That fall at the county park in Arlington made me stop trusting 3-point hitch lifts for big stumps.

My skid steer tipped forward on a 48 inch oak stump because the hitch slipped, and now I always do a secondary chain wrap before lifting anything over 30 inches, has anyone else had a hitch fail like that while hauling out big wood?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_paul2mo ago

A chain wrap fixes that every time, learned that lesson myself.

jones.anna2mo ago

Caught a video from a mechanic on YouTube who broke down why chain wraps work so well for this. He tested three different setups and the wrapped chain came out clean every time while the others slipped or snapped under load. Tried it myself on a stubborn log splitter and yeah, night and day difference. The trick is getting the right number of wraps though, too few and it still slips, too many and it's a pain to undo. Worth looking up if you haven't tried it yet.

alice3361mo ago

Is it really worth the hassle though? @jones.anna I tried chain wraps on a log splitter once and the chain kept digging into the wood and getting stuck, not slipping. You wrap it too tight and you're fighting to get it off for ten minutes. Plus if you don't wrap it even, it just chews up the bark and makes a mess. A good pair of tongs or a steady pry bar has never let me down and takes half the time.