Grappling fun - A Picture Thread....

milkman636 · Nov 16, 2014

Thanks for the good feedback James. It looks like one of the best matches out there for my tractor and general uses.

Xfaxman · Nov 16, 2014

Twotter said:
Hello Gentlemen, really enjoying the awesome pics!
Which has led to me feeling grapple envy ;-)
I am not looking for a competition, but would some of you care to share the strong points of the different styles of grapples? In a short amount of time I have come across a tremendous amount of information here on TBN. I know different grapples work better for different jobs, curious as to why you all have chosen the grapple style you did?
Thanks!

I use the narrow 44" Gorilla Grapple for the long stuff, after I push them over with it.

And the wide 6', "bigger bite" Loflin Monster Grapple for the short stuff. I had pulled about 30 cedar trees with the tree puller, went back an put on the grapple, picked all of them up in one trip.

This is what dropped out, they are the start of the new burn pile.

94BULLITT · Nov 16, 2014

Poopdeck Pappy said:
I chose a stump grapple because I'm digging out 100's of cedar trees and piling them up. It's very useful as a grapple and somewhat useful for digging up cedars. The reason it's only somewhat useful for digging is that the solid back on it keeps me from seeing the bucket part of it, so I have to dig by "feel".

After I used it for a while, I bought a backhoe to handle more of the digging chores. I still dig some with the stump grapple but use it more for the grapple work and less for the digging work. At a cost of well under $1,000, it was a good investment.

Other than the visibilty how do you like the stump grapple? Is is pretty effective on your tractor at removing trees? I'd kinda like to have a stump bucket.

Poopdeck Pappy · Nov 18, 2014

Roger, I like it pretty well. But, frankly, it works better as a grapple than it does as a stump digger/remover. As I mentioned above, the main problem is that I can't see the toothbar part of the grapple when I'm using it, so I have to operate it mainly by feel. I've thought about cutting some holes in the back plate and covering the holes with expanded metal just so I can see a little bit of what I'm doing.

As I said, it works fine as a grapple. But if I was just gonna buy a grapple, there are other ones I'd buy first. It is handy, however, to be able to dig up some roots, push the tree over and then pick it up and haul it off - all with the stump grapple.

One other thing is that it was less than $700, and is built really strong. So for the money I think it was a good buy. If I was hauling big logs or somesuch, it wouldn't work worth a darn for that. But for hauling brush and cedar trees around, it's plenty good.

94BULLITT · Nov 18, 2014

Poopdeck Pappy said:
Roger, I like it pretty well. But, frankly, it works better as a grapple than it does as a stump digger/remover. As I mentioned above, the main problem is that I can't see the toothbar part of the grapple when I'm using it, so I have to operate it mainly by feel. I've thought about cutting some holes in the back plate and covering the holes with expanded metal just so I can see a little bit of what I'm doing.

As I said, it works fine as a grapple. But if I was just gonna buy a grapple, there are other ones I'd buy first. It is handy, however, to be able to dig up some roots, push the tree over and then pick it up and haul it off - all with the stump grapple.

One other thing is that it was less than $700, and is built really strong. So for the money I think it was a good buy. If I was hauling big logs or somesuch, it wouldn't work worth a darn for that. But for hauling brush and cedar trees around, it's plenty good.

I bet the visibility is limited. You could probably see better if it was on a skid steer. I was looking at some stump buckets on ebay last night. I saw some for under $400. I could probably make my own. I was thinking one may be nice for digging out some stumps and trees. I know it won't work on anything that has some size to it. It would also double up as a trenching bucket. I have a tree right now that I have done just about everything I can do with the tractor/ grapple and a ditch witch with a vibratory plow and I can't get it out. $700 was a good price for a stump grapple.

wedge40 · Nov 19, 2014

Would there be a way to modify the stump bucket so you could mount a camera to offer better visibility.

IslandTractor · Nov 19, 2014

wedge40 said:
Would there be a way to modify the stump bucket so you could mount a camera to offer better visibility.

I've thought about doing that with my grapple. Trouble is 1) trying to protect the camera and still have it get a view of the tine tips and 2) the small monitors that come with the rear view camera kits really need to be pretty close to your face in order to see detail. That would mean rigging a swing away arm or something like that and increases the complexity of the project. Bottom line for me was that I wasn't willing to put in the time and effort and bucks to set something up without a good sense that it would really be useful. I've managed (with an open back grapple) to do just fine without even though there are definitely times when I'd like to know the exact position of a tine.

lostcreekranch · Nov 19, 2014

I am working on a magnetic mount for front camera that can be moved around depending on what you are doing i.e., bucket, forks, grapple, etc.

Will share once I get it all figured out.

Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet