We had a tree stump in our back yard , it’s diameter is about a little bit more than 4 feet, it had bothered us for a few years, we’ve tried chainsaw on it but nothing can go through it, lately we bought a 4 ton rated cable puller , together with my truck pulled the stump out like a decayed molar in a few minutes!
Cable pullers are great multipurpose and heavy duty hand tools that any handy man should have them around in their work places. The rated capacity of cable puller usually comes in from 1 ton to 4 ton(2200lbs to 8800lbs), the reach of the pullers is usually 6 feet to 12 feet, the higher the capacity, the shorter the reach, 1 ton puller can have 12′ reach while 4 ton puller will only have 6′ reach, but some extra heavy duty 4 ton ones can have 11′ or more. We usually call cable puller “Come Along“, by definition, a come along is a hand operated ratchet lever winch, so cable puller can be called come along, along with chain puller, chain hoist, hand winch, trailer winch. The difference between cable puller and other come alongs is that cable pullers are considered heavy duty tools, pull capacity can be 4 ton(8800lbs), while regular hand winch has 400-4000lbs capacity and mostly used to pull boat out of or lower boat into water from trailer, sometimes also called boat trailer winch.
Before you buy a cable puller or similar product, you should know it’s features and applications. A regular cable puller will have a cable guide , which keeps 2 wraps of cable on ratchet wheel, and you can release loads one notch at a time, so you can lower a vehicle or tree safely, it usually has a laminated steel ratchet wheel, rust resistant plated steel, drop forged steel safety hooks, it features aircraft cable, 4 ton one will have 5/16” galvanized aircraft cable, and all the cable pullers will have to meet OSHA and ASME specs. Typically the cable pullers will have two slip safety hooks with latch, but some super heavy duty ones have 3 safety hooks for enhanced protection.
For stretching, pulling, lifting and lowering, cable pullers are the best choice. To pull vehicles onto the trailer or release the vehicle off the trailer, hold or drag trees when you’re logging, to lift or lower heavy stuff in your house, pull the stuck trees out of somewhere , compare to electric powered winch, such as electric winch , cable pullers are inexpensive handy tools.