Brush Grapple vs Root Rake Grapple

[Hysyde]

I'm looking to buy a root rake style grapple for a Case TR320 compact track loader (skid steer). What I picture using it mostly for is brush clearing/land reclamation to clear overgrown areas of buckthorn etc. and then be able to handle the brush (move it into burn piles) without picking up too much dirt in the process. Last year we had a forestry mulcher come in, and we followed up with a brush hog to take down some of the more fine stuff. However the operator didn't put the mulcher down into the ground (leaving the stumps) and there was a lot of material to clean up afterwards. We used a landscape rake (with casters), but it was difficult to do a clean job and not pick up too much dirt.

Anyway, I'm kind of stuck between these two styles, one which has more of a skeletonized bucket/tines and the other which has very short tines that seem much more suited for plowing/raking through the dirt. I'm figuring that a rook rake style will be more suited to our needs but a brush grapple might be a little more versatile for material handling.


Case options I'm considering below. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like root grapple has independent grapples, it it seems like the grapple could function as a push bar for controlling the brush as it's taken down?

vs

I'm also not sure what brand to go with. We have a good relationship with the local Kubota dealer and have bought a number of tractor attachments from them over the last few years, however the grapple Kubota advertises as their "root grapple) seems like a bit of a hybrid with medium length tines? The tines also don't seem as heavily built and suited for plowing through soil? What they call simply a "claw grapple" seems more like a root rake style, but it doesn't look as heavily built as other brands (and is single grapple).

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My questions are:

1. What style would be best suited to what I want to do?
2. If I go with more of a short tine, root rake style, is dual, independent grapples desirable? Does anyone sell one?
3. Brand recommendations for a Case CTL (in Canada).
4. What size? Just wide enough to cover the track width (74")? Is bigger better or do they tax the machine when working?

I appreciate any input I can get. I don't have a ton of experience outside some small root rake grapple use on BX SCUT and traditional bucket grapple use on farm tractors.

I'll be looking to purchase a something similar for a SCUT plus a 100hp loader tractor in the next year or two, so I'd love to hear opinions when it comes to these kinds of grapples.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I bought mine with a compagnie that got it from TMG industrial they actually gave me a better price (small discount) and free shipping which is also offer by TMG and they had it in stock… I love mine for ripping alder, ***** willows or any other trees with the roots … as far as the width that’s a big debate but I bought mine the width of the bucket 74” it protect my tractor and wheels when I work with it … I can see the advantage with the two independent grapple but i like having the one straight one especially fro taking trees or brushes down.

TMG Industrial 72” Skid Steer Root Rake Grapple Attachment, Universal Mount, 53” Jaw Opening, 9” Tine Spacing, 3000 lb Weight Capacity, TMG-RG72Default Title

The TMG-RG72 Skid Steer Root Rake Grapple Attachment features twin hydraulic cylinder arms that can produce a grappling capacity of up to 3000 lb. A versatile attachment for your skid steer that can be used for a variety of applications including brush/log pick up, recycling, root raking, scrap...

tmgindustrial.ca

 

[Rockbadchild]

For what you want to do I would go with the rootrake grappler and the one showed your second picture the tines tip are re in-force so one they are more ridged and you can safely remove rocks with it not like the last picture you showed … The it depends on your soils type, it’s easier to rip roots out in a sandy soil then a clay soil… then there are the type of trees … aspen and willows have very deep roots so you need to grab them deep to pull them out, alder can be challenging to rip out as well because of there dense root ball … spruce are the easiest they don’t need much.

 

[Hysyde]

I'm leaning towards root rake although doing some reading it seems a brush/root grapple may be beeter suited to combing the soil and collect more fine material.

For brands for root rakes, I'm not sure. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Kubota/Landpride make what I'm looking for.

The V60 model from Virnig looks nice. I could probably move down to a V50 since this won't get steady use. One dealer in my area.

HLA (made in Canada) has some models, but without the pin on teeth, they look a bit light to me. Bonus that they have model with independent grapples though. They seem to have a pretty wide dealer network.

The Palladin/Bradco model looks pretty rugged, and again there's a lot of dealers for them around. We've got several of their other attachments (bought a number of years ago) and they seem decent.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I'm leaning towards root rake although doing some reading it seems a brush/root grapple may be beeter suited to combing the soil and collect more fine material.

For brands for root rakes, I'm not sure. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Kubota/Landpride make what I'm looking for.

