A question of grapples

[ericm979]

If you are going to get a grapple, and I use mine often on my BX2680, make sure and put an expanded metal brush guard insert on your front brush guard to protect your radiator. If not it’s not if you will put a limb through the radiator it’s when

I didn't make the guard yet and I only managed to break the plastic grill. Its probably expensive too.

 

[oosik]

My Kubota M6040 with grapple and grill guard. Also - grapple wide open.

 

[Sportsman762]

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"

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.

Your use for a grapple is very similar to mine. Like you I crush the pile with the grapple before biting into it. A few things to note.
The lid of the grapple will suck some of the pile down into it when closing allowing you to grab more than the opening of the grapple.
I have a brush grapple that is L shaped. These grapples I believe can carry more as they have a higher volume and hold the load straight out.
Below is the grapple I have.

Stout Skid Steer Brush Grapple 66-9 With Skid Steer Quick Attach

FREE SAME DAY SHIPPING Call for a quote if shipping to Canada, Alaska, or Hawaii. Photos are of a stock grapple, the grapple you receive may have variations depending on the options you choose. Made Entirely with high strength 50,000 psi Steel! Weight: 480 lbs unit 515 lbs shipping Bucket Width...

stoutbuckets.com

An example from another user showing the amount of brush that you can hold forward of the grapple edge with a L shaped grapple. Notice how the tractor is carrying almost as much brush in front of the grapple lip as it is in the grapple.

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/tractor-pics-437-jpg.315772/

Grapple - Grapple on a Kubota B2920

I want to get a grapple for my 1.5 year old, 300 hours Kubota B2920. I have made a tentative plan and would like to have it checked. I'm hoping for and am open to all comments, advice, criticisms, alternatives, corrections on any part of the plan big or small. For me, this is a very large...

www.tractorbynet.com

You do not need a grapple as wide as the tractor unless doing lots of grubbing. A narrower grapple is more maneuverable in the woods.

Another point is that when you drive into a pile you compact the pile against the back of the grapple increasing density of the brush that is being moved.
On a good bite I can hold about a 6' pickup truck beds worth of brush in the grapple.

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 C style rake grapple's hold their load different allowing less volume and any excess is pointed down, requiring a higher carrying position. The opening of a C style rake grapple is also on the bottom meaning any loose brush that is not firmly held by the gripping action of the lid is liable to fall out. The advantage of a C style rake grapple is the ability to use it to grub brush while keeping the bucket cylinders retracted (in their strongest position). Another advantage of a C shape grapple is that it carries the load close to the loader, this is good for heavy logs. To mitigate this with a L shape I will tilt the grapple 90° so it faces the ground then put it over top of the log, I will clamp the log and roll the grapple back while lowing the loader to keep the grapple on the ground. Then once the grapple is fully tilted back (bucket cylinders retracted) I will slightly loosen the grip of the grapple on the log allowing it to slide to the back of the grapple before clamping it tight for transport.

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.

The fork type and Log type grapples are best at handling logs. They hold the log to the forks and allow you to grab multiple logs and transport them securely. They are not that great at brush as it is challenging to pick up brush in short pieces or brush that is flexible. The frostbite can move brush and does it well, however it moves very little brush compared to a wider grapple.

As my main use is probably in moving piles of hand-cut brush and branches,

For carrying loose brush I think that the L type brush grapples are the best. I would not worry about only having 36" or less of opening as much of the capacity of an L shaped grapple is outside the grapple when in loose brush. My 32" opening has not left me wanting a wider bite. The L shaped brush grapple also handles smaller piles and short loose brush well as it is held by the floor of the grapple. When cutting a tree up I will delimb it then cut the trunk into firewood rounds, then use the grapple to gather the limbs and carry them to the brush pile. I do not normally stack the limbs unless on the lawn but just tilt the grapple down and drive forward with a pile of limbs forming in the grapple. On occasion I will tilt my grapple down and use it as a root rake and grub trees. However my tractor is an industrial and the loader cylinder rods are 2" diameter so they are much stronger than a compact.
This weekend I am going to grub a new trail through some Multiflora Rose (alot like blackberries) since the backhoe is on the tractor and I do not feel like taking it off to put the brush hog on but need to get back to that side of the property for some work. A C-shaped grapple would be better for this sort of work.
However most of my tasks for a grapple are moving brush piles were a L shape grapple excels. I like a dual lid grapple as it allows you to move awkward items such as stumps more securely with one lid holding the rootball and the other holding the trunk. For light brush a single lid grapple works just as well. A friend has a full length single lid L type brush grapple with a full lid and I used it prior to getting mine. It does a as good of a job in light brush as my dual lid. However I am still partial to the dual lid as it can grab uneven loads better.

