Grapple Bucket for cutting logs

[Vt Rider]

I've been reading a lot of post about grapple buckets. I like the idea of a 48" but not sure which one yet. Along with clearing some land, putting in food plots and general clean up of down trees I want to be able to cut my firewood. I usually order a load of logs every other year. Of the various brands I would like to know which close tight enough to be able to grab your average 8"-10" log and hold it while I chunk it to firewood length. In the past I've helped my brother who has a mini excavator which has a bucket and thumb. It works great and I'd like to be able to the same thing with a grapple bucket. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[plumbstraight]

having a thumb on an excavator is a handy tool.

The thing is about the thumb is that it closes more parallel with the bucket than the grapple buckets on loaders. The bucket will not close tight on a log unless it is just the right size. I can see you picking one up with the loader having it tilted down a bit as the log will rest against the bottom of the bucket and the bottom of the teeth as you cut one end then the other keeping the balance of the log centered. At least it will keep your saw out of the dirt and gravel.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I am not exactly sure what you mean by grapple bucket but this is what I have and it works fine holding logs. ATI bolt on grapple on 5' heavy duty bucket.

 

[Vt Rider]

A follow up question would be wether the grapple bucket works for moving split firewood. It would be handy if it did but my guess ist that it doesn't work very well. What I'm talking about is going into the non stacked wood pile and using the grapple to secure the splits while I move the wood to the wood shed.

 

[Vt Rider]

Gordon, thats pretty much exactly what I was talking about.

 

[puckgrinder85]

We have a custom bucket that has a thumb across the entire width of the bucket, what makes ours special is we have 6-7 tines that stick of from the bucket maybe 2.5 feet . The grapple sticks out as long as these tines do. Ours are welded in and work better than just a bucket with a thumb on it. Here is an example of what our custom one resembles:


http://www.ludensinc.com/var/plain/...14-eng-US/mds_72_manure_tine_bucket_large.jpg


http://www.ludensinc.com/var/plain/...-18-eng-US/ts_72_manure_tine_bucket_large.jpg


They call it a manure tine bucket but ