Grapple Best "rock" grapple for CUT?

[HillCountry]

Hey folks,

Wife and I are building a house on 12 acres in the Texas Hill Country north of San Antonio. Looking for a sanity check on tractor size and a bit of help with a grapple selection. I plan on keeping this house until they carry me out. The tractor stays until the estate sale.

After hours of reading, a bit of test driving, and discussions with my Dad who's got a 27HP New Holland and a 75HP John Deere, I'm landing on a 40ish HP Kubota (L3940 or similar+) or Kioti (DK40SE HST or similar+). I haven't made it to the various dealers yet, but they are all similar distances from me, none real close but all within about 30 miles in various directions. Phone calls to dealers have given me rough ideas on pricing. No suprises in that Kioti prices best with most features for the buck, Kubota is next, John Deere is premium priced. I'll buy the tractor that seems like the best deal, with the features and fit that appeal to me most, from the dealer that seems like he'll be able to help me take care of any issues that crop up. Any suggestions for a dealer to definitely talk to, or not talk to, in the area between San Antonio and Austin?

The 12 acres is roughly composed of:

• 4 acres, underbrush cleared with clustered and scattered oaks, average 10% slope, some more some less
• 5 acres, more densely wooded but still fairly easy to walk through in "most" areas, same 10% average slope, with underbrush and cedars that I want to clear
• 3 acres, level grassy meadow with a seasonal creek at the back border, trees along the creek
• all except the meadow is rocky soil or rock, even the "good" soil where leaves/acorns/limbs have dropped and decomposed for a hundred years has a lot of large rocks mixed in. The meadow has all the soil that washed down from the wooded acres above, so not many visible rocks.

Top tractor tasks, roughly but not exactly in priority order:

1. Dig/pick up and move rocks, lots and lots of rocks at surface level from 25 lbs to 1500lbs (the ones over 1500 lbs may just have to remain a "feature" of our landscaping)
2. Make rocks into little rock walls through and around trees; some of the little rock walls will be a little more substantial to help guide rainwater during heaving rains and limit erosion
3. Move cedars I push over or cut with chainsaw
4. Mulch said cedars, we often have burn bans in this part of Texas and I want the mulch anyway to put around the oak trees
5. Spread and level topsoil that I have delivered to selected landscape areas
6. Brush hog the 3 acres of meadow a few times a year

The biggest implement question I have is what type of grapple to get. While there are a lot of threads on grapples, most that I found focus more on logs, roots, and underbrush than rocks. While I will certainly want the grapple to do that type of work, I also want it to be easy to use and efficient in picking up and moving surface rocks. There are lots of visible rocks I want to move between 500 and 1500 lbs, then literally thousands that are 3" to 24" scattered around. I want to be able to pick up and precisely place the larger rocks. I want to be able to rake then gather up the smaller rocks. As far as sizing the grapple, a 1500 lb rock might have dimensions something like 5' x 2' x 1', so a 48" grapple is plenty wide as long as it is strong enough and can open up enough. Any guidance from someone who has done this type of work with a CUT and grapple would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
HillCountry

 

[sdef]

Hi HillCountry. I have similar rocks on my 4 acres of densely wooded, rocky land that I will start clearing next month. I thought about the rock issue long and hard and settled on a 48" unit. My plan is to pick up the larger rocks individually and move elsewhere. Then go back with the grapple open and just slide the bucket teeth slightly under ground and get the smaller ones. Once this is done, I will use the rollover box blade's shanks to dig up the subsurface rocks and then go back for another pass with the rock bucket

I have been using the rock grapple around my current home doing exactly as you described, except for no rocks here. I have used the grapple to lift up and destroy an old shed also, along with using it as a carryall for limb pickups, etc. I find it the handiest tool in my arsenal.

I selected 48" vs. larger to keep the weight down as 48" will grab anything a larger unit will and can lift more due to its lighter weight. The only thing a 72" would increase would be the volume you can stash in there. But for me that is not an issue. I just pile/load limbs and brush in the grapple, so far up to about 8' wide and carry it away. I have no need nor desire for a wider unit, especially with the reduced maneuverability around all of my trees.

