Texas Grapple Shootout

[txdon]

Today I used my Grapple rake to rake. It worked perfect in breaking up some hard black gumbo. My bucket could not get through this stuff but the grapple sliced it up like butter.

 

[TomSeller]

Today I used my Grapple rake to rake. It worked perfect in breaking up some hard black gumbo. My bucket could not get through this stuff but the grapple sliced it up like butter.

Rake Shop grapple? Looks like it works perfectly.

 

[94BULLITT]

Have you ever seen the size of the grapple used by monster excavators??? About three feet wide.

There is a prevailing myth that standard bucket size equals grapple size. That is basically wrong or at least only true in a small number of potential grapple uses. A wide grapple is great for scraping up construction debris or collecting loose firewood or sticks etc. A narrow grapple however has significant advantages in how much force can be exerted on a root when digging for example. Brush is "sticky" so a small grapple can easily grab so much brush that you cannot see where you are driving. Yes, the brush hangs out both sides but it is securely held anyway. A small grapple weighs less so you have a larger net lift capacity (important for big rocks and stumps). A small grapple is far more maneuverable and easier to store. A small grapple costs less. Plenty of photos to back these up if you like.

My $500, 300lb grapple is now in it's ninth year of operation. It has some battle scars but works as well as the day I first mounted it on a 20hp tractor. For the past seven years it has been mounted on a 40hp tractor with 2700lb lift capacity. Find me a 50hp tractor with more mass and lift capacity than a Kioti DK40. The same exact grapple I have has been used successfully without incident on a Kubota M59 as well so perhaps I should have said "under 60hp". You cannot break a grapple if you use it properly. Don't twist it. That is how to break any grapple with any size tractor.

Comparing a tractor loader mounted grapple to an excavator with a grapple is not a good comparison. They are too different, they work differently.

With a narrow grapple if you are pushing brush into a pile the brush is going to come around the grapple and in to the tractor. It has even happened a couple times with my 72'' grapple. How many times have you been trying to dig out a root and hit another root with the grapple? Probably not very many. The extra force you are able to exert with a 48'' in most situations is not going to be much different than a larger grapple. I would have saved a 84lbs by going with a small grapple. That is not going to make or break me with a tractor the size of the 4240.

You still have not answered my original question and now your have gone further with it. You had your grapple on a Ck20 and now it is on the DK40 but some people have used it on a M59 (which is a beast of a tractor). It looks like to me it would have been too much grapple for the CK20 or not enough for the DK40 or M59. You are covering a really wide range of tractors don't your think? The Kubtoa L4240 and larger weighs more than a DK40 as does the Mahindra 4035 and 5035. The JD 4520 and Mahindra 5035 lift more on paper. There was recently a guy that had a 4520 and got a Kubota L5740 and said it would lift a pallet of lime and the Deere wouldn't. "You cannot break a grapple if you use it properly. Don't twist it. That is how to break any grapple with any size tractor." If you can twist the grapple it is too light duty for your machine.

When I have my 74" wide grapple on my 10,000 lb tractor, I have a hard time digging the tines into the ground. When I have a 48" grapple on the same machine, I can dig deeper and focus the tines much better. Very handy when popping tree root balls out of the ground. If you are simply moving light brush, wider is somewhat better. I like my 74" wide grapple as it clears most of my different tractors' tire tracks when pushing into debris. But when moving piles, the narrow grapple affords more lift and effectively a larger load. Your manufacturer has less difference in weight between sizes than many others. I forget which manufacturer you have.

Not only is the number of tines on the grapple important but the width of the tine and the design of the tine is important. The tines on my grapple are probably narrower than the tines on your grapple. They are also sharp. My grapple is a EA wicked grapple.

 

[TomSeller]

1. With a narrow grapple if you are pushing brush into a pile the brush is going to come around the grapple and in to the tractor. It has even happened a couple times with my 72'' grapple.
2. How many times have you been trying to dig out a root and hit another root with the grapple? Probably not very many.

1. This is the reason I keep both a wide and a narrow grapple. But if I had to choose only one, I would choose narrow.
2. I very often hit other roots when trying to dig with a wide grapple. Or I simply cannot dig more than a few inches deep depending on how hard the ground is. Digging with a narrow grapple is much more efficient.

 

[the whispering oaks farm]

My tractor is 72" wide and I bought a 60" grapple-I don't get too much spilling out the sides and I agree with other posters that full width probably would have been too wide. if anything if I could do it over again I would have bought a 48" grapple just so that I could use it digging more.

 

[txdon]

Rake Shop grapple? Looks like it works perfectly.

Yes this is The Rake Shop grapple.
It is 50" wide at the teeth and the back is 61".
My Kubota 50hp front tires are also at 61" so it's all good.
I also like the fact that it is not as wide as my 72" bucket especially when I'm removing cedar trees in the woods, like this trail I just finished.

 

[Deerherd]

Geez guys, what are you digging? My tractor is 90" wide and grapple is 84" and I can dig 6-8" easy. If you have a certain stump or whatever 48" is still too wide for proper/efficient digging. Think width of a smaller backhoe bucket. I bought a stump bucket that makes short work of smaller stumps but is only 18" wide at the teeth.

IMHO a grapple should be sized closer to the width of your tractor and if you really want to dig, buy something meant for digging.

 

[txdon]

Geez guys, what are you digging? .

The smaller front grapple is perfect for digging cedar trees or other shallow root trees. You can push them forward, pop them out of the ground, grab and haul away. It is the easiest and I could not be as fast with my loader (with teeth) OR MY BACKHOE. For a Larger tree (cedar larger than 8-10") the backhoe gets the job.

When I was considering which grapple and which size to buy, I was thinking of what I expected it to accomplish and I hit my goal on this grapple. My first grapple was a 72" bobcat bucket grapple and the tines were not long enough and it picked up too much sand for the jobs I needed it to do.

 

[TomSeller]

The smaller front grapple is perfect for digging cedar trees or other shallow root trees. You can push them forward, pop them out of the ground, grab and haul away. It is the easiest and I could not be as fast with my loader (with teeth) OR MY BACKHOE. For a Larger tree (cedar larger than 8-10") the backhoe gets the job.
.

Same here. Light digging, grabbing and moving to the debris pile is perfect for a narrow grapple. Any serious digging, I spin around and use the backhoe, but not for small trees.

 

[Deerherd]

The smaller front grapple is perfect for digging cedar trees or other shallow root trees. You can push them forward, pop them out of the ground, grab and haul away. It is the easiest and I could not be as fast with my loader (with teeth) OR MY BACKHOE. For a Larger tree (cedar larger than 8-10") the backhoe gets the job.

Don, I think your grapple IS sized correctly to your tractor and you use it like I do mine. But you also realize digging out bigger stumps there is a better way. Not buying a smaller grapple because you want to dig out bigger stumps is the point I was making.