KY Gun Geek
Silver Member
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Messages
- 114
- Location
- Lexington, KY
- Tractor
- JD 5105, JD 5055D, 2 JD 5085M's, JD 5085E, JD 5093E, JD 5115M
Hey - I thought I would share my experience with those walking down the grapple purchase path. I'm starting here with the background, then I'll post some action shots, and some "aging" pics so you can see how things are working out.
First comment is that I am extremely pleased with what the grapple does for me, and pleased with the EA. I don't have any experience with any other mfgs, so this is not a comparison - just one man's experience with one product.
Background
I have a horse farm in central Kentucky - that means lots of grass fields and fence rows (4 board post and oak plank, thank you very much).
More specifically, I have a horse farm that was not cared for well between 1993 an 2012 when I bought it. That's about 20 years of bush honeysuckle growth, sapling growth, accumulating dead trees, and rotting fence plank in those fence rows.
One way to handle this is a bulldozer, which, of course would be lots of fun. However, dozers are expensive, so are tractors, but tractors have multiple roles on a farm that dozers don't, and dozers still require clean up behind them. Also, dozers, particularly if you hire them, tend to favor the tear-the-heck-out-of-the-whole-place approach. While the reputation of horse farm owners is "rich guy", I ain't, and so a more piece meal approach was required. I had to keep the farm running (making money) and clear small spaces.
After reading this forum, sounded like a perfect excuse for a grapple.
My objective with this this piece of gear is to make it easier to clear the brush and downed trees in fence rows. We cut the brush with a chainsaw then haul it to a burn pile. We paint stumps with Tordon, which kills it. In 3 to 6 months you can run a tractor buck though the are and what ever stumps are left are rotten enough to pop out of the ground. I have had some areas dozed as well, producing root balls. There are lots more uses for grapples, but by focusing on a primary use, it made some choices easier.
There were some immediate challenges.
First, as you can see from the inventory in my signature, I have 3 tractors that might use this grapple; a 5093e - 90hp utility class tractor with a cab and H260, a 5105 - the older style 45 hp 2wd 512 loader, and a 5055d - 50hp I think, and I think it also has a 512 loader.
1) the loader had to be sturdy enough to handle the 5093, but light enough to be usable on the smaller tractors
2) Solution needed to work on all 3 loaders - the 5093 has the JD universal mount system, and the smaller ones have the what I think is called the JD quicktach or something - point is they are very different.
3) In additions to the control valves for the loaders, the small tractors have only one rear remote, the 5093 has 3. None have 3rd function or diverter.
From research here and on the internet, I chose the EA 66" single lid root grapple set up for skid steer quick attach (SSQA). To handle attachment, I got titan converters - one for the JDQT, and one for the JD Universal. Here's the thinking, and some comments on how that has played out.
1) This grapple is designed for tractors about to the 50 hp class (weight). But given that I did not intend to regularly push it hard with the 5093, I gambled that it would hold together if I used it the 5093.
Turns out I tried the grapple on one small tractor and the 5093. It has stayed on the 5093. Because of the size and stability, the 5093 is just a better platform for this. The grapple has held up to my use. Be careful about sticking it in the ground. This seems to be the place where all sorts of stress shows up in the grapple and loader, and be careful about lifting stumps. DUH. The grapple has held up - more about that later
2) 66" is a little wider than the small tractors, and almost exactly the same width as the 5093. Seems like a wider grapple could be awkward.
Of course I don't have a wider one to compare, but keeping the width about the same as the tractor has worked out. It doesn't snag when backing up and doesn't seem to bump into things going forward.
3) Single lid seemed better for handling root balls
Single lid works well for root balls and brush. I do notice that carrying longer stuff the free space at the end allows junk to wiggle a little. Maybe a 2 lid would be better for long stuff - like 15'+ tree parts.
4) The QA converters were necessary to allow the grapple to go on multiple tractors.
The converters have worked great. As it has turned out, I can now use and share other attachments like a snow plow and a stump bucket. Adds maybe 4 - 6" to the length of stuff, but works well. Pallet forks coming soon...
The guys at EA were great to order from. However, they did want to know what tractor I was installing this on. They made it clear that this grapple was not designed for a utility class tractor, and told me there would be no warranty. Fair enough I thought. Remember, I was thinking that I wasn't gong to push it too hard with brush. As I have learned, the ground is where the problem can be (the EA guys probably knew this). I haven't broken anything with the ground, but I thought I should have a couple of times - the EA was well make in stood up to my clumsy stick work.
