SuperMotors SuperMotors SUPERMOTORS Search: try “orange Bronco on 35s”
Join
Home/ Registry/ Ford/ Bronco/ 1980-1986/ “That dirty old truck”/ Stress Testing supermotors.net/registry/2742/82163

Album section

Stress Testing

From 1983 Ford Bronco “That dirty old truck”, documented by Steve83.

74 photos 8 videos
← Back to this vehicle
1983 Ford Bronco - After Greg left work, we met at his house just to check out the area for the big pull on Thursday. But then he wanted to see how far the wi… 1983 Ford Bronco - This is how the tree looked when we started. It came down in a storm about 6 years ago, so it has begun to rot, but it's still pretty solid… 1983 Ford Bronco - We were both surprised that it had lifted the entire ~30-foot tree trunk nearly a foot off the ground. 1983 Ford Bronco - With tension still on the cable, we decided to see if the chain saw would run. Eventually we learned that anything above half throttle caus… 1983 Ford Bronco - The log bit down on the saw bar, so I had to cut it out with my axe, and I accidentally hit the end of the bar, cutting the chain. 1983 Ford Bronco - Greg wanted to stand the stump up, but I wanted video during daylight, and I wasn't sure about winching the stump fully across the creek fr… 1983 Ford Bronco - I plan to pull it over the other way, ripping out whatever's left of its roots, then drag it up the creek bank onto the flat area in front… 1983 Ford Bronco - A lot of this was temporarily just a few inches off the ground last night when I stalled the winch. The log in the foreground is the one I… 1983 Ford Bronco - The stump might have slid downhill a few inches as it fell, so it should be possible to rip it out. 1983 Ford Bronco - Hey, turn around you DA! [url=http://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/media/998920] http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/998920/thumbnai…Video 1983 Ford Bronco - It didn't take anything at all to make the stump flop over to the other side of the creek. We probably could have done this much by hand. I… 1983 Ford Bronco - Once I got set, it wouldn't budge at all, probably because I was already on the 3rd layer of cable on the drum. So to make it roll, Greg ho… 1983 Ford Bronco - We couldn't drag it straight up from the creek like I had imagined, so we set up to roll it out sideways. My cable is wrapped around the ba…Video 1983 Ford Bronco - With the 2nd 12K winch attached, it really started moving. 1983 Ford Bronco - The first roll was fairly easy, but when the root ball hit the Bronco frame bridge, it took a lot to make the heavy end climb up the creek… 1983 Ford Bronco - My truck is off-axis, so my winch isn't wrapping straight onto the drum. And on this layer, it's wrapping toward the load, leaving big gaps…Video 1983 Ford Bronco - I'm guessing this is around 6 tons of wet logs & dirt, but I have no way to really judge it. 1983 Ford Bronco - After a few more cycles of re-wrapping my cable & letting the wires cool, we could see we were making real progress. 1983 Ford Bronco - At full stall, the bumper almost seemed to wrap around this tree. But the bumper didn't bend at all. 1983 Ford Bronco - It took a lot to get it rolled up this high - I thought we were gonna have to stop again to let my winch positive wire cool off again. 1983 Ford Bronco - When the winches suddenly sped up & the cables unloaded, we knew it was coming over. [url=http://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/medi… 1983 Ford Bronco - Ultimately, we pulled it a few more feet past here, just to keep the weight off his septic drain line. Note the crumpled frame. 1983 Ford Bronco - The last job was to remove my winch cable from the stump, which was easier said than done. I had expected the stump to roll more, and to en… 1983 Ford Bronco - To inspect some property we're considering buying, I got permission to blaze a trail yesterday. I made it about halfway before it got dark.…Video 1983 Ford Bronco - To inspect some property we're considering buying, I got permission to blaze a trail yesterday. I made it about halfway before it got dark.…Video 1983 Ford Bronco - To inspect some property we're considering buying, I got permission to blaze a trail yesterday. I made it about halfway before it got dark.…Video 1983 Ford Bronco - To inspect some property we're considering buying, I got permission to blaze a trail yesterday. I made it about halfway before it got dark.…Video 1983 Ford Bronco - This was a light load. The grille guard will carry MUCH more weight. (It also makes a reasonably-comfortable toilet seat.) 1983 Ford Bronco - This dead tree was near a trail I was blazing, so I pushed it over. It (or one of the others I knocked down today) got into the tie rods &… 1983 Ford Bronco - This dead tree was near a trail I was blazing, so I pushed it over. It (or one of the others I knocked down today) got into the tie rods &… 1983 Ford Bronco - This dead tree took a few good hits to get all the way to the ground. It (or one of the others I knocked down today) got into the tie rods… 1983 Ford Bronco - This dead tree took a few good hits to get all the way to the ground. It (or one of the others I knocked down today) got into the tie rods… 1983 Ford Bronco - This dead tree took a few good hits to get all the way to the ground. It (or one of the others I knocked down today) got into the tie rods… 1983 Ford Bronco - This dead tree took a few good hits to get all the way to the ground. It (or one of the others I knocked down today) got into the tie rods… 1983 Ford Bronco - This live tree is where I want to put a driveway, and it overhangs the road, so I didn't want to chainsaw it. I decided to winch it out so… 1983 Ford Bronco - The 12K electric winch alone couldn't rip this out last week, so I'm putting 3 tons of Bronco into the mix today. I expect to use the engin… 1983 Ford Bronco - I'm starting at the top of this little hill & backing down to snatch the tree out. But it's still fairly wet under the leaves, so traction… 1983 Ford Bronco - The soft ground is a few inches deep, but it's pretty solid below that. 1983 Ford Bronco - The fulcrum of logs under the base is working - the root ball is much higher now than when I started. [url=http://www.supermotors.net/regis… 1983 Ford Bronco - Even though I'm getting cross-axled on this crest, the truck is heavy enough to keep the suspension compressed & the tires on the ground. S… 1983 Ford Bronco - I expected the ground to be softer & slicker than this, but I didn't have much trouble driving up & down in the same spot about 15 times. [… 1983 Ford Bronco - There's still one big root down there hanging on, but I finally pulled it far enough up to expose & chop it. 1983 Ford Bronco - Jerking on that tree caused some cargo shifting... Eventually, the seat even flopped back. 1983 Ford Bronco - Eventually, I won the fight. 