Actually, I have no idea why folks purchase the root grapples as I think they appear to be less useful than a rock grapple that can also dig, which I have done to get at roots underground.

Here is the one I selected and am impressed with its price and construction. It came with 1/2" ISO 16028 skid steer couplings, which I dearly love as they do not leak when disconnected as the typical ag coupling do.

48" Rock Grapple Bucket Skidsteer Attachment | eBay

 

[Willie B]

There's no such thing as too big a tractor. If someone says otherwise they are wrong. If you plan to keep it forever, maintain it as such. Three point hitch is essential. If you have backhoe questions refer to my first sentence. Shopping price isn't bad, don't let it make your decision. In my case the $110000.00 for my dream tractor was out of the question. The used model like it cost $17000.00. It has served me well except for a couple leaky hydraulic hoses I should have replaced earlier. An industrial backhoe with quicktatch, or at least a Compact track loader will see use almost dailey. Ignore the arguments they are too heavy. Ground pressure per square inch is no higher than little machines. Rock at 180 or so Lbs. per cubic foot weighs up fast A rock 5.5x2x1 weighs a ton. In VT we call those pebbles. My average rock is 3 times that thick. If it is embeded in earth it won't come out easy.

I hear arguments that two machines; a mini excavator and CTL are just as good. OK, if you don't mind buying, maintaining, trucking, and garaging two, I agree.

My cheap old monster is more versatile and capable than the best C.U.T.

 

[HillCountry]

Thanks sdef. Great feedback and info. I like your plan for the rocks. I think I can follow a similar approach in many areas, but we also have a lot of large oaks where I'll have to be careful around roots so the boxblade use will be limited. I've considered the smaller grapple size and think that is good advice since it offers more precision without really limiting the ability to accomplish most tasks. Based on your recommendation I added Wildkat to my list of grapples to check out. I saw a few other posts that they might be slightly under-engineered in the top brace, but maybe they have addressed that issue.

Willie B, I laughed when I read your post. You must live in an area with a lot of open space. My dad has a hundred acres and actually has a D8 dozer that he's used extensively to smooth things out and rebuild ponds. That monster is WAY too big for our little 12 acre residential subdivision lot with trees... trees that I actually want to keep without killing the roots and scraping the trunks. I respectfully disagree with your statement that there is no such thing as too big a tractor. For me, I think the sweet spot is the smallest HST tractor I can get with 30+ HP at the PTO, the ability to move a 1500 lb rock, and wheeled tires that won't destroy vegetation or concrete driveway.

 

[Willie B]

That D8 sounds sweet. Santa never brings anything that cool. If it's one machine for a lifetime, don't rule out a Compact Track Loader, a lot more gentle to your roots, and sooo versatile. With rubber tracks you could run over a kitten without squashing it. PLEASE DON'T TRY THIS!

 

[Willie B]

Even a D8 would leave you 518000 Square Feet. Work with me here!

 

[sdef]

:laughing:

Even a D8 would leave you 518000 Square Feet. Work with me here!

 

[HillCountry]

Ha! I like that.

Willie B, you got me curious enough that I checked out the Bobcat T110. Looks interesting but not quite as versatile as a tractor for my needs. While tree/brush clearing, I want a grapple on the loader and a wood chipper on the 3PT. The track loader has attachments for both but only one can be on at a time. Not quite as efficient. Same for the grapple on the front and a box blade on the back while clearing rocks, and for brush hogging I'm not sure you can beat a tractor. Those compact track loaders sure look interesting though. If I had money and space for both it might be tempting, but for the once or twice a year that I want the extra power of a skid steer... I probably just rent.

FYI, Bobcat lists 67 attachments for the T110. I had no idea there were so many different options out there.

 

[Willie B]

You didn't mention being married to a tyrant. The correct answer is both.

 

[Willie B]

With Quick-tatch these things do everything short of dentistry.