clearing fence lines too) The heaviest part by far is usually the root ball on pine tree because they have a lot of fine roots close in that tend to hold a large and heavy ball. Hardwood trees are a bit different because they have a wide area of roots that are not as dense and when you push them out with a dozer you usually break the main roots and not bring up as much dirt.

 

 

 

 

 

He still probably would have had an easier time of it, because instead of pulling the WHOLE tree (which probably WELL exceeded his max tow rating if it's as big as he's making it sound), he would have been pulling smaller chunks that simply would have weighed less. less weight=easier to move.

snoman Senior Enthusiast

snoman

Posted
Posted
He still probably would have had an easier time of it, because instead of pulling the WHOLE tree (which probably WELL exceeded his max tow rating if it's as big as he's making it sound), he would have been pulling smaller chunks that simply would have weighed less. less weight=easier to move.

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe but speaking from experaince the root ball on pine tree can be very heavy and the skid a lot harder than a tree trunk does. This tow rating comparison is a can of worms in that safe drawbar pull (the actually pulling force safely developed) is the issue here not its tow capacity. I have a 27 HP 52 year old JD traactor that will outpull a empty 4x4 pickup on soft ground. He would not of hurt anything if he had used low range as he would have been traction limited. (as long as he did not do some hard snap and jerks)

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