More to come - there is a mare having a foal - off I go...
First comment is that I am extremely pleased with what the grapple does for me, and pleased with the EA. I don't have any experience with any other mfgs, so this is not a comparison - just one man's experience with one product.
Background
I have a horse farm in central Kentucky - that means lots of grass fields and fence rows (4 board post and oak plank, thank you very much).
More specifically, I have a horse farm that was not cared for well between 1993 an 2012 when I bought it. That's about 20 years of bush honeysuckle growth, sapling growth, accumulating dead trees, and rotting fence plank in those fence rows.
One way to handle this is a bulldozer, which, of course would be lots of fun. However, dozers are expensive, so are tractors, but tractors have multiple roles on a farm that dozers don't, and dozers still require clean up behind them. Also, dozers, particularly if you hire them, tend to favor the tear-the-heck-out-of-the-whole-place approach. While the reputation of horse farm owners is "rich guy", I ain't, and so a more piece meal approach was required. I had to keep the farm running (making money) and clear small spaces.
After reading this forum, sounded like a perfect excuse for a grapple.
My objective with this this piece of gear is to make it easier to clear the brush and downed trees in fence rows. We cut the brush with a chainsaw then haul it to a burn pile. We paint stumps with Tordon, which kills it. In 3 to 6 months you can run a tractor buck though the are and what ever stumps are left are rotten enough to pop out of the ground. I have had some areas dozed as well, producing root balls. There are lots more uses for grapples, but by focusing on a primary use, it made some choices easier.
There were some immediate challenges.
First, as you can see from the inventory in my signature, I have 3 tractors that might use this grapple; a 5093e - 90hp utility class tractor with a cab and H260, a 5105 - the older style 45 hp 2wd 512 loader, and a 5055d - 50hp I think, and I think it also has a 512 loader.
1) the loader had to be sturdy enough to handle the 5093, but light enough to be usable on the smaller tractors
2) Solution needed to work on all 3 loaders - the 5093 has the JD universal mount system, and the smaller ones have the what I think is called the JD quicktach or something - point is they are very different.
3) In additions to the control valves for the loaders, the small tractors have only one rear remote, the 5093 has 3. None have 3rd function or diverter.
From research here and on the internet, I chose the EA 66" single lid root grapple set up for skid steer quick attach (SSQA). To handle attachment, I got titan converters - one for the JDQT, and one for the JD Universal. Here's the thinking, and some comments on how that has played out.
1) This grapple is designed for tractors about to the 50 hp class (weight). But given that I did not intend to regularly push it hard with the 5093, I gambled that it would hold together if I used it the 5093.
Turns out I tried the grapple on one small tractor and the 5093. It has stayed on the 5093. Because of the size and stability, the 5093 is just a better platform for this. The grapple has held up to my use. Be careful about sticking it in the ground. This seems to be the place where all sorts of stress shows up in the grapple and loader, and be careful about lifting stumps. DUH. The grapple has held up - more about that later
2) 66" is a little wider than the small tractors, and almost exactly the same width as the 5093. Seems like a wider grapple could be awkward.
Of course I don't have a wider one to compare, but keeping the width about the same as the tractor has worked out. It doesn't snag when backing up and doesn't seem to bump into things going forward.
3) Single lid seemed better for handling root balls
Single lid works well for root balls and brush. I do notice that carrying longer stuff the free space at the end allows junk to wiggle a little. Maybe a 2 lid would be better for long stuff - like 15'+ tree parts.
4) The QA converters were necessary to allow the grapple to go on multiple tractors.
The converters have worked great. As it has turned out, I can now use and share other attachments like a snow plow and a stump bucket. Adds maybe 4 - 6" to the length of stuff, but works well. Pallet forks coming soon...
The guys at EA were great to order from. However, they did want to know what tractor I was installing this on. They made it clear that this grapple was not designed for a utility class tractor, and told me there would be no warranty. Fair enough I thought. Remember, I was thinking that I wasn't gong to push it too hard with brush. As I have learned, the ground is where the problem can be (the EA guys probably knew this). I haven't broken anything with the ground, but I thought I should have a couple of times - the EA was well make in stood up to my clumsy stick work.
More to come - there is a mare having a foal - off I go...
