Av pulls out landscaping

[brmiller]

Pulled an overgrown bush out of my front yard today. Totally non-eventful. No pics, 'cause they wouldn't have showed anything. A video would have been pleasantly boring.

I hooked up my tow strap between a 4' diameter shrub and my hitch, put it in 4-LO (was thinkin' I was gonna do a tractor-pull, I guess), and let off the brake until the line was tight. My wife was calling out the status to me. When she said it was taut, I was ready to put on some gas. I let off the brake some more to start the pull, and was gonna give it gas when the bush was holding the truck back. Never happened. Never even got on the gas. Sheer weight of the Av rolling down the driveway in 4-LO was sufficient to pull the overgrown foliage out of the ground. I was all ready to go and my wife said, "She's out! She's out! You're done!" Dang. No fun in that. Felt like dragging the stupid bush around the block for the heck of it.

Oh well, another menial task performed nicely by big 'ole blue. Next time I'll have to find something with a bigger root system.... or an outhouse...

Brendan

 

[AvaLance]

cool story, I love the power of the Avalanche

 

[SnowTrojan]

Wow, that's AMAZING!

Idea.... anyone got a loose tooth?

 

[flynhigh]

Brendan,

Don't you just hate that. You get pysched up for some heavy duty distruction and before you can even get your heart pumping its over

 

[Skidd-au]

Felt like dragging the stupid bush around the block for the heck of it.

Mate you definately should have dragged it around the block.... It's like a tribal show of strength, displaying to the local crew what you are capable of. I can see it now....

Gentle burble of the V8 coming down the street accompanied by a strange scrapping noise. Neighbours look up to watch you slowly cruise past with a small tree attached to 20 ft of rope behind you. You exchange knowing looks while maintaing an air of invincability.... they have to break eye contact... they are not worthy. They think to themselves, "Wow I hope I can be that good someday".

OK... sorry... I think I'm better now.

 

[ref]

The Avalanche is a good landscapeing tool. After trying to dig out a Arctic Willow for about a hour this summer...I hooked that willow up to one of the front tow hooks with a towstrap. Put the Av in reverse and it pulled out that stubborn bush....with it's 3 foot root system with no effort!
My wife was pretty impressed with the Avalanche. I dragged the willow bush down the driveway. Should have dragged around the neighborhood too!

 

[RonCaplinger]

Okay, everyone else is beating their chests over pulling things, so I wanna chime in! Not necessarily landscape related, tho...

Last weekend, brother-in-law wasn't thinking and drove his FWD Chrysler minivan into some mud. Of course, he got stuck. He had seen me drive through that same area twice and musta thought he could make it.

Here I am, with my handy-dandy yellow Av, out in the middle of BF Nowhere, and no tow straps or anything for pulling. I'm a city boy, never thought I might have use for such things!

One of the neighbors finds a chain, we hook it to the front tow hooks on my Av and the spring on the back of the van (nothing else that we could find).

I get the chain taught, put it in 4LO, and lightly step on the gas. Nuthin'. I give it a little more gas and the van pops up out of the mud and I realize, I'm practically pulling him sideways because of the angle I had to be in due to the gravel road.

A few seconds more and I'm unhooking the chain and everyone is amazed at how much power the Av had.

I'm now in the market for tow straps of my own. Any suggestions?

 

[danlwil]

Next time I'll have to find something with a bigger root system.... or an outhouse..

Hey Brendan,

I understand your neighbor has a tree that's blocking your view

 

[Lockout]

Wow, that's AMAZING!

Idea.... anyone got a loose tooth?

Ouch.... I think 4-Lo would be overkill for a loose tooth though, SnowTrojan.... how about using 4-Hi instead!! Less torque involved!!

Hey if you're going to do it... might as well do it right the first time.

 

[Bruno]

I'm now in the market for tow straps of my own. Any suggestions?

I just went to Walmart and bought the 20 footer with the loops at both ends. Keep it in the side box if ever needed.

 

[pdxkevin]

I need a bigger rope! I tried to pull out a shrub earlier this spring. I think the rope was too small. It pulled tight then *snap* the rope came flying back to my feet.

I put a heavy blanket over it so that if it did break it would drop down. The AV didn't show any sign or feeling that the rope was even back there. My wife was driving and she thought I was telling her to stop because the rope was too long.

Gonna have to break out the tow strap it looks like for the next one.

 

[pktwatch]

Yea, be careful if you use a chain to pull something link this out. I had one break one time it it shoots out like a bullet!!

Butch

 

[ShapeShifter]

Felt like dragging the stupid bush around the block for the heck of it.

ROFL!

You should've done it. Why? Because you can!


These are all some good stories. But remember: the front tow hooks are really designed for getting yourself pulled out of trouble, not for pulling on other things. The transmission and drive train are not really designed to be put under a significant load while in reverse.

If you're going to extract something, attach it to the hitch receiver in the rear (don't tie it to the hitch ball!) and pull forwards. It's much better for your truck that way.

-- SS

 

[midlifecrisis]

Like other drivers on the road, it is obvious that even landscaping items are intimidated by the Avy beast, and just give up without a fight!

 

[ref]

This was way before the Avalanche was ever on the drawing board....but several summers ago in Telluride, CO with a Suburban, I towed a motor home with an extension cord......serious.