Grapple build question

[mikester]

You can order most any size bronze bushings online, or on E-Bay.

I put nuts on the ends of my two primary pins (had to thread the pins).
Others, I just drilled holes through, and used "hair pins" at each end.

Use bolts with nylon lock nuts. Hair pins are the wrong thing for grapples IMHO. You will discover that when your grapple is doing the funky chicken moving brush because your pin and hair pin are lost in a field somewhere. Hair pins last about 30 seconds in the field when moving brush.

Go look at some real construction equipment bosses and pins for good ideas. Small AG stuff ie. SCUTs/CUTs tend to be marginally built and aren't a great starting point.

 

[fried1765]

Use bolts with nylon lock nuts. Hair pins are the wrong thing for grapples IMHO. You will discover that when your grapple is doing the funky chicken moving brush because your pin and hair pin are lost in a field somewhere. Hair pins last about 30 seconds in the field when moving brush.

Go look at some real construction equipment bosses and pins for good ideas. Small AG stuff ie. SCUTs/CUTs tend to be marginally built and aren't a great starting point.

Pins, with threaded on lock nuts, is what I am using for the open/close grapple pivots.
For the hyd. cyl pivot pins, I am using a piece of brazed on flat stock across one pin end, and a hair pin through the pin at the other end.
I am not concerned about pins falling out after" 30 seconds in the field when moving brush", because I will not be clearing the African jungle with my light duty grapple.

 

[oosik]

If I were building my own - the pins would be bolts. Six sided head with washer on one end - nylock nut with washer on the other. As you can see in the picture I posted - Land Pride, like many others, uses some form of bushed out head on one end and a keeper system on the other end. Seems overly complicated, but it works.

 

[fried1765]

If I were building my own - the pins would be bolts. Six sided head with washer on one end - nylock nut with washer on the other. As you can see in the picture I posted - Land Pride, like many others, uses some form of bushed out head on one end and a keeper system on the other end. Seems overly complicated, but it works.

I needed a way to put zerks at every wear point, and although I could certainly use steel bolts, drilling the length of them for zerks would not be easy (I do have a big drill press, but do not have a lathe)
Brass stock is much easier for me to drill, and with grease, I doubt that there will ever be much wear on the brass.
If so...just replace the brass pins, as there should be no wear on the parent steel material.

 

[oosik]

WHOA!!! Greasing. This is how it's been done on my Land Pride grapple. The carrier pipe is drilled & tapped and grease zerk installed at the half way point on the carrier pipe. I grease - grease comes out both ends of the carrier pipe. I call it a carrier pipe because I don't know what else to call it. What you are seeing here - the back connection> where the hydraulic ram connects to the upper lid. The forward connection> where the upper lid connects to and pivots on the body of the grapple.

 

[fasttruck860]

After some additional research I'm going to use 4140HT rod for the pin. If I use the brass bushings I'll just through bolt the rod with nylon lock nut. If not then I'll be similar to construction equipment with bolted/welded washer on one end and pinned/bolted on the other.

 

[fried1765]

WHOA!!! Greasing. This is how it's been done on my Land Pride grapple. The carrier pipe is drilled & tapped and grease zerk installed at the half way point on the carrier pipe. I grease - grease comes out both ends of the carrier pipe. I call it a carrier pipe because I don't know what else to call it. What you are seeing here - the back connection> where the hydraulic ram connects to the upper lid. The forward connection> where the upper lid connects to and pivots on the body of the grapple.

View attachment 695889

WHOA!!! Greasing. This is how it's been done on my Land Pride grapple. The carrier pipe is drilled & tapped and grease zerk installed at the half way point on the carrier pipe. I grease - grease comes out both ends of the carrier pipe. I call it a carrier pipe because I don't know what else to call it. What you are seeing here - the back connection> where the hydraulic ram connects to the upper lid. The forward connection> where the upper lid connects to and pivots on the body of the grapple.

View attachment 695889

Mine grapple is not built like that, so I must bore each pin, for a zerk at one end

 

[jthibodeau89]

After some additional research I'm going to use 4140HT rod for the pin. If I use the brass bushings I'll just through bolt the rod with nylon lock nut. If not then I'll be similar to construction equipment with bolted/welded washer on one end and pinned/bolted on the other.

For my 430 loader bucket timing rod and replacement pivot pins i went with 1144 fatigue resistant steel. A little easier to machine in my application. But i do have a lathe in my workshop.

 

[fasttruck860]

I really want a lathe for the shop but everything I find around here is $1.5K min, it's original, pretty old and huge. I just don't know enough about older lathes to know what to look for or how to fix them should there be a problem.

 

[LD1]

I guess one thing I dont think has been addressed is the style of the grapple.

The long bottom tine type....some call L style....the lid hinges are not under that much stress. I have a tommahawk grapple.....just bolts and lock nuts. No grease. I do hit them with some aerosol lube from time to time though.

The pics that oosik posted, where the cylinders are behind the grapple...those pivots are under quite a bit of stress. Just the design differences.

As to a lathe....find someone who is a machinist and take with you if you are looking at old iron. Let them give you an honest assesment of what is needed. THen see if you can actually get parts. Because some parts may be obsolete. Or things may be wrong that arent worth fixing and you spend alot of money for a pile of scrap. Or you may find one that may seem like junk, and be sloppy, and all it needs are the adjusters tightened up a bit.

I have one lathe in my shop, thats a buddies. Its a POS that I am just storing for him. The carriage is very sloppy next to the headstock and out about 12". Where 99% of the work is done. You can tighten the gibs up....but then cannot move the carriage more than 12". The ways are worn real bad. The lathe is pretty much junk other than a horizontal drill press or making something with wery loose tolerances or poor finishes. Not something I'd be making pins and bushings on for something like an excavator boom