The V60 model from Virnig looks nice. I could probably move down to a V50 since this won't get steady use. One dealer in my area.

View attachment 798815

HLA (made in Canada) has some models, but without the pin on teeth, they look a bit light to me. Bonus that they have model with independent grapples though. They seem to have a pretty wide dealer network.

View attachment 798816

The Palladin/Bradco model looks pretty rugged, and again there's a lot of dealers for them around. We've got several of their other attachments (bought a number of years ago) and they seem decent.


View attachment 798817

The only thing I notice from all your model above is the tines don't have the V shape taper in between the tines... my grappler below has it and these are so useful without them there would be lots of things I couldn't pull out... and that what holds the stumps with the roots out of the ground it drives it to the end and wedge it. Just one thing to consider

 

[nyone]

Try removing every other tooth in your land scape take first. It's not going to pull stumps out but does help alot by not moving much dirt.

Either grapple will work for removing small stumps. How ever an excavator will be quicker and cleaner. Also taking the stump out with the whole tree still attached is alot easier.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

I have the long tines on mine like the internet pic I grabbed. From AE. Use it a lot. Works great. Just couple of things:

- single lid works well for me. never yet needed a double and I do work similar to you. Simple. less to maintain / break maybe?
- draw back of long tines is when moving some type of brush (and with serrated teeth at the tip). I can be a pain once and a while dumping the load. Need to use full down curl and shake sometimes but still manageable.
- long tines work well as I like to compact / crush my brush piles down before carrying away and long tines gives nice flat long bottom to do this. I move a lots of brush from my wood lots to winter burn piles so the tighter the load the more I can move faster. I think longer tines move more brush faster.
- longer tines are nice when you want sort of a pallet fork affect. Carrying rocks, bigger stumps, etc.... I can get UNDER the item and lift curl back and often don't need the lid down. Relies less on lids for saftey / holding stuff in place with the longer tines.

personal preference as both make short work of lots of stuff. This pic is a dble lid mine is a single lid though. Just noticed double lid has more coverage across entire grapple where single only cover about middle half. Nver noticed before but again never had a yearning for anything more than my single lid doing my kinda stuff.

 

[Hysyde]

The only thing I notice from all your model above is the tines don't have the V shape taper in between the tines... my grappler below has it and these are so useful without them there would be lots of things I couldn't pull out... and that what holds the stumps with the roots out of the ground it drives it to the end and wedge it. Just one thing to consider

Yeah, that definitely looks like it would be handy. I haven't come across any skid steer models that seem to have that.

I've looked at TMG, but the preference is not to buy online.

 

[Hysyde]

Try removing every other tooth in your land scape take first. It's not going to pull stumps out but does help alot by not moving much dirt.

Either grapple will work for removing small stumps. How ever an excavator will be quicker and cleaner. Also taking the stump out with the whole tree still attached is alot easier.

That's a good suggestion for the landscape rake.

An excavator isn't really an option right now. Anything I'd be looking to clear would be in the 2-4" size and shallowly rooted (buckthorn).

 

[nyone]

That's a good suggestion for the landscape rake.

An excavator isn't really an option right now. Anything I'd be looking to clear would be in the 2-4" size and shallowly rooted (buckthorn).

Try the landscape rake thing first, it's free. I did that to mine and it totally changed how usefull it was for the better. Il never put the other half of my tines back in and I even put a nice lawn in 2yrs ago like that.

2-4in brush is fairly suitable to a grapple. Depending on how deep there rooted would be the only way I would swing for a long or short time. I have a long and the bar on the bottom behind the tooth is what stops them from digging in.

I can say that if your moving brush alot I would get a long tine. Once you make a pile you can push down on the pile with the grapple open and get quite a bite. I took down 10 maple,ash and birch trees 16-24in, cutting the logs at 9' in about 6 hours. We piled the brush 500ft away and loaded the logs in a trailer. All the brush work was done by a beginner operator.

 

[LouNY]

I have a grapple with the so called rock bucket and I'm not pleased with it, I am contemplating getting the root rake style.
On my grapple with the bucket portion on the ground even at a steep angle it is difficult to get under a log and if you can't get under it and have it several inches into the bucket the grapple does not catch and hold it. To pick up a single log I have to curl the bucket portion clear down and back towards the tractor roll up to the log then try and get the squeeze part of the grapple to close around the log, very inconvenient and time consuming.

