Making My Grapple Better Suited For Loose Wood

[wvpolekat]

So, I have my grapple on my kubota bucket. It is 20" wide, with 2 tines.

While it works great for picking up larger items, it stinks for picking up brush and loose firewood.

Looking for ideas on how to make it work better for items like this.

I would like it to be something that I can put on/off. It does not have to be very heavy, 90% of its use will be picking up split firewood. I get it delivered by a dump truck and then take it to the basement stairs with the bucket and dump it down them. Not having to manually stack it in the bucket would be a great time saver.

 

[beeforty]

I saw somewhere someone used seperate cylinders and arms teed off of same valve. Reason being that as one made contact and pressure built up the other kept moving and would eventually build up pressure. You could then pick up unequal l-r sized objects.

 

[/pine]

I leave the brush long until I move it to where I'm disposing of it i.e., usually burning it...but AI have considered a couple of different modifications to the typical loader bucket grapple...

a piece of heavy expanded steel with a light frame could be attached to the grapple...?

I am currently working on an "attachment" to my grapple that compresses leaves into the bucket...ala 'pacman'

 

[dawoodwa]

Is that grapple made specifically for a loader bucket? It looks more like a thumb for a backhoe.

 

[wvpolekat]

Is that grapple made specifically for a loader bucket? It looks more like a thumb for a backhoe.

Does it matter? They are not inherently different. One is just wider than the other. But, yes it is.

 

[dawoodwa]

Doesn't matter but the ones designed for a loader are wider and from my experience have two cylinders. I have a cousin that has something similar to yours on his CUT but he has two of them, one on each side and can control them independently from each other.

 

[IslandTractor]

If you have metal fabrication skills, just build a clamp on upper jaw bridge that will attach to the existing upper jaw but extend it out about a foot on each side. You can see what the forces would be as you clamp down on brush and just need to design the "bridge" accordingly. Something like a 1/4 or 3/8 x 1"x3" steel should be fine for the frame and perhaps rebar to fill the spaces a bit. Welding would be quickest but it could also be bolted together. Could even be made of wood. Obviously you would only use it to lightly clamp brush but that's all you need with a bucket grapple as gravity will keep the load in the bucket and you just need to prevent it from falling out forwards.

 

[6sunset6]

I have exactly the same one. I use it a lot for picking up logs. Then I chain saw both ends to the bucket , throw them in and take it all to the splitter by the wood shed. I use it for brush piles as well. I curl the bucket all the way over and then close up the grapple arm . With logs some times it takes me a couple of trys. I have thought a lot about extending the bite a little bit, the the extend that I made some patterns for the extensions. Have not got to it yet and have all ways managed to move what I have to move.

 

[nickel plate]

So, I have my grapple on my kubota bucket. It is 20" wide, with 2 tines.

While it works great for picking up larger items, it stinks for picking up brush and loose firewood.

Looking for ideas on how to make it work better for items like this.

I would like it to be something that I can put on/off. It does not have to be very heavy, 90% of its use will be picking up split firewood. I get it delivered by a dump truck and then take it to the basement stairs with the bucket and dump it down them. Not having to manually stack it in the bucket would be a great time saver.

wvpolekat, help me understand:
Is the grapple that you actually have on your bucket the exact same size as seen in the attached photo? I ask this because if you go to the manufacture's website, the photo example that you have shown is the smallest (20") version and also the most eliptical in shape. The 24", 28", 32" and 36" versions all have more of a straighter shank up to the toothed curvature.

You say that "it stinks for picking brush" so please expand on that statement in regard to what the difficulties are.

Do you have a toothbar on your bucket?

Did you find any difficulty in selecting the grapple size to match your bucket?

I ask these questions as I am in the process of selecting a bucket grapple as I plumb my hydraulics forward to the bucket.
Thanks, Jerry

 

[wvpolekat]

wvpolekat, help me understand:
Is the grapple that you actually have on your bucket the exact same size as seen in the attached photo? I ask this because if you go to the manufacture's website, the photo example that you have shown is the smallest (20") version and also the most eliptical in shape. The 24", 28", 32" and 36" versions all have more of a straighter shank up to the toothed curvature.

You say that "it stinks for picking brush" so please expand on that statement in regard to what the difficulties are.

Do you have a toothbar on your bucket?

Did you find any difficulty in selecting the grapple size to match your bucket?

I ask these questions as I am in the process of selecting a bucket grapple as I plumb my hydraulics forward to the bucket.
Thanks, Jerry

Yes, it is that model, the smallest, 20" one. I have never measured it, so I am not sure where the 20" comes from. *insert quick trip to garage* It is 18 inches wide and 21" from pivot to tip.

For picking up lager items like stumps, trees, logs. It works fine.

For smaller items, like loose brush or cut and split firewood, you rarely are able to "grab" more than a little because the amount of bucket that it does not cover. Brush isn't too bad as long as you can grab it in a way that it "bunches" pretty well. Loose firewood, it is useless. As you would expect it doesn't cover enough of the bucket to hold it in there.

No, I do not have a toothbar.

I selected this size because I wanted small. My original intent was to be able to pickup logs to split and then the wood would go straight from the splitter into the basement where the stove is. As I am still in phase 1 of this, and I don't have a splitter yet, I need to improvise to make it work for the rest of winter. By summer, I will have a splitter and will just buy whole logs. Then, if it is dry enough, I may not have to buy split wood next winter.

My current plan is to build a "grid" type structure from angle iron that will cover most of the bucket opening. It doesn't have to be terribly strong, since I only intend to pick up loose firewood from a pile with it, but I suspect I will bend/break it at least once. Since I will have a couple feet of unsupported steel out there. But, never know, if all it has to do is scrape it into the bucket, it may not be bad.