tools for trundling

Hello, fellow MP developers and the inevitable MP trolls and haters.  There is a sizable detached block on a route I am hoping to develop.  though it is too big to dislodge with pushing, kicking, and yelling at it. I have heard that some developers use a car jack to remove choss that is too heavy to push.  I assume that a screw/scissor type jack would fit under the rock the best, but was hoping to get some other peoples input before I go out and buy a jack (I know a 20$ jack is not that expensive) so that I end up buying the best jack for the job.  

thanks and good luck with your own developments.

Have you tried a long prybar? Leverage can work wonders. 

I once got 6 Toyota mechanical jacks from under seats in a junk yard - cheap, every truck I looked in had one. They’ve got close to an 8” extension, more than a small bottle jack. The older model Toyotas, like 80’s, have a lower profile than later models

Hydraulic jacks can be fussy in horizontal positions or upside down, not so with a mechanical jack, plus twisting motion is better in tight places than up and down, and you can work farther away from the jack with extensions. Plus no fluid leaks

A five foot San Angelo bar works wonders too, and it’s a more versatile tool

In my old age I have relied less on mechanical advantages and instead turned to chemical advantages. My friend Alfred Nobel invented a nice stable compound that works wonders. It does blow some people's minds but it does the job.

You can come to my place and borrow my winch put in a bolt in the detached rock attached the winch to a tree provided the rock doesn’t weigh more than 500lbs.

Save yourself some coin?  Drill a hole in a 4 foot 2X4 from your shed and lanyard it?

I vote for the pry bar idea or depending on how chossy the route is, beat the block apart with a sledgehammer (something that worked today)

You will need more space than you think to get a car jack under there, they can be pretty wide so I'd just make sure and measure the crack or hole or whatever you're gonna be jacking on

Use the jack that is in your car already

Will the crag freeze this winter? You could fill the back of the block with water in late fall if its sheltered and this doesn't already happen. If it will leak out you could try using some old plastic bottles and wedging them down there full. The water will expand when it freezes and pop your block right off.

the very best method is to rig up a salvaged airbag behind the block.  activate the ignitor, and problem solved. 

Stileswrote:

the very best method is to rig up a salvaged airbag behind the block.  activate the ignitor, and problem solved. 

I vote this!

Please video and share if you do it though! 

Pneumatic pillow jacks are also used for this as they can be safer than a long prybar. Examples start from about 5:10 into the video (use the link, controls don't work in the embedded video).

https://vimeo.com/378224015

I used to work in Rock stabilization.   We used aluminum scaling bars but those are about $250.  We had pneumatic air bag jacks that we used but they’re super expensive too and you would need a compressor and pressure control box to run them.  I preferred a good pry bar and with 20 mins of heaving you can move some pretty significantly stuck rocks.   This might work for you but it’ll be heavy.

https://www.heimanfireequipment.com/products/rock-bar-pry-bar?variant=14385774559274&currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxLDpypTH8gIVJWxvBB2B-ghGEAQYAiABEgKsufD_BwE

Burke bar would be the pry bar I’d take if I needed to trundle some serious choss. 

Also, if you can get the block to move some with a bar and it drops back into place, bring up a few smaller chunks of rock and use those as wedges as you pry the block away from the wall.  You can also use the wedged small blocks to lever your bar with and get good angles to get the leverage you need.