carolina attachments

[nc redneck]

WR Long is the gold standard for 4 in 1 and grapples. I would consider who made it and there history more than type of steel advertised. Once a part is cut, welded and painted who knows what grade. Wildcat is made local and a good first step down from WR Long. Wildcat some times dumps there excess inventory at Ritche Brothers auctions in Henderson NC.

 

[TomSeller]

I think some manufacturers are using higher strength steel to lower the overall weight in the interest of increasing the amount smaller tractors can lift. If you have enough lift, A36 works just fine for most users. Certainly good enough for logs and brush, what most TBN members use them for.

 

[Wesley B]

I'm local as well, and have worked for a few of the local attachment manufacturers. Anybody who's worked in the business knows that wildkat doesn't dump "excess" inventory to ritchie bros. They have a deal where they build and send truckloads to each ritchie bros auction. We also know that there are 3 companies locally that produce the best quality attachments available and carolina attachments is 1 of them.

 

[kacole]

WR Long is the gold standard for 4 in 1 and grapples. I would consider who made it and there history more than type of steel advertised. Once a part is cut, welded and painted who knows what grade. Wildcat is made local and a good first step down from WR Long. Wildcat some times dumps there excess inventory at Ritche Brothers auctions in Henderson NC.

How much does the grapples usually go for at auction

 

[jblac197]

Has anybody got any experience with the carolina attachments grapple? I'm looking to buy and seen these they are a little cheaper than others that i've priced but they still appear to be put together nice. some first hand feedback would be great.

I should have my grapple from them delivered any day now. I took the gamble because they were considerably cheaper than other manufacturers and still American made. I'll post again when I use it. Just hoping I didn't waste my $ because I couldn't find any reviews on them either.

 

[daugen]

I drove all the way across NC to pick up my EA rear blade and rake, and it was worth the drive.
Good stuff.
My WR Long solid bottom grapple was bought about 7 years ago, and oh my what a solid piece of machinery.
If it could talk, it would be saying "you ain't going to bend me"

Kacole, to answer your question, no, frankly never heard of them. I just studied their website, wide range of equipment all made in USA.
Kinda reminds me of EA about ten years ago...these two businesses are only 75 miles apart in the center of NC.
They should put an ad in TractorHouse and get a little more visibility.
Until then, I'd say EA was a safer choice simply because the equipment has been out there longer and if it breaks/bends, EA is good about re-engineering things until they are even stronger. Also smaller companies usually have much worse paint jobs on their equipment.

Have to keep in mind a grapple is a pretty simple thing. If you bend it, not crazy hard to fix, and cylinders are bolt on and off if you brutalize the thing. So if you did go a little lighter, and are handy, and worked your way into heavier and heavier loads, I think a lighter grapple would be fine.
My WR Long grapple is 200 pounds too heavy for the front of my L Kubota. Light is good, more payload.