Turned my Skidding Tongs into a Poor Man's Grapple

[Gordon Gould]

After yesterdays rain all my nice packed skid trails were like wet concrete. Rather than go out in the woods and trash them I played in the shop. My seldom used tongs caught my eye and I started playing around. I made a toggle latch.



Here it is open 24"



Lift the cross bar and it releases



Added a frame to my cross draw bar



Here it is on the tractor. I have a pulley up on the rops. When I pull the rope from the seat the tongs latch open



Test time on a log on the landing.



Now latched open



And a video so you can see how it works. As usual my photography isn't that great. Sorry. I just set the camera on a bucket.

http://youtu.be/8SYf0Cg4lGY

gg

 

[murphy1244]

That is real slick!!

 

[jmc]

Nice! (What's the point of having a tractor if you have to get off of it?)

 

[arrow]

Nice! (What's the point of having a tractor if you have to get off of it?)

Exactly....Nice job Gordon. Good Idea!

 

[HarryN]

Brilliant!!

 

[k0ua]

Ain't nothing wrong with that outfit.. That pretty cool.:thumbsup:

 

[Rustyiron]

Very clever, but your going to make your winch jealous:laughing:

 

[kirkawilson]

Nice rig! Can you adapt the frame/tongs to grab a standing tree trunk or vertical pole?

 

[PapaPerk]

Very nice!!! I like that! Much simpler than a hydraulic grapple!

 

[Billrog]

Very clever Gordon I'm sure a few will copy that idea before you get it patented :thumbsup: