Grapple Which type of grapple is best suited for...

[Xfaxman]

Nice looking grapple, who makes that bad boy?

Sidney Manufacturing Company, The Gorilla Grapple: 6 Tine Gorilla Grapple - attachments for skid steer loaders, small compact construction equipment - Sidney Manufacturing Co. LLC

 

[Midniteoyl]

Seems to me that the ones I see damaged are actually light duty ones.. Even if not sold that way.

 

[IslandTractor]

Just a few counterpoints to consider on the Gorilla grapple:

1) clearly designed and marketed for commercial skid steer use. From brochure it appears to be intended for breaking up concrete pavement. Not an all purpose design.

2) bottom tines are a foot or more apart so lots of stuff will fall out.

3) weighs 900lbs. I suspect my little CK20 with 1070 lbs lift and a 270lb grapple could lift more than any sub40hp CUT or toolcat mounting this beast.

4) $$$$$$3875 plus shipping.

 

[murphy1244]

Seems to me that the ones I see damaged are actually light duty ones.. Even if not sold that way.

I have not seen too many at all damaged, you have any links?

 

[Xfaxman]

Just a few counterpoints to consider on the Gorilla grapple:

1) clearly designed and marketed for commercial skid steer use. From brochure it appears to be intended for breaking up concrete pavement. Not an all purpose design. Right, it is hard to pick up big chunks of concrete because if you squeeze too much it will break it into little chunks!

Notice the fresh break where I squeezed too hard earlier.


2) bottom tines are a foot or more apart so lots of stuff will fall out. Not a problem with cedar trees.

3) weighs 900lbs. I suspect my little CK20 with 1070 lbs lift and a 270lb grapple could lift more than any sub40hp CUT or toolcat mounting this beast.

I don't think it would out lift My Toolcat 5610 series F. I put the crane scale on the empty SSQA plate and measured 3000 lbs of lift.


4) $$$$$$3875 plus shipping. I bought a used one.

Our place was overgrown with cedar trees so I started cutting with a tree shear and making burn piles with this clamshell style on the V518.


To pick up a tree, you had to drive around parallel to the trunk.


After I got the V417, to save time I wanted a grapple that would penetrate the tree from any angle.
The Gorilla Grapple is what I got.


Works good on dead trees also.

 

[TomSeller]

Xfaxman, you sure have some nice grapples, I am going to keep them on my wish list. They are over the head of most posters on this forum that have small tractors, but no less they can move some serious debris.

There are basically two discussion themes when it comes to grapples and a both are correct. Common sense sized grapples for smaller CUTs and SCUTs. Man sized grapples for those with larger machines with over ~2000 lbs of lift. Maybe a third category for those that simply need to move a lot of light debris.

 

[IslandTractor]

I like Xfaxman's photos but as Tom points out, most of us are not using Versahandlers or similar size equipment. I exaggerated a bit with the CK20 vs Toolcat comment but not by that much. Lift at the pivot point/attachment plate at ground level is higher than they typically compared rated max lift at full height. I know a CK20 will lift 1070lbs to full height so maybe 1400-1500lbs on a scale like Xfaxman used at close to ground level. Subtract the weight of the light duty EA grapple at ?250lbs and you get maybe 1200lbs or so of net lift at ground level. Not bad. Take Xfaxman's Toolcat with 3000 at ground level and subtract 900 for the grapple and you get a net lift capacity of 2100. My DK40 has 2700lbs of lift to full height so probably a bit more than his Toolcat at ground level. Bottom line is that the DK, if roughly equivalent to his Toolcat, would lift 900-250 or 650lbs more load simply because of the lower grapple weight. Not knocking the Gorilla just pointing out that there are downsides to be considered and therefore you better have a real good reason to need that sort of build quality. Looks like Xfaxman does but most of us need a general duty grapple so the smaller ones make more sense.

 

[TSO]

XFaxman... where does one find a scale like that? I'd like to give it a try, see what kind of lift mine actually has! I'm rated 2638# (pins) at full lift, so I'd love to see what I could do at ground level. I'm rated at 4354# breakout force (per the manufacturer) .. I wonder if that would count at ground level. I keep hearing different schools of thought on that. Some say the breakout is your curl force. Some say it's your "lift" force at ground level. Some say it's a combined number.

blah blah blah... anyhow, it would be neat to try that scale !

I like your grapple too... Looks very HD built. probably overkill for me, especially since you probably run much higher hyrdaulic PSI than I do in that Toolcat... I doubt my tractor could make it break concrete like that.

 

[TomSeller]

... I doubt my tractor could make it break concrete like that.

Note there is no rebar in that concrete. Concrete has little tensile strength on the fracturing side. Still, impressive grapples though.

 

[Xfaxman]

Xfaxman, you sure have some nice grapples, I am going to keep them on my wish list. They are over the head of most posters on this forum that have small tractors, but no less they can move some serious debris.

There are basically two discussion themes when it comes to grapples and a both are correct. Common sense sized grapples for smaller CUTs and SCUTs. Man sized grapples for those with larger machines with over ~2000 lbs of lift. Maybe a third category for those that simply need to move a lot of light debris.

Thanks, there are some other lighter ones available now that don't have bracing between the tines.

I like Xfaxman's photos but as Tom points out, most of us are not using Versahandlers or similar size equipment. I exaggerated a bit with the CK20 vs Toolcat comment but not by that much. Lift at the pivot point/attachment plate at ground level is higher than they typically compared rated max lift at full height. I know a CK20 will lift 1070lbs to full height so maybe 1400-1500lbs on a scale like Xfaxman used at close to ground level. Subtract the weight of the light duty EA grapple at ?250lbs and you get maybe 1200lbs or so of net lift at ground level. Not bad. Take Xfaxman's Toolcat with 3000 at ground level and subtract 900 for the grapple and you get a net lift capacity of 2100. My DK40 has 2700lbs of lift to full height so probably a bit more than his Toolcat at ground level. Bottom line is that the DK, if roughly equivalent to his Toolcat, would lift 900-250 or 650lbs more load simply because of the lower grapple weight. Not knocking the Gorilla just pointing out that there are downsides to be considered and therefore you better have a real good reason to need that sort of build quality. Looks like Xfaxman does but most of us need a general duty grapple so the smaller ones make more sense.

The scale was at ground level, the lift arm was about 4' high. I need to park it on my trailer, to get the scale under the QA plate, and see how much it changes from all the way down, to fully up.

XFaxman... where does one find a scale like that? I'd like to give it a try, see what kind of lift mine actually has! I'm rated 2638# (pins) at full lift, so I'd love to see what I could do at ground level. I'm rated at 4354# breakout force (per the manufacturer) .. I wonder if that would count at ground level. I keep hearing different schools of thought on that. Some say the breakout is your curl force. Some say it's your "lift" force at ground level. Some say it's a combined number.

blah blah blah... anyhow, it would be neat to try that scale !

I like your grapple too... Looks very HD built. probably overkill for me, especially since you probably run much higher hyrdaulic PSI than I do in that Toolcat... I doubt my tractor could make it break concrete like that.

Found the DigiWeigh DWP-5000C2X Crane Scale on eBay in March for $310, looks like the price has gone up.

The hyrdaulic PSI on the Versahandler is 3626, the Toolcat is 3000. From the Gorilla Grapple Website:

The 3000 lb. output of your skid steer translates to over 37,000 lbs. of mechanical pressure at the end of the jaws.

So 2500 PSI from a tractor would still break concrete.

More scale pictures here: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/bobcat-construction-equipment/275747-v417-max-lift.html