On Dec 1, 12:58*pm, Smitty Two wrote:
Based on Archimedes' bold lever concept and some drinking, I've come up
with a plan to pull down a dead tree with my Toyota Avalon and a few
lengths of stout towing chain. The tree is a birch, about 8-10" diameter
and maybe 30' tall. Those are rough estimates as I'm not currently on
site.

I'd like to pull it down rather than cutting it down, so that I can get
most of the roots and leave a nice hole for a replacement tree. The plan
would involve chaining the tree about 15' above ground, and hooking the
other end to some stout part of the car. There is plenty of clearance
around the tree, and it's right next to the driveway.

Now that I'm sober, I'm ready to suffer the slings and arrows of your
feedback. Is this concept even remotely feasible? What if I rented a 4
wheel drive truck with manual transmission? Or, if I could get even more
chain and a come-along, use the base of a bigger tree across the street?

I tried that with a large bush and a 2 wheel drive toyota tacoma. The
wheels spun. Even when I got a bit of a running start at it. The
tacoma has a type 3 hitch and I hooked the chain to that. I was
scared to try a really hard running start as even the slow running
start jerked the truck around like it was hit by another truck. It
did eventually work but the process ended up as more of an I chopped
on the roots some, then pulled with the truck, repeat about 6 times.
It clearly would not have worked on a tree. Even a little tree.