Broke my grapple ( Am I the only one?)

GregbkH · May 14, 2012

Well, user error caused my grapple to break. I was pushing over trees while making a food plot in my woods. I did not see that I had the grapple tilted too far down and the center tooth on the jaw of the grapple contacted the tree before the bottom tines. When I pushed the tree it put too much stress on the jaw and it punctured the top rail of the grapples box tubing like a can opener.

I found out that the grapples box tubing only has an 1/8" wall thickness. The grapples box tubing is 3 1/2" square. I took a piece of 4" square box tubing with 1/4" wall thickness and cut one side off. I plan on cutting off the cylinder bracket and sleeving the original box tubing with my new piece and then welding the original cylinder bracket back on. Any thoughts?

Here is what I was doing.

whitedogone · May 14, 2012

Looks like that will be a good and quick fix. Stuff happens.

GregbkH · May 15, 2012

Hey thanks for the reply!

Groo · May 16, 2012

how did they ever figure that wouldn't break like that?

TRR · May 16, 2012

how did they ever figure that wouldn't break like that?

Probably hoping no one would notice

Dadof3 · May 16, 2012

I have a Wildkat 48 inch economy grapple just like yours. After one week of use it broke exactly like yours. Same place, same fashion. I was working it relatively hard but certainly not abusing it. They definitely have a design flaw with that thin tubing. Not a big deal, I'll just fix it similar to the way you did. I do think other members should know this before buying one.

nickel plate · May 16, 2012

Dadof3 said:
I have a Wildkat 48 inch economy grapple just like yours. After one week of use it broke exactly like yours. Same place, same fashion. I was working it relatively hard but certainly not abusing it. They definitely have a design flaw with that thin tubing. Not a big deal, I'll just fix it similar to the way you did. I do think other members should know this before buying one.

The enticement of a really low priced grapple after just looking at a bunch of dressy pictures seems to overcome most of us during the $buying$ phase. You got what you paid for-under engineered junk with possible additional fix it $shipping charges$ as well as your down time to make it right. No offense Dadof3, it's also happened to me but not with Wildkat.

GregbkH · May 16, 2012

I can't complain. It still is a decent grapple for the price. However, they should have extended the bracket across the top and down the back side of the box tubing like the did the front side.

Side view before break.

dirt ditch · May 17, 2012

Wow, I wouldn't have thought they would skimp with 1/8 inch thick tubing for the top of the frame. Cheap is cheap.

Gary Fowler · May 17, 2012

Looks like your attachment points are also pulling against the thin wall tubing. Looks like PP design to me. Built cheap to sell cheap. For $50 more they could have put 1/4" wall tubing on that main frame or even 3/8 for much better strength. Why have 3/8 or 1/2" tines attached to 1/8 tubing and doesnt look like it has a scab plate to spread the load across a larger area like it should have