Wild KAT attachments

[Missouri Pioneer]

Island, you have been preaching this sermon for quite awhile. I saw the light and have been trying to turn the flock on to the Wildkat econo 48" grapple, but our work is not yet done. (Cue choir).

 

[ksmmoto]

I had the same Quick Tach pin fit problem on both the Root Grapple and Stump Bucket I bought from Mid-State Equipment around 2005. I simply welded in shims as my pics show. Well worth it for the price.
Also my Root Grapple weighs around 600 lbs, but it hasn't slowed me down at all! I do have a Kubota L3430 so my tractor isn't real small.

ksmmoto

 

[ksmmoto]

Oops, I didn't have any pic's of the shims I welded in. I'll get some tomorrow and post then.

ksmmoto

 

[JFS2295]

I was going to start my own individual thread, but will just add everything here.

I originally was looking for something different then what I got, the 48" WK econ grapple. As I mentioned before, this on my 28hp tractor is a little overbuilt. The crossbars could be smaller and this has more gussets then I think is necessary.

I was going back and forth about setting up a diverter valve or use my rear remote, and ended up just moving my remote valve to the top of the right fender. It's easy to go back and forth between the FEL lever and remote valve and saves the complexity of more fittings, valves and wires. I used 3/8" hose from Discount Hose (PA), pre-measuring the amount needed with a garden hose. A Parker Pioneer Break-Away Clamp 5006-4-CS was bent and bolted up on the boom crossbrace to work as a bulkhead.

I've used the grapple for a few days cleaning up after trees that were bulldozed, cleaning some dropped branch areas, and tearing out some Hemlocks that were over grown. And lately have been using it for transporting cut Christmas trees.

I set this up on my Ford 1710 using a Long QA adapter. One of the issues that has been coming up is loose fitment to the QAs, but I don't see that as an issue here. The top brackets fit up fine and the only time I have a little play at the bottom pins is when I curl backwards all the way, and then the 1/4" pin play shows up.

In some ways I need more of a root rake as the gussets on the front teeth act like a solid blade with the fibrous roots of hemlocks or scotch pine, defeating the ability to shed soil between the tines. I doesn't help that the soil is moist right now either.

With Christmas tree selling time here, I removed the upper grapple to carry the trees a little easier. With the top jaw it's a little harder to get trees onto the lower teeth, and customers are not going to be thrilled seeing their tree clamped down on.

With the top grapple off I've also used it to dig out some 12-14' hemlocks. Not an easy task for a little 1710 and the reduced weight without the top jaw gives me a little more hydraulic lifting force.

With the factory setup you have to unbolt the jaw at three points, pull the cylinder retaining pin clip and detach the hydraulic QCs. This is actually easy by itself, but I've ordered pins to take the place of the bolts so it's even easier. Since the bolts also act as the pivots on this economy grade grapple, the changeover to pins will relive the threads of the bolts from acting as the pivot points. These are not greased and in this operation I see no need to do so.

In the future I may reduce or eliminate the gussets at the front teeth. Maybe in rocky soil or with a 50hp tractor they would be needed more, but if they would bend they could be easily straightened.

Up at the top jaw I also see no need for the outer jaw gussets. That little cylinder is never going to generate that much force, and the outer gussets prevent the top grapple from curling in more to secure your load.

So far this has been a good strong unit and I could not find any issues with the welds, and I'm cert'd to teach welding.

 

[jake98]

I had the same Quick Tach pin fit problem on both the Root Grapple and Stump Bucket I bought from Mid-State Equipment around 2005. I simply welded in shims as my pics show. Well worth it for the price.
Also my Root Grapple weighs around 600 lbs, but it hasn't slowed me down at all! I do have a Kubota L3430 so my tractor isn't real small.

ksmmoto

Island got real quiet after you posted those pictures, somebody should check on him, he might be out kicking and swearing at his 48" single.. :laughing:

 

[IslandTractor]

Island got real quiet after you posted those pictures, somebody should check on him, he might be out kicking and swearing at his 48" single.. :laughing:

Nah, just spending quality time on Amazon trying to decide which Makita 18V setup Santa wants to bring me for Christmas.

Lifting brush (as in the photos just posted with the too muscular grapple) is almost never limited by weight as brush is just not heavy. The limitation is grapple opening and how well you cram the stuff in. The weight limitations come with lifting big logs, rocks etc and to some extent the ability of the grapple to curl stuff out of the ground like roots (in that case the grapple weight is actually largely on the ground).

It actually doesn't take much to overload a Kubota L (not trying to start a color war here) as the Kubota loaders are pretty conservatively sized. As I recall the under 40hp loaders max out at about 1500lbs lift or so. Deducting a few extra hundred pounds from that can make a difference with big logs, stumps etc. Indeed, my old CK20 had a lift of about 1100lbs and with a 300lb grapple could probably lift pretty much the same load as a Kubota L3400 mounting a 700lb grapple. Of course if the Kubota L3400 used a 300lb grapple it would lift much more.

Photos show CK20 with light duty grapple lifting big pile of brush (again, brush is a volume challenge not a weight issue). Other photos show DK40 lifting near max loads with light duty grapple. I probably could not have lifted these if my grapple weighed another few hundred pounds.

(edit: sorry I kept referring to a 700lb grapple rather than a 600lb but the basic point is the same).

 

[IslandTractor]

Island, you have been preaching this sermon for quite awhile. I saw the light and have been trying to turn the flock on to the Wildkat econo 48" grapple, but our work is not yet done. (Cue choir).

We just need to bring the sinners back into the fold. They mean well but the devil has instilled evil thoughts of more horsepower, bigger grapples etc into their minds. We'll get them back.

 

[jake98]

Nah, just spending quality time on Amazon trying to decide which Makita 18V setup Santa wants to bring me for Christmas.

sears has the 19.2 v. Crapsman on sale for about $35. I've been using one of them for about 10 yrs., might grab another, mine's been un-killable. :thumbsup:

 

[Missouri Pioneer]

sears has the 19.2 v. Crapsman on sale for about $35. I've been using one of them for about 10 yrs., might grab another, mine's been un-killable. :thumbsup:

Jake, while I liked my Craftsman pretty well, the battery died after a few years and I got a Makita, which has proven to be much longer lasting. My .02.

 

[IslandTractor]

Jake, while I liked my Craftsman pretty well, the battery died after a few years and I got a Makita, which has proven to be much longer lasting. My .02.

Don't want to hijack here but after a couple of Costco "Kawasaki" sets I've learned my lesson. The Makita LXT lineup is REALLY nice. These new 18v lithium tools are amazing. For example a battery powered 325ft/lb impact wrench! Santa might get me the basic drill plus driver kit and I'll see how it goes from there.

Maybe I'll get the impact wrench ($145 bare) with some of the money I saved by getting a light duty 48 inch grapple. There, we are back on topic.