Hanging High Mainline?

[Dennis H.]

How do you all hang high mainline?

I have one that I have to get up above a right-of-way and it will be about 15' in the air. There will be a tree on either side of the driveway that the wire will be attached to.

Will the wire be strong enough for me to lean a ladder against while hanging the main?

And no there isn't any culverts that are there to use to under the driveway, bummer!

I hope you guys can give me some ideas?

[Grade "A"]

Can you tie your main line to the wire before you hang the wire in the tree?

[sapman]

I think if you get the wire good and tight, you can use a ladder against it. My dad and I did one only about 9-10' high, but the ladder was too short. So we stood it almost straight up, he held against me, and I carefully climbed up. If you try the ladder, have someome there spotting, and make sure OSHA isn't around!

Tim

[3rdgen.maple]

I would never do this but the bucket on a loader works dandy. Just tie yourself off to be safe if there is such a thing in this case.

[brookledge]

I have used a ladder to tie my mainline to the wire. The only thing I had to do was start off with the ladder pretty much straight up and as I climbed the ladder it would lean. If I had too much lean in it to begin with it would really lean. I also would recommend putting the ladder on the side that keeps pressure against the trees. Just don't want to get up the ladder anbd have the pressure push the main down to the ground and go for a ride.
Keith

[Dennis H.]

So it sounds like the wife could be in for a real laugh when I climb up the ladder!!:lol:

I will make sure OSHA isn't anywhere around. It might be a little lower than 15' I just need to make sure a delivery truck will be able to go under it.

[3rdgen.maple]

13 foot is the clearance specs on trucks.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Go out a rent a 13' high truck and use it as your work platform:o

[maplecrest]

13 feet for trucks ? what state you in ? i had mine at 14 and got pulled down by a big box truck. called state police and they said 13.5 feet. all mine now at 16 feet and still makes me uneasy.to watch log trucks go thru. one with its seat up would hook a line. put all mine up with loader.

[red maples]

How far of a span is it ?? if it is a driveway with a tree on both sides then what is that 20 ft or so. rent or buy a come-a-long, see what size of a cable comes with it I think they are like 5-10 feet depending on size. see if your rental place has an extesion cable or buy a piece. then attach to both trees and tighten it up that should be more than strong enough, so you can lean your latter against it and it should be no problem at all.

we acutally did something like that but it was to change a motor out of my dad's old pick-up we put the chain between 2 trees tighten it up with a come-a-long put a chain hoist on it pushed the car under and pulled a staight 6 cycl. (with the trany attached) rolled the truck back, took off all the mounts and stuff changed it out for the new one raised up rolled the truck back in lined up easy as pie. We had the come-a-long and chain and chain hoist on hand.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Im curious what will happen to the main line wire streched between two trees 15' in the air when the wind starts blowing and the trees start swaying back and fourth at differant times:o Main line wire at 3-4 of the ground are alot differant than 15'.

[3rdgen.maple]

13 feet for trucks ? what state you in ? i had mine at 14 and got pulled down by a big box truck. called state police and they said 13.5 feet. all mine now at 16 feet and still makes me uneasy.to watch log trucks go thru. one with its seat up would hook a line. put all mine up with loader.

My dad made a career driving trucks and by law he could not load a trailer or flatbed or anything for that matter higher than 13foot. Anything higher would equal fines. I was saying that the height of a truck is not suppose to exceed 13 foot without a special permit and a planned route. Now with that said if you are on flat ground you can get away with the minimal to clear that. But if there is any kind of grade difference in the area you have to take that into consideration. You can drive around NY and see the signs with this clearance posted.