1983 Ford Bronco - It came up over the hill pretty easily, despite the slimy ground. 1983 Ford Bronco - The ruts kept the logs from rolling too far away. The little Husqy 435 has been doing GREAT. 1983 Ford Bronco - One stump closer to putting a driveway here... 1983 Ford Bronco - I pulled the stump all the way to the back of the property into the burn pile. I plan to leave it out long enough for rain to wash most of… 1983 Ford Bronco - I decided it was time to really load it up. These 2 loads were heavy. The 3rd (near dark) was so much it was hard to steer. But the grille… 1983 Ford Bronco - It just won't bend! ...and nothing fell off as I drove through the woods, up & down hills, & over bumps. 1983 Ford Bronco - I don't know what I'm gonna have to do to bend this thing... ...but I'll keep trying! ;-) 1983 Ford Bronco - This is 43' of a 45' tree. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkGIG9uRdTs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNmWA38vfO8 1983 Ford Bronco - I got tired of steering around this stump, so I decided to get rid of it. [url=http://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/media/1071023]… 1983 Ford Bronco - Stump removal with a Bronco. IDK why the audio is unsynchronized. It may be necessary to click Play/Pause or the progress bar a few times t…Video 1983 Ford Bronco - After a few gentle taps, it got the message. [url=https://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/media/1070363] https://www.supermotors.net/… 1983 Ford Bronco - The completed bumper has stood up better than I expected. Even knocking a 20" stump out of the ground didn't do anything to the bumper or t… 1983 Ford Bronco - The completed bumper has stood up better than I expected. It's strong enough for a double-line pull at full-stall on the 12,000 lb winch wi… 1983 Ford Bronco - The stump in the distance (far side of the white driveway, Right of the brick stack) died a couple of years ago, and I cut it down a few mo… 1983 Ford Bronco - This is either 1/2" or 5/8" (if that exists) aircraft cable, and I've used it before as an anchor line, and as a winch extension. I made th… 1983 Ford Bronco - The way I set up the anchor line left me exactly what I need on the winch for the maximum pulling force: just a few wraps on the drum, to k… 1983 Ford Bronco - With 2 lines, I get nearly double the force at half the speed. So I should get up to ~24K lbf on this ~3.5' tall lever, which should be eno… 1983 Ford Bronco - After tightening up the cable, I checked the anchor, and it had cut into the rotting stump about an inch all around. No surprise... 1983 Ford Bronco - Even though the winch is at full-stall, it doesn't even look like there's any tension on it. It's not leaning, and the ground behind it isn… 1983 Ford Bronco - After stalling the winch a few more times, and several violent pops & shakes, the cable is embedded even deeper in the anchor stump. 1983 Ford Bronco - It's still ignoring me... 1983 Ford Bronco - I started to worry that the hook might rip the center bar out, or slip out of the cable eye, but everything looks OK here. 1983 Ford Bronco - At about 2K RPM, I'm getting all the alternator can give, but stalling the winch still pulls the batteries down so low that the radar detec… 1983 Ford Bronco - I don't think NASA lasers are this straight. And this shows why tree straps are required on live trees. This is at (repeated) full-stall wi… 1983 Ford Bronco - It's still just smirking... 1983 Ford Bronco - I got sick of it NOT moving, so I sharpened up one of my digging bars and started working around the roots, cutting everything I could find… 1983 Ford Bronco - THAT got its attention - now it's leaning noticeably, and the dirt is rising behind it. 1983 Ford Bronco - At this point, it's creaking & popping each time I bump the winch, but it's still at full stall (around 24K lbf on the top of the stump). 1983 Ford Bronco - I found a couple more heavy roots as they came up, and cut them. That really relieved the cable tension, allowing it to start rolling in ag… 1983 Ford Bronco - It's moving much faster now; so much that I have to stop frequently to check the cable wrap and knock dirt chunks off the root ball. 1983 Ford Bronco - Game over - there's hardly any tension on the cable now. 1983 Ford Bronco - I'll leave it here tonight, and probably try to wash some of the dirt back into the hole before ripping the last roots out. I may drag it a… 1983 Ford Bronco - There are a few more big roots preventing me from pulling this out of the hole, and I can't cut them with the stump on top. So I'll have to… 1983 Ford Bronco - The weight of the dirt pulled it back upright, so I put some of the log sections under the stump to lift it. 1983 Ford Bronco - The stack is nearly gone, but it lifted the root ball enough to break the last few big ones and drag it out of the hole. I was able to unho… 1983 Ford Bronco - After a backbreaking load is hefted onto the grill guard, it's much quicker & easier to unload it with the brakes. IF THE IMAGE IS TOO SMAL… 1983 Ford Bronco - Another dead tree had to come down, and this is the easiest way to get the stump out of the ground. IF THE IMAGE IS TOO SMALL, click it. 1983 Ford Bronco - I've lost track of how many times I've loaded the grill guard. IF THE IMAGE IS TOO SMALL, click it.