EA 72" Wicked Grapple on Utility Tractor Installed

[rustyshakelford]

Well done!

Thanks. From the king of clean installs like yourself I think it turned out good.

I had both mine done about 3 years ago. It was a Blessing. Surgery was over in about 20 minutes and it felt like someone turned the volume up on my fingers when they cut the ligament in my right hand. It was instant. Left one was a bit worse, but there was a lot more scar tissue in that one for some reason (I'm right handed). The poor intern cutting it might have been better off with a sawzall or at least a wiz wheel. Felt like she was hacking on over cooked steak. Feeling didn't return as quickly in that one, but it did come back as the drugs wore off.

Did you do the full opening incision, or did they hook it with the cutter and pull?

Last thing I remembered was moving over to the surgical table and holding the mask. Then waking up in recovery. I think he made an incision in my palm and wrist and ran a camera to where he needed and cut. Really should've educated myself a little more but so far it's gone good. Can't stand having my hand wrapped for week and not being able to take it off though. My right hand was worse than my left but I'm thinking it won't get better on its own so might as well get it fixed too while we are at it

Brett

 

[Jim Timber]

This was mine the first day the bandage came off.

Doing push ups palm down was tricky for a bit over a year (or anything requiring that movement or weight bearing), but in time it gets better. I got by, by using a loose fist push instead (straight wrist).

Anyone reading this - if you have nerve compression symptoms, don't put it off. Just get it fixed. The longer the nerves are entrapped, the higher the probability they won't rebound and you'll be stuck with limited function.

 

[rustyshakelford]

I agree its worse to put it off. We went fishing today and my right hand was fine but my left which is scheduled for tues kept going numb. That's a good sign I'm doing what needs to be done. I'll have to try push ups soon but I think its gonna hurt.

Brett

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Bret I've got CT in both wrists and tendinosis in both elbows from a life of grabbing junk. Both elbows have been operated on but didn't take and I'm still wearing tennis elbow support on both forearms 10 years after surgery.

My CT in both wrists eventually went away but my grip strength dropped from 180 pounds to 145 pounds from my doctor severing the nerves to fire all of the muscle fibers that are used to grip. Sadly the doctor didn't think it was important to tell me that I'd lose strength.

I hope your outcome is much better than mine.

 

[rustyshakelford]

Bret I've got CT in both wrists and tendinosis in both elbows from a life of grabbing junk. Both elbows have been operated on but didn't take and I'm still wearing tennis elbow support on both forearms 10 years after surgery.

My CT in both wrists eventually went away but my grip strength dropped from 180 pounds to 145 pounds from my doctor severing the nerves to fire all of the muscle fibers that are used to grip. Sadly the doctor didn't think it was important to tell me that I'd lose strength.

I hope your outcome is much better than mine.

I had no idea about the loss of grip strength. That's terrible. I guess I'm a few weeks away from testing mine. We have to do if annually for work so I'll have years to compare against.

Brett

 

[Jim Timber]

I lost a little grip strength, but it was from ulnar nerve impingement which caused wasting in my hands (I've had both elbows worked on for that too). The ligament severing for CTS does reduce some of the structure in your hand so you can't generate the same forces, but had I not done the surgery, I wouldn't have been able to feel anything to grasp. My hands were waking me up at night from the pins and needles, and I was randomly dropping stuff several times a day because I just didn't feel it anymore.

I still have some nerve wonkiness, but I have no regrets about any of the four surgeries. Nerve damage supposedly takes 3x longer to recover than it did to set in, so I was impaired for 2-3 years prior to surgery and could take 6-9 to figure out if I'm going to make a 100% recovery. So far things are way better than pre-op, but I'm not back to pre-condition function. I just keep an eye on the signals and stop working when things are acting up. Some days I can go for 10 hours, some days I'm toast after 2.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Looks great Brett! The design of your euro/global to universal quick attach adapter kept the grapple surprisingly close to your loader. Nice work!
Travis

 

[rustyshakelford]

Looks great Brett! The design of your euro/global to universal quick attach adapter kept the grapple surprisingly close to your loader. Nice work!
Travis

Thanks. It only added a few inches. Nothing bad at all. I have been working with pretty hard and it's performed flawlessly.

I added another hose clamp to help clean up the hoses on the loader better. It works but still not 100% happy with it. Just needs some tweaking still.

Brett

 

[EverythingAttachments]

We look forward to seeing, and hearing more about how you like it!
Your home is beautiful BTW!
Travis

 

[landpride64]

Little off topic here but what type of LED light bar is that? Have you used it when it is snowing out? I'm wondering how bright and if you get snow buildup thus dimming the brightness.

Good looking setup.