Grapple Failure

[CalG]

bhh
If I were limited in fabrication equipment, I would make up cardboard templates for the front piece (s) IT looks to me like there will be some complications associated with getting fitted up to the tower. So work that out with cardboard and not steel.

'Not sure where you get your metal, but I would then take the templates to a weld fab supply (we have a good one in my area, Hope he never gets old!)
Have the pieces burned out. Then the welding would be a matter of final fit up and some smoke.

I would expect the cutting to template out to be less than $100 and the weld time less than 2 hours from set up to clean up**. You get to do the painting when things cool off! ;-)

** (Note: my expectations on costs and time have NO direct link to anything that you might experience!! ;-))

 

[bhh]

PS edit...
as far as naming the manufacture goes, I know that I wouldn't want to buy one of these and experience the same failure. A private message to me and anyone else who asked naming the manufacturer and the model number would be an OK deal. Might save me some grief down the road.

You know what, I gave them an opportunity to stand behind their product. The least they could have done is call me back and offer a discount on a replacement or some advise on how best to repair it and prevent if from happening again in the future. It's from Wildkat Attachments. This particular grapple has had a fair amount of discussion on the forums here which is where I found out about them. I was originally pretty happy with the price but the fit and finish is not so good. This grapple has been stored in a barn and never seen a drop of rain. I love having a grapple but will probably invest in a better one (EA?) when I can justify purchasing a second one if the fix doesn't work out

 

[bhh]

bhh
If I were limited in fabrication equipment, I would make up cardboard templates for the front piece (s) IT looks to me like there will be some complications associated with getting fitted up to the tower. So work that out with cardboard and not steel.

'Not sure where you get your metal, but I would then take the templates to a weld fab supply (we have a good one in my area, Hope he never gets old!)
Have the pieces burned out. Then the welding would be a matter of final fit up and some smoke.

I would expect the cutting to template out to be less than $100 and the weld time less than 2 hours from set up to clean up**. You get to do the painting when things cool off! ;-)

** (Note: my expectations on costs and time have NO direct link to anything that you might experience!! ;-))

I'm going to ask my neighbor to take a look repairing it. I'll pay for the steel and any fabrication and allow him to suggest what he thinks is a fair amount of my seat time on his property to help out with some chores. Everyone w/o a tractor has a mental list of things they'd like to do if they had one but don't want to trouble the neighbor with. I'm sure he'll jump at it actually.

 

[CalG]

Just looked at their Ebay offerings.

That is a LOT of steel for $1000! Seems like it just needs to be viewed as a good start, with the "Improvements" suggested by experience such as yours.
The way I see it, your repair will be no more complicated or time consuming than if it had been done the same way by the mfg. And will likely cost the same too ;-)
Just that now you get to supervise the work and act as the QA manager too. Double WIN!

Now don't you feel fortunate!
Plus, You get to offer sage advice from knowledge gained by experience.

Myself, If I were in need of a grapple for picking up brush etc, I wouldn't be turned off that brand based on your experience. Heck, I've tore up stuff a lot faster than that!
I would look to that specific area as something that could be improved.

Do I see that there is an add length of angle iron across the back of that beam on the latest models? Continuous Improvement is a sign of a good outfit.

Run 'em till they fail, then add material so that it doesn't happen again.

But maybe it just part of the SSQH..............

Bottom line for me, Based on the photos, The beam might be strong enough, but if the weld and HAZ is just a little off, that's were it will fail. And it did.

"If you would have bought the unit made on Tuesday, when the welder was feeling his best, this may have never happened" ;-)

 

[jlgurr]

On a side note, looks like your right front tire is mounted backwards. Just sayin'....

 

[bhh]

Lol, it does indeed appear to be on backwards! Good eyes jlgurr. I just had the local tire shop do some permanent repairs to a couple of plugs I installed last summer and it looks like they flipped it. I didn't even notice when I installed it. Taking another closer look at the pictures, it looks like there is something else going on with how that tower attaches to the beam as well, obviously the same forces at work here. I'm referring to area labeled as #2.

 

[CalG]

I saw that, That's is why the suggestion to plate all the way down to the lower edge of that cross member.

And the idea that fitting those front pieces might get a bit complicated. A bit of a kink in new support plates might be the best idea. Every man will have a different way of going at it.

You just want to spread the grapple clamping load over as big an area as you can, while trying to optimise "leverage" . If you make one part "h*ll for strong" but it just transfers the same load to the weak spot next to it, The repair just breaks next to the weld ...again..... ;-)

 

[joshuabardwell]

This may be naive, but I think hydraulic implements should be designed so that the cylinders can go full to the stops without damaging the implement.

 

[IslandTractor]

This may be naive, but I think hydraulic implements should be designed so that the cylinders can go full to the stops without damaging the implement.

Absolutely.

I'm not wonder so much about the design as the material. What wall thickness is the top tube? It really should be 1/4 inch. Some of these companies try to save a few bucks and use 1/8 or something less than 1/4". Bad idea. This is exactly the type of damage that will occur although not usually due to simple grapple opening and closing. Damage occurs when pushing with the open upper jaw or even just using the upper jaw closed to push. No grapple is built to tolerate that sort of leverage and misuse. The upper jaw is simply designed to clamp down on whatever is in the grapple maw. Push with lower jaw.

 

[k0ua]

Absolutely.

I'm not wonder so much about the design as the material. What wall thickness is the top tube? It really should be 1/4 inch. Some of these companies try to save a few bucks and use 1/8 or something less than 1/4". Bad idea. This is exactly the type of damage that will occur although not usually due to simple grapple opening and closing. Damage occurs when pushing with the open upper jaw or even just using the upper jaw closed to push. No grapple is built to tolerate that sort of leverage and misuse. The upper jaw is simply designed to clamp down on whatever is in the grapple maw. Push with lower jaw.

Pretty sure that is 1/8 tubing.. that is the crux of the failure. But it can be fixed.