 

[nyone]

On my grapple with the bucket portion on the ground even at a steep angle it is difficult to get under a log and if you can't get under it and have it several inches into the bucket the grapple does not catch and hold it. To pick up a single log I have to curl the bucket portion clear down and back towards the tractor roll up to the log then try and get the squeeze part of the grapple to close around the log, very inconvenient and time consuming

How else would you expect to get a round object into the grapple? The angle of the teeth is needed for strength. I typicaly use my grapple with the bottom close to a 45* angle. Once the object is in and the lid closed theres few objects that need the bucket curled back to travel with.

 

[LouNY]

Mine has to be past 90* about 100* curled way under and back.
I'm actually going to be using it today, I'll have to try and get a few pictures.

 

[Vigo327]

I cant comment on grapple styles other than single vs dual lid. Ive used a dual lid flat bottom grapple on a skid steer and the benefit of the dual lid that i noticed was that it does a better job clamping over things that hang beyond the sides of the bucket. I guess you could think of it like this.. if you grab something that is much thicker on one side of the bucket than the other, with a single lid it will hit it in one place and grab, whereas with the dual lid it will grab it in two places. Makes for a better grip on oddly shaped large objects. I cant say for certain but i also have a strong suspicion that the way dual lids are built makes it extremely unlikely you ever bend a lid, whereas with single lid theres a.. decent chance of tweaking the lid at some point.

 

[JohnnyMX]

Dual lid long bottom tines here and it works great. Moves brush piles, rocks, pulling out overgrowth is easy and with two clamping down it will help clamp both sides if they are odd shapped. You can also get some of them with narrower spacing on the tines if you wish to use it to sort/sift smaller size rocks/material. I made an insert in my WR Long grapple so I can put it on or off when doing brushwork vs. a poor-mans rock bucket.

 

[LouNY]

Here are a few pictures of my grapple;

You can see in these pics how far ahead of the grapple clamps the teeth are;

To grasp a log or pile of brush the grapple has to be rotated all the way down and back towards the tractor for the grapple clamps to be able to grasp any item. If you are pushing up against something trees or what ever to push material back into the bucket you can get a decent load otherwise it is a pain.

 

[machinery-man]

You've got a rock grapple, if you want to pickup limb you need a root grapple or debrie grapple. Rock grapples are much heavier due to more support for heavy rocks and debrie. If you're digging these are heavier but beware you need to watch your cylinders. That first picture you have you cylinder fully extended and it you hit something you'll break or bust the stops. It take some experience to properly use each type grapple. A clam grapple with easily grab but it takes more hydraulic pressure for the lid to hold. A debrie grapple you slide the bottom of the unit on a flat plane into the debrie and most of the work is in the lift. The claws keep the material from pulling back out of the bucket. Personally I don't like your unit unless you are clearing a field of stones and such and it would be great.

 

[LouNY]

You've got a rock grapple, if you want to pickup limb you need a root grapple or debrie grapple. Rock grapples are much heavier due to more support for heavy rocks and debrie. If you're digging these are heavier but beware you need to watch your cylinders. That first picture you have you cylinder fully extended and it you hit something you'll break or bust the stops. It take some experience to properly use each type grapple. A clam grapple with easily grab but it takes more hydraulic pressure for the lid to hold. A debrie grapple you slide the bottom of the unit on a flat plane into the debrie and most of the work is in the lift. The claws keep the material from pulling back out of the bucket. Personally I don't like your unit unless you are clearing a field of stones and such and it would be great.

Yes, it is a rock grapple. In the third picture it is not quite fully extended.
We have not had much luck with it picking stone either our ground is heavy with lots of rocks and unless it's too dry and over worked you pick up as much dirt as rocks. It's good on the larger rocks 20-30 pounders and larger. I've had over a 1000#s in it before I've got decent hydraulics.

 

[nyone]

That design looks more like a skeleton bucket with a lid to me.

This is how mine is shaped. It's got big holes so not great for rocks at all. The sides are open though so it dosnt squeeze logs out.

 

[oosik]

I went with a Land Pride rock and root grapple. I bought it nine years ago and had the dealer install it and a WR Long 3rd function valve kit. I move large chunks of pine tree trunk & large rocks. I also use it to gather and move brush and pine tree trimmings. It's a Land Pride - SGC1560. It's a very HD grapple - 820# of AR400 steel.

In my operations, I have no need for long bottom tines and I wanted a single top lid. It has become one of my most used implements and has never failed to work.