[brookledge]

As I said I have done it with a ladder and had no problem. Just remember as you climb the ladder your weight will push the main away causing the ladder angle to increase. So keep the ladder as straight as possible when you start.
I had to use a ladder because I couldn't drive to all of the area. Obsticales prevented that. And wind or swaying doesn't affect it at all. Mine has been up about 8 years.
Keith

[Haynes Forest Products]

One of the funniest things I ever saw was a 250lbs buddie put a 12' ladder on a tree branch that was about 11' 8" high and just when he got to the top it sank in the ground. Dang that was a real pisser:o

[DS Maple]

This is how we did it.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Scott has about the best and safest idea. Get a neighbor or friend that has a tractor with bucket for a little while move the tractor down or up the mainline while you are in the bucket tying it. Main thing is be careful about moving the tractor with the bucket up the in the air that high, it can tip the tractor very easily.

[gdtowne]

Someone had mentioned the idea of doing all the work at ground level. Lay the wire And mainline at ground level, on the intended trajectory, pull it fairly tight, and tie them together. Then attach wire at the points you expect to connect the line to the adjacent trees. Put the ladder against the trees, a solid backing, and climb the wire up into the tree. Pull the to wires, on opposite side tight, slowly, working back and forth, and the line will slowly rise up into the air. This is how we do all our lines, they self mediate differences in elevation, and the slack in either 'to tree wires' will allow the trees to move fairly freely, and there will be little chance of the line coming down. Regardless, you should keep in mind that the tubing will be heavier with sap in it, should there be an ice jam, or blockage, and could lower the level of the line slightly. Hope all works out for you,

Gerry

[mtnmeadowmplfarm]

I'm with Gerry, I've installed several sections of high mainline and sapladders, always worked from the ground with the exception of a ladder on a high anchor tree. Pull the wire and tension it slightly, then wire tie your pipe and tension the wire. I usually find an old tree limb on the ground to push the wire and pipe up the tree. Works great and there are no fancy ladder maneuvers.

[sapman]

A friend of ours has enjoyed telling us of the time he wanted to cut a tree branch up high. He put the ladder against the branch, cut the part he wanted off, but as that part was severed, the relieved weight caused the rest of the branch to spring up. Well, his ladder should have been longer, because the branch popped up higher than the ladder and he rode the ladder all the way to the ground.

Tim

[MapleChaser]

I'm with Gerry, I've installed several sections of high mainline and sapladders, always worked from the ground with the exception of a ladder on a high anchor tree. Pull the wire and tension it slightly, then wire tie your pipe and tension the wire. I usually find an old tree limb on the ground to push the wire and pipe up the tree. Works great and there are no fancy ladder maneuvers.

Iam new to this areial pipeline. I was going to do a mock setup on the ground tie my wet and dry line to a 1/4 inch cable that is under tension.

Release the tension then drag the pipeline up threw the ledges and hook it to a anchor tree then drag the other end up into the ledges and hook it to the come a long and tension it up. Each areial span will be about 150 feet. will have to do this 3 times before I get back to flat ground. Hope it works. Any thoughts?

MC

[mtnmeadowmplfarm]

If you release the tension on the cable and then try to re tension, your line will be plagued with snaking pipe. How high in the air will your line be? I have run them as high as 15' and had no difficulty wire tieing from the ground when tension is relieved from the cable.

[maple flats]

If those other ideas don't seem to work look at your local rental store. Most seem to have trailers with high lift platforms or buckets, many allow positioning from up high but not movement of the trailer for fairly reasonable rates. More costly but more control is a self propelled high lift where the operator can drive it from up in the platform.
good luck,
Dave

[maple flats]

Many trucks (semi's) have a sign saying "clearance 13'6"" , in the US 14' is the minimum allowed clearance over roadways unless a prominate sign is posted showing a lower clearance. In a nearby city, Syracuse, there is one bridge underpass with many sign, flashing lights, lighted signs and some sleepy trucker seems to take his 13'6" rig under the 12'5" clearance and make the news at least every few months. Try to keep your line a safe measure above the 14' to be good during ice storms and heavy sap loads. You would loose too much and if during the season a repair might be impossible if you are busy boiling high sap flows.

[jrthe3]

string two cables hang from one like a sipline and tie the mainline to the other then take sipline cable and move to the next one