ETA TBN member nomination thread

[94BULLITT]

Good for you happy to hear it !

Thanks.

 

[crazyal]

Why does it seam like everything here on TBN turns into a circus? Glad to see that Roger is getting to build a grapple, something that he would rather have than another BB. But has anyone really thought just what planning needs to go into a kit vs a built attachment? I notice that EA is talking about tabs so the parts can be alined. How many of their attachments have them? Without them getting the parts in the correct location before welding is much harder. EA needs to create a manual that shows exactly how to do it in a way that someone who has never seen the assembled attachment. Anyone who thinks that's an easy thing to do really needs to try to do it. I'm sure as they do, if they don't get turned off by those who will never buy a kit from them, they are going to find they need to make alinement marks that they never needed when assembling in their plant.

I have to wonder just what will happen if the build doesn't go smoothly. Will the same people jump all over EA because they didn't get the directions right or not clear enough? Will they jump because nobody is working on the weekend when Roger picks up the phone with a question? I figure this is going to be a learning experience for both, how can anyone blame EA for wanting to send an attachment that has the greatest chance of a smooth assembly. I wish the attachments I would like to get soon, a plow and disc harrows, don't look like attachments that are labor intensive and would offer a savings if sold in kit form.

 

[crazyal]

Why does it seam like everything here on TBN turns into a circus? Glad to see that Roger is getting to build a grapple, something that he would rather have than another BB. But has anyone really thought just what planning needs to go into a kit vs a built attachment? I notice that EA is talking about tabs so the parts can be alined. How many of their attachments have them? Without them getting the parts in the correct location before welding is much harder. EA needs to create a manual that shows exactly how to do it in a way that someone who has never seen the assembled attachment. Anyone who thinks that's an easy thing to do really needs to try to do it. I'm sure as they do, if they don't get turned off by those who will never buy a kit from them, they are going to find they need to make alinement marks that they never needed when assembling in their plant.

I have to wonder just what will happen if the build doesn't go smoothly. Will the same people jump all over EA because they didn't get the directions right or not clear enough? Will they jump because nobody is working on the weekend when Roger picks up the phone with a question? I figure this is going to be a learning experience for both, how can anyone blame EA for wanting to send an attachment that has the greatest chance of a smooth assembly. I wish the attachments I would like to get soon, a plow and disc harrows, don't look like attachments that are labor intensive and would offer a savings if sold in kit form.

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

Why does it seam like everything here on TBN turns into a circus? Glad to see that Roger is getting to build a grapple, something that he would rather have than another BB. But has anyone really thought just what planning needs to go into a kit vs a built attachment? I notice that EA is talking about tabs so the parts can be alined. How many of their attachments have them? Without them getting the parts in the correct location before welding is much harder. EA needs to create a manual that shows exactly how to do it in a way that someone who has never seen the assembled attachment. Anyone who thinks that's an easy thing to do really needs to try to do it. I'm sure as they do, if they don't get turned off by those who will never buy a kit from them, they are going to find they need to make alinement marks that they never needed when assembling in their plant.

I have to wonder just what will happen if the build doesn't go smoothly. Will the same people jump all over EA because they didn't get the directions right or not clear enough? Will they jump because nobody is working on the weekend when Roger picks up the phone with a question? I figure this is going to be a learning experience for both, how can anyone blame EA for wanting to send an attachment that has the greatest chance of a smooth assembly. I wish the attachments I would like to get soon, a plow and disc harrows, don't look like attachments that are labor intensive and would offer a savings if sold in kit form.

Well, The profession of fabrication/welding is NOT an endeavor that should be attempted by the casual tractor owner ,If you have a 110 gas less harbor freight mig welder and a set of hand tools from Kmart you are better off leaving it to the professionals like EA period ! There is a certain amount of ability that falls to the consumer and you know yourself if you are able to run a clean penetrating weld for 6 inches or not .Many tractor owners have way more tractor than they really need and if they had to pay cash for them it would still be at the dealership , You can easily die from misuse or inability just by not following basic safety precautions yet any dealer will toss you the keys and say "have at it " at no money down and deliver it for free ! the point is these are not pieces of Ikea furniture ,misuse, failure to weld correctly or just plain not having any idea of what to do or how to do it is just a real bad idea and you can not learn how to weld in 1 night watching a u-tube video ! I highly doubt 94 BULLIT is going to be calling anyone wanting help on a Saturday afternoon while working on this project ! unless he needs them to hold a camera ! It's not brain surgery !

 

[crazyal]

The same can be said with almost anything in life. Nobody was born with full knowledge of any subject. Ask anyone who welds, sooner or later the process of learning meant they had to pick up a welding rod and start to weld. Almost every time someone tries to weld for the first time their weld is terrible. For hobbyists they just accept the fact that if a weld breaks they will have to repair it. It also means that you will want to challenge yourself by trying harder and different projects to expand your knowledge. I can buy almost any part for my car and truck so I can fix it myself. A number of those parts have a lot more risk of injury or death than assembling an attachment for a tractor. There's nothing stopping me from buying some steel and a couple of axles and making my own trailer, again much more risk. It's called personal responsibility for your decisions and actions. Just buying and operating a tractor assumes a fair amount of risk, would you tell someone that they can't own a tractor because they don't have the skills yet? Sorry but that's not a world I want to live in. But that's not the point here.

The fact is that EA is offering people the chance to build their own attachment. They are doing so because they feel there's a market for such a product, I agree. The customer gets a chance to save a couple of bucks, have the satisfaction of building their own attachment, the choice of what color and type of paint they use, and the opportunity to customize their attachment to better suit them. For success it does require the customer to have the skills and tools needed or help, it also requires more from EA than a pallet with some steel strapped to it. I assume this will be the first kit they have sent to someone to put together in the wild. If it's a failure then EA may just give up.

So I would expect them to spend some time trying to decide which kits would have a higher success rate and opting for one of them as the test subject. When they first came up with the idea they may not have thought out all of the little details. Little details that need to be taken care of one kit at a time. Depending on how they assemble the attachments in their shop, do they use a jig that positions parts for welding or indexing marks/ tabs for the employee to aline the parts, will determine how quickly a kit could be ready to be sold.

 

[Car Doc]

If a person isn't capable of putting a kit together he is likely not to buy one is my guess. A simple statement by EA could well be "sold as parts assemble at own risk" yes?

Most of us poses various skills of various things it is safe to presume some are better suited than others but that isn't EA's responsibility I dont think anyway nor should they put a skill level on a kit that in it self could impose a liability on their part.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

We are planning to ship Roger's 72" Wicked Grapple kit next week. He said he'd have the grapple lids tacked together and the hydraulic fittings screwed together loosely so they'll need to be sealed and tightened.

Ted also wanted be to offer the one and only prototype 66" Wicked grapple for sale to a TBN member for the price of $700 plus freight. This is below cost but he is willing to let it go to a member that will provide us with feedback on TBN. It will be shipped to you just like it is shown in the video so check out the video to see the differences in the prototype and the final product. If interested, just PM me and leave a number that I can contact you at. This is first come, first serve.
The senders of PMs will be contacted in the order that they are received by us and the first person that pays will get this prototype grapple.

Once again, here is the video:

 

[murphy1244]

seems not

 

[94BULLITT]

We are planning to ship Roger's 72" Wicked Grapple kit next week. He said he'd have the grapple lids tacked together and the hydraulic fittings screwed together loosely so they'll need to be sealed and tightened.

I can't wait. :cool2:

 

[94BULLITT]

Did anyone get the prototype grapple yet?