ning
Elite Member
I've been strongly considering getting a grapple lately (more strongly than previous... this has been an 8-year effort, starting before I had the tractor!).
Currently when I'm clearing brush & trees, I cut (with saw or loppers) branches and make piles about 6' wide, 4-6' tall, and however deep they need to be to stand up; I mash the pile down with the tractor forks and move the forks back and forth a bit in hopes of getting the brush & branches tangled a bit, then I scoop with the forks and either put it in my pile storage area (to dry & wait for a burning day) or move to my burn spot.
My proposed use of a grapple is also to pick up stuff that I've kinda bulldozed with the bucket - in dense areas I'll push within reason and often manage to uproot quite a bit of brush (especially manzanita, as well as blackberries - piranha tooth bar really grabs stuff well!) and smaller trees and this produces a fairly dense mat of stuff, and currently I end up cutting it up in situ or pull it out by hand to cut up into the above piles. A grapple would likely make this a lot easier by pulling chunks out that I can more easily separate.
The big question I have though is about those piles I make; the grapples I've seen seem nice from the relatively light grabbing tool standpoint, but my concern is that most of these have a maximum jaw opening of about 36-39"
and if I'm limited to grabbing smaller piles, that's a lot more driving across the property and reduces the effectiveness.
It seems likely though that one could approach such a pile from above with the jaws open, and crush the pile in the jaws - definitely when I put my forks down from above things get smaller (the piles are probably 80% air) so it seems possible that a grapple may be able grab it all in one go, but I'm reticent to drop $3k on something that might not fit the bill. Currently I do move those piles with the forks, but it's tough to get a pile on a steeper hillside - and tougher to keep it on the forks. When I'm working on flats, I only lose an occasional branch which is tolerable, but when the whole pile falls off it's a pain, and so while I'll occasionally chain or strap it to keep together, that's extra steps I'd like to get the grapple to avoid.
I was also considering a log grapple
but it likely has the same pile-grabbing questions as the above (though the max opening of 42" is more than most other grapples it seems, but as it's not as wide it would depend that much more on a well-constructed pile; I do make an effort now to put longer stuff on the bottom because I'm just picking up with forks, but being able to make a heap with less concern about branch length would be a plus).
There's also the pallet fork grapple, or thumb
I suspect the fork thumb has the tallest "opening"; that grapple lid probably doesn't open any further than in the pic. Both of these are cheaper, but it seems to me that neither is likely to be very useful in pulling apart a matted pile of trees and shrubs.
As my main use is probably in moving piles of hand-cut brush and branches, I'm most interested in hearing from people who have a similar practice.
[And yes, I have a 3rd function / diverter on the loader already]
Currently when I'm clearing brush & trees, I cut (with saw or loppers) branches and make piles about 6' wide, 4-6' tall, and however deep they need to be to stand up; I mash the pile down with the tractor forks and move the forks back and forth a bit in hopes of getting the brush & branches tangled a bit, then I scoop with the forks and either put it in my pile storage area (to dry & wait for a burning day) or move to my burn spot.
My proposed use of a grapple is also to pick up stuff that I've kinda bulldozed with the bucket - in dense areas I'll push within reason and often manage to uproot quite a bit of brush (especially manzanita, as well as blackberries - piranha tooth bar really grabs stuff well!) and smaller trees and this produces a fairly dense mat of stuff, and currently I end up cutting it up in situ or pull it out by hand to cut up into the above piles. A grapple would likely make this a lot easier by pulling chunks out that I can more easily separate.
The big question I have though is about those piles I make; the grapples I've seen seem nice from the relatively light grabbing tool standpoint, but my concern is that most of these have a maximum jaw opening of about 36-39"
and if I'm limited to grabbing smaller piles, that's a lot more driving across the property and reduces the effectiveness.
It seems likely though that one could approach such a pile from above with the jaws open, and crush the pile in the jaws - definitely when I put my forks down from above things get smaller (the piles are probably 80% air) so it seems possible that a grapple may be able grab it all in one go, but I'm reticent to drop $3k on something that might not fit the bill. Currently I do move those piles with the forks, but it's tough to get a pile on a steeper hillside - and tougher to keep it on the forks. When I'm working on flats, I only lose an occasional branch which is tolerable, but when the whole pile falls off it's a pain, and so while I'll occasionally chain or strap it to keep together, that's extra steps I'd like to get the grapple to avoid.
I was also considering a log grapple
but it likely has the same pile-grabbing questions as the above (though the max opening of 42" is more than most other grapples it seems, but as it's not as wide it would depend that much more on a well-constructed pile; I do make an effort now to put longer stuff on the bottom because I'm just picking up with forks, but being able to make a heap with less concern about branch length would be a plus).
There's also the pallet fork grapple, or thumb
I suspect the fork thumb has the tallest "opening"; that grapple lid probably doesn't open any further than in the pic. Both of these are cheaper, but it seems to me that neither is likely to be very useful in pulling apart a matted pile of trees and shrubs.
As my main use is probably in moving piles of hand-cut brush and branches, I'm most interested in hearing from people who have a similar practice.
[And yes, I have a 3rd function / diverter on the loader already]
) I'm practically a hermit.
