My grapple fell off

[plowhog]

Used my grapple to move a pile and twisted heap of old metal-- parts of a frame, an axle, and assorted hardware from an antique wagon.

Picked up the metal pile with the grapple. After lifting, a few metal strips were dangling (too) close to the ground. I was worried one of those strips might snag on the ground, or the tractor, when I started moving. I decided to set the pile back down and re-grip it with a new "bite."

About half way down, to my great surprise, the grapple fell off the front of the tractor. ???? First, the left side came loose, then the grapple rotated close to 180 degrees while still attached on the right side. The right side then let loose and the grapple landed upside down in the dirt. Hydraulic hoses still attached.

Apparently, one of the metal pieces wedged between the ground and the left side SSQA lever. It pushed the lever up to the "release" position as I lowered the loader arms. Then, it pushed the left side of the grapple off the left side top mount. At that point it was free and detached on the left side. Surprisingly, no damage. Not even the hydraulic hoses.

This was a weird one. In the future I will be more careful if I again have to set a load back down. For logs, I usually rotate the grapple jaws to vertically "drop" what I am hauling. But since I wanted to "re-grip" the pile, this time I didn't want to rotate it like that.

 

[jonsstihl]

Happened to me too but it was because I forgot to lock the levers in the first place. I got lucky also and didn't damage anything. I have since put a hydraulic setup on my levers tee-ed into the third function with valves to alternate between actuating the ssqa levers and the third function. so my levers are hydraulicly locked when the valves are closed.

 

[DaBear3428]

been there done that, planning the hydraulic SSQA mod also.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Used my grapple to move a pile and twisted heap of old metal-- parts of a frame, an axle, and assorted hardware from an antique wagon.

Picked up the metal pile with the grapple. After lifting, a few metal strips were dangling (too) close to the ground. I was worried one of those strips might snag on the ground, or the tractor, when I started moving. I decided to set the pile back down and re-grip it with a new "bite."

About half way down, to my great surprise, the grapple fell off the front of the tractor. ???? First, the left side came loose, then the grapple rotated close to 180 degrees while still attached on the right side. The right side then let loose and the grapple landed upside down in the dirt. Hydraulic hoses still attached.

Apparently, one of the metal pieces wedged between the ground and the left side SSQA lever. It pushed the lever up to the "release" position as I lowered the loader arms. Then, it pushed the left side of the grapple off the left side top mount. At that point it was free and detached on the left side. Surprisingly, no damage. Not even the hydraulic hoses.

This was a weird one. In the future I will be more careful if I again have to set a load back down. For logs, I usually rotate the grapple jaws to vertically "drop" what I am hauling. But since I wanted to "re-grip" the pile, this time I didn't want to rotate it like that.

Ive used equipment so loose and worn that the bucket fell off in a mack dump truck full of poop. Then later the grapple came off two times one day cleaning brush. So, I finally had the new skid steer beside the old one and did some measuring. Waved a welder over, had him weld some rebar across top of the quick attach bracket. Then I drilled a hole, used a piece of chain and two screw pin clevis, and chained them two handles together when closed. Ain't no way she can come unaloosened now. Never has since. I don't know why they don't come that way. We changed all six of our tractors to SSQA on the loaders. Bought plates and welded on all our front end loader attachments. Buckets, grapples, hay spears, etc... I got some good loader quick attatchers working at Kubota. One side would come loose and bend bracket real bad, they would replace. I would take the bent one home and cut it loose and weld a new straight pipe in it and put on one of our tractors. You will notice the orange paint.

 

[plowhog]

chained them two handles together when closed. Ain't no way she can come unaloosened now. Never has since.

That is a very good idea!

 

[Gordon Gould]

Same thing happened to me when I was pushing down on a big brush pile to compress it. One lever was pushed open by an upright branch in the pile and that side came off. I made a couple locking bolts to hold the levers closed. There were a couple existing holes in the loader I ran the bolts through.

My grapple is on 99% of the time. The peace of mind out weighs the need for a wrench (in the toolbox) to switch to the bucket.

gg

 

[Jstpssng]

I got some good loader quick attatchers working at Kubota. One side would come loose and bend bracket real bad, they would replace. I would take the bent one home and cut it loose and weld a new straight pipe in it

Thank you for posting this, I was wondering how I was going to fix mine. I don't even know how I bent it. I took the grapple off and tried to put the bucket on but it wouldn't line up. A little gentle persuasion with my 16lb sledge hammer got it on, I am not looking forward to taking it back off.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Thank you for posting this, I was wondering how I was going to fix mine. I don't even know how I bent it. I took the grapple off and tried to put the bucket on but it wouldn't line up. A little gentle persuasion with my 16lb sledge hammer got it on, I am not looking forward to taking it back off.

Usually you can tilt it all the way up. Chain the side that is still away from the loader, back to the loader. Then tilt down a little bit at a time until other side lines up with it. That's the simplest one man show way to fix it. The ones I was talking about were bent like 90° to each other. Cutting and welding was the only way to fix those. We always kept the old one there, and if the customer left it, we could get it and take home.

 

[DaBear3428]

Thank you for posting this, I was wondering how I was going to fix mine. I don't even know how I bent it. I took the grapple off and tried to put the bucket on but it wouldn't line up. A little gentle persuasion with my 16lb sledge hammer got it on, I am not looking forward to taking it back off.

porta power and a short ram, leave the side that is troublesome connected and disconnect the other side then use the short ram to bend it out a little

 

[Jstpssng]

Usually you can tilt it all the way up. Chain the side that is still away from the loader, back to the loader. Then tilt down a little bit at a time until other side lines up with it. That's the simplest one man show way to fix it. The ones I was talking about were bent like 90° to each other. Cutting and welding was the only way to fix those. We always kept the old one there, and if the customer left it, we could get it and take home.

That was easy, thank you. I used a variation; chained one to a tree and tilting a bit.