Yes, it's for the 3520h.
It can pick up 2000#, but losing 1/2 of that to the grapple wouldn't be pleasant, and having so much weight would make hills more difficult in general.
I'm hoping to be in the 400-500# range.

Do not get to heavy of a grapple, it is not worth loosing your load capacity. My tractor has a 2,800 lb lift so the 480 lb grapple is a little light for it, however the lids are the only thing I worry about (don't backdrag with them). I have moved logs that the tractor could barely lift with its 4,800 lb breakout force and no damage to the grapple, just have to be carefull.

If you are going to get a grapple, and I use mine often on my BX2680, make sure and put an expanded metal brush guard insert on your front brush guard to protect your radiator. If not it’s not if you will put a limb through the radiator it’s when

Good advice. I did not need one as the entire front of the tractor is 1" thick metal but compacts and ag tractors are not built with hardnose's.

The gripping power and carrying abilities of a grapple increase the capacity immensely compared to forks.

Unfortunately (for me, not society ) I'm practically a hermit.

I wish I could be more of a hermit.

 

[WM75Guy]

I have a W.R. Long OBG-1 72" grapple on my WM75. It does everything I ask of it. It does take a little bit of finesse to get it under large logs without digging into the dirt. I have to clamp down on it and then curl the grapple under it. It does a good job if I need to dig out vines or brush. The smaller OBG-2 would work on your tractor in whatever width suites you.

 

[footer200]

I love my Stinger Attachments CG56" dual lid, AR 200 steel, lots of rear protection, cylinders at the back out of the way and only 360lbs. These are built crazy strong if you want to check out the video.

 

[newkiotiguy]

I love my Stinger Attachments CG56" dual lid, AR 200 steel, lots of rear protection, cylinders at the back out of the way and only 360lbs. These are built crazy strong if you want to check out the video.

I also have the CG56. I'm not sure you could break it if you tried

 

[Rvrrat14]

My grapple is an Armstrong Ag BGR64-5 and opens approx 60”. I run it with Yanmar 47 hp tractor. Its lower tines are .75” thick. It’s 610 lbs.
I have cut trees and stacked in piles of logs approx 6 to 8 ft and brush about the same to longer. I can pick up quite a bit and dump in trailer. Very pleased with it.

 

[2manyrocks]

I bought a new 48" MTL grapple on my L2501 about two years ago. BLACK Compact Tractor 48" / 54" / 60" HD Root Grapple Hydraulic - quick attach — MTL Attachments. It weighs about 350lbs. I think it was $1129 shipped to middle Tennessee, but it looks like you want a different style called a root rake style. My only concern about those is potentially bending the loader arms if you run into a rock or tree stump trying to rake brush.

You can compact some of the tree top branches into more manageable sizes. But mainly the time savings comes from being able to grab and retain a bunch of brush with very little effort, and then use the clamping force to hold the pieces while you transport it to the dump location. Mine still works without any issues. I didn't see the need for paying more.

I suspect you'd like having a grapple, but recommend being careful how you use it and getting a grill guard before you use any grapple.

 

[sandman2234]

I lower the grapple next to the ground and rake limbs into a pile that is huge. Then I tilt the grapple so that it is just barely touching the ground and push forward, and as I am building up the pile in front of the grapple, I curl forward, allowing the grapple to crush the pile as I move forward and as that happens, I curl the grapple forward till the the lids touch the ground, then I compress what I have in the pile by closing the lids! Then a lot of times I take the pile and add it to another pile on top, which causes other issues.
David from jax

 

[mikester]

I've owned two styles of grapple.

Don't get hung up on jaw opening dimensions. My old single lid clamshell root rake had a wider opening but my long bottom twin lid grapple will grab twice as much brush and pick and handle heavier loads than the clamshell ever could.

The long bottom grapple has a big advantage of grabbing brush from further away from your radiator grill. That might actually be a minus on smaller machines with limited lift capacity.

The long bottom is also better at grabbing piles of logs. It will also carry larger bunches of logs than the single lid clamshell ever could.

If you have limited lift capacity the single lid clamshell is going to work better for your machine. Grabbing more is meaningless if you can't lift your grab.