Brush & Root Grapple

[Redbug]

As to valve kits...I have a WRLong...many of us have them.
Valve Kits

 

[IslandTractor]

I have a 72" Anbo and absolutely love it. With its AR(abrasive resistant) steel when useing it for digging roots it takes a lot of abuse and does not show a lot of signs of wear.

I appreciate that high strength alloys are used in some of the Anbo grapples and presume that is why they are relatively expensive compared to the Millonzi and Gator/Markham grapples.

I've never heard of anyone with a mild steel grapple wearing out the tines. I have certainly not done anything more than scrape the paint off of my light duty 48" grapple on a similarly sized tractor (DK40se-maybe heavier) and I do a lot of root digging. We hear occasionally of bends in grapples from all manufacturers including Anbo and those are mostly due to either assymmetric forces pushing or catching a single tip on a big rock. Not sure it is worth the premium if there is no problem with mild steel. Why spend almost a couple of grand on a grapple if you can get the job done for half as much?

 

[IslandTractor]

I've been looking for a grapple for my Bobcat CT335 tractor and came across these grapples made by ANBO for compact tractors. ANBO Manufacturing - Rock, Root & Tree Grapple GR-M I was wondering if anyone out there has had any experience with these units. I noticed that their weight is quite a bit less than most similar units I've found, but construction wise they seem very similar to others.

You need to think about whether you want a clamshell or standard root grapple style. Anbo's are clamshell. They seem to be optimized for driving into brush as far as I can tell. The standard root grapple is distinguished most easily by the fact that it can carry a load even if the upper jaw is open. Clamshell grapples cannot hold anything if the upper jaw is open. The clamshells are also typically made with identical width upper and lower jaws while standard grapples have either one or two top jaws and they are usually not the full width.

Most companies make one or the other style but WRLong has both types. I think they call their clamshell a RBG or something like that and the standard type is called the OBG or something like that. Easy to see the differences when they are compared.

One other point, the clamshells are almost always more expensive.

Everyone likes whatever grapple they get. I see that as a reason to get the lightest cheapest grapple you can find as it will do the job and give you the most net lift capacity as well as impacting your wallet less.

My grapple cost me $500. It weighs 280lbs and is constructed of 3/8 inch mild steel. It is no longer made as the owner of Millonzi died and they went out of business. Five years later it is going strong after doing LOTS of work and being mounted far more than either my standard bucket or 4n1.

 

[VE6IAZ]

Hi
Here is a picture of a grapple that I built for my M6800 Kubota I used plain 1/2 inch plate and had the steel supplier cut it out from a pattern I supplied. I would guess that I have about $1200 into it. Mind you the sand blasting and painting was done for free. I must confess that it was not my design. I looked at ones on the internet tractor suppliers and sort of extrapolated the grapple size to the tractor size and then built my own. I used hard surfacing rod and built up the tips so they wouldn't wear to badly. So far it has worked beyond my wildest dreams and has been in use for about 3 years.

 

[IslandTractor]

Nice grapple. Great fabrication.

 

[jake98]

Yeah, that's a beauty!

 

[HCJtractor]

That is an impressive build!!!

 

[VE6IAZ]

Thank you all for the compliments. There was a lot of head scratching and some bad words but in the end it was all worth it.
VE6IAZ