New grapple is loose. Need help.

[houser52]

I thought I'd share some pics of the grapple after the welds were cleaned up, painted and mounted on my tractor.( The underside of the 1/2" square bar is welded all the way across.)
I got to use it a little while yesterday and it worked great until a hydraulics issue came up. I'll start a separate thread on that.

 

[IslandTractor]

Looks great but it has too much pretty paint. Stick it in the ground and rub some of that paint off!

 

[houser52]

Looks great but it has too much pretty paint. Stick it in the ground and rub some of that paint off!

Thanks.

I did get to rub a little paint. :thumbsup:

 

[ovrszd]

I think a Grapple is the best attachment that can be added to an FEL. I block my firewood standing up with the log clamped in the Grapple as in your last pic.

Nice work. Looks like a great fit!!!

 

[aeblank]

Update- After repeated delays caused by waiting on shim plates, rain, work and grand kids, I finally got the grapple slop fixed.

I ended up using the 3/16" plates, provided by the manufacturer, welded on top of the grapple's bottom mounting tabs to fill in the gap. These made the grapple fit snug to the loader's attach plate however, the locking pins still wasn't making good solid contact with the plate when locked down. I first tried tacking a piece of flat 3/8" X 1 1/2" on top of the plates but the pins were dragging on the top of them which made the grapple hard to attach and detach. I didn't like that. I thought flat 1/4" X 1 1/2" wouldn't provide enough contact to the pins. I didn't like that either.

I found some 1/2" square stock in the shop so I welded the correct lengths inside the slots to fill in the space with good solid contact. Now everything locks up tight and the locking pins don't drag when attaching/detaching.

The grapple mounts and dismounts easily, I can back drag and there's no grapple or locking pin movement at all.

I hope to get the welds cleaned up and painted this afternoon. I still want to tidy up the hoses a little and add some sleeves/spiral wrap for protection but there's no rush on that.

In hindsight, you could have shortened up the "legs" on the shim they sent you, moving it into the implement, and giving you a tighter latch.
Oh well, all's well that ends well.

Enjoy the grapple. I sure like mine.

 

[houser52]

In hindsight, you could have shortened up the "legs" on the shim they sent you, moving it into the implement, and giving you a tighter latch.
Oh well, all's well that ends well.

Enjoy the grapple. I sure like mine.

I had seen that done before and considered it but didn't like the idea of the pins bearing against just the 3/16" thick shim plates. It probably would have been okay but...
If you look closer at the shims, I had shortened them to do just as you suggested but changed my mind. :confused2:

I got to enjoy it a little while until the hydraulics started acting up.:mur:

 

[IslandTractor]

What's happening with your hydraulics? I forget whether you are using rear remotes, diverter or third function valve. All three are pretty bulletproof once installed.

 

[houser52]

What's happening with your hydraulics? I forget whether you are using rear remotes, diverter or third function valve. All three are pretty bulletproof once installed.

I'd appreciate any insight you have to offer.
I had posted my concerns in the hydraulics section and instead of rewriting it all here's the link.

Thanks

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/hydraulics/348100-kubota-l3600-la680-hydraulics-problem.html

 

[TomSeller]

I thought I'd share some pics of the grapple after the welds were cleaned up, painted and mounted on my tractor.( The underside of the 1/2" square bar is welded all the way across.)
I got to use it a little while yesterday and it worked great until a hydraulics issue came up. I'll start a separate thread on that.

Looks beastly to me. Very nice.

 

[SPYDERLK]

In hindsight, you could have shortened up the "legs" on the shim they sent you, moving it into the implement, and giving you a tighter latch.

,,,,,,,Yes. Bolded for clarity in the descriptive I provided on request below:

...I dont have pics and am not a self sufficient pic poster, but I can talk it thru pretty easy:
Youre adding the shim on the bottom part of the female side and also need the pin slot on the female to close up some. You can do both with the shim/s and strategic weld buildup. 1st determine the exact shim thickness needed to close that bottom gap tight. To get a good measurement you really need the pins to be forcing the slots such that the parts are drawn hard together. A way to do this tack in a shim that affects only the slot area and closes off enuf of the slot to get the pins to bite at their hard [not spring] driven point. This will hold the female downward and fully drawn in. With the grapple [female] installed on youre tractor this way, find among your scrap metal the thickness needed to fill the gap out where the male/female sections taper together. It should fit all the way to the root with some force -Dont count on both sides being the same. Hopefully the gap itself is pretty parallel.

Now remove the grapple. Form your shims to fit to the root of the flange just to where the bend curve starts. Notch out to extend across the pin slot at the proper reduced size or maybe a little smaller so you can grind some off to adjust. Tack in and try it together. If it snugs up but the pins wont quite enter enuf to let the levers overcenter its about perfect for this stage. If so weld it all around. Weld thru the slot from the bottom side to the part of the shim that overhangs the slot. Build it up enuf for a good sturdy surface for the pin to bear against. Clean up any bulges and try it together. The pins should enter but not drive fully. The taper should draw together without gap. Remove and look for pressure points in the taper. Clean up as needed. ... Then iterate the slot until the pins hit hard as the levers snap overcenter.
,,,DONE

I set mine up to need about a 1 foot cheater to get the levers to snap over. This allows for the high spots to wear down to a perfect tight. ... Incidentally, I also had to rebuild the pin supports on my QA. They were sloppy from the movement allowed prior to shimming. Yours have grease fittings and Im jealous.
larry