Which grapple?

[Pokeboater]

I have the Anbo grapple. It worked great at first. I would grab a pile of debris and would notice the tines would bend, but then they would spring back to the original position. After a few months, tines started bending and would not spring back and would keep the unit from closing. Being under warrantly, I called Anbo and they were pretty obnoxious about it. At first they told me my tractor was too big for the grapple (a JD 4720, funny when I called originally to get info on the unit they said it might be too big for the tractor). Then they basically said they weren't going to cover it period. I got my dealer involved who techinically bought the grapple from them. Long story short, the dealer heated and bent the tines back and put in steel reinforcements. I had to pay about half the cost (a couple hundred bucks) and either Anbo or the dealer ate the rest. Anbo specifically said that they denied any liability whether they paid any of it or not. After heating the tines they, of couse, lost their temper and most of them are bent again.

Unless you are doing really light work, I'd look at another brand that has stronger tines.

 

[IslandTractor]

I have the Anbo grapple. It worked great at first. I would grab a pile of debris and would notice the tines would bend,.

I wonder if this is related to the clamshell design where an asymmetric load could cause one end of the grapple to clamp on an object while the other side continues to try to close tighter and eventually bends the metal. If so then this is yet another reason for a simple single jawed grapple as there is less likelihood that any load would twist the narrow upper grapple.

The rationale given by Anbo in your case is pure BS. They chose the hydraulic cylinder size. Your tractor doesn't influence that at all.

 

[Hammy]

I ended up getting the ANBO GR-M (the medium duty) 72" wide. It is built very stout and weighs in at 370 lbs, which is what I was looking for. I like the idea of having one as wide as my bucket because I can cut in fire lines and work the brush along fences easier.

I'll post some pictures in a few hours.

Thanks for the responses,
Craig

 

[Hammy]

Here are some pictures of the ANBO GR-M 72".

Enjoy!

 

[civesnedfield]

Island didn't realize that you are now an official rep for Millonzi. Nice pic on their web page.

 

[IslandTractor]

Island didn't realize that you are now an official rep for Millonzi. Nice pic on their web page.

I bought the first one they sold back when they sold them on ebay. They saw the posts I made on TBN and asked if they could use one of them for their brochure. Cool! My 15 minutes of fame.

 

[air19]

Island,

I have read many of your grapple comments. Your latest replies on this thread bring up a couple more questions before I make my decision.

I'm about to trade my old Kubota M5030DT in for a new Kubota M7040. I want a grapple to move a lot of logs around and push back the edge of my fields where I need to grub out rocks, stumps. Harder work than just brush pile maintenance.

I wanted to ask you about your latest comment about 1 top arm vs. 2, where you argue that 1 is always best. For all my log loading work, I thought 2 would be much better to keep the log steady, with less tendency to tip.

I agree with all your comments about light weight, but with all my log moving, I am looking for a manufacturer who will beef up the sides where I expect most of the log tilting stress will occur. Would you still recommend the lighter grapples for a tractor as big as an M7040 given my hard use?

I'm looking at three options:

1. WR Long's new RBG2 60" with two arms, weighing only 365 lbs. Seems like a great combo, but maybe too light duty for my tractor.

2. Wildcat's 60" root grapple at 635 lbs.

3. A modified Millonzi 60" LD with beefed up sides increasing the weight to about 500 lbs.

Thoughts?

 

[air19]

Hammy,

I just looked at your profile and saw two pictures - one with your new AnBo grapple, and another with a bucket grapple.

Do you really own two now? When are you using the AnBo vs. the bucket grapple?

 

[Hammy]

air19,

I know I just got my grapple yesterday, but I have done lots of research. I have the 6 foot grapple made by ANBO, model GR-M. It has 1/2" outter tines and then 3/8" inner tines. This thing is very stout. Its upper arm goes across the width of the bottom grapple. Its just slightly shorter to fit between the outer tines.

The weight of the unit is 370 lbs which is amazing. It has an incredible amount of crushing force with the two 3000 psi cylinders on each end.

I was messing around with it about an hour ago and it did an excellent job at grabbing boulders as well as digging into the hard clay that is around here. I was able to break up the top 4" of clay as I raked it forward along the ground.

I'm not a salesman for them but I am happy with their grapple. I'm the guy that needs things to be heavy duty or they bust. They also make a standard and heavy duty model but they weigh about twice as much with 1/2" tines all the way across.

For what its worth, I like this unit but it is a lot more expensive.

Craig

 

[Hammy]

air19,

The bucket grapple was an ATI. It busted on me after about 2 hours of use. ATI bought it back and I upgraded to the AnBo.

The bucket grapple is a joke as fare as being able to pick things up. It will do it but not nearly as well as the grapple. You also have to deal with the open space in the bucket so picking up trees and such have to be longer then the width of your bucket.

Craig