Forks Would this brush fork work?

[tuolumne]

I cooked this up on my way to work this morning. Please share your thoughts or experiences. I will shortly be buying a JD3520 with 300cx loader, 61" HD bucket and an ATI grapple attachment. I will be clearing logs and brush with this setup. It seems some tines would make the whole system a lot more effective for brush, perhaps even getting under a log. Has anyone done something similar? I want a setup that can be quickly rotated out of the way without tools to do other loader work. I've shown a tine that projects about 10" past the bucket. Is this far enough? I just realized the top stop will interfere with the ATI bolts and bracket. Any ideas there? Maybe just a bungee strap?

View attachment GRAPPLE.pdf

 

[Doug_Norman]

I like this design where you can swing them out of the way. I built a set of spikes that I bolt to the underside of my bucket. Mine are heavy 1 1/2" square tubing 4 feet long with 3 feet exposed beyond the bucket edge. The foot or so below the bucket is reinforced with more tubing on each side. I needed them long for cedar brush piles and stumps. Even though they are heavy, I still manage to bend them. Here are my thoughts:
1. I first tried clamping them on - they always moved around
2. use heavy gauge steel
3. having them on the sides of the bucket would be too wide for my application - might work for my brush piles, but not stumps
4. 10 inches past the bucket wouldn't work for me - I also use mine for moving 9" x 12' fence posts
5. having to bolt them on and off is a bit of a pain
6. when you have yours in the down position, you might want them to slip into a slot or something so they aren't easily bent sideways

 

[tuolumne]

Thanks Doug. The channel is a good idea to catch the tine. Using 2x2x3/8" tube steel would be stronger than the angles. I could use a 2x2 angle to create the slot. I'm not worried about the wide spacing as I'll probably grab stumps with the backhoe. You could bend a 2x2 tube pretty quick with a stump. Do the ends of your tines fill with dirt etc? If I use tubes, I would be temped to weld a plate over that open end.

 

[tuolumne]

OK, here's version 2. Any comments?
View attachment GRAPPLE2.pdf

 

[IslandTractor]

I think those thingies would be a pain in the butt and not accomplish much if anything. If you have a ATI grapple on your bucket you can rotate the bucket down to get the grapple over the log then clamp and you will be secure. If you want more security just add a regular tooth bar. For brush your idea is close to worthless as the brush would be in the middle of the bucket and would be held in place by the grapple arm alone with no contribution from the swingie things. I'm sure it would also be annoying to have those angle irons poking things and generally getting in the way too.

Bottom line: your device would not enhance but rather detract from the function of a decent grapple bucket.

That's what you get for trying to be creative too early in the morning. Wait until you get home from work and have a few brews before letting your genius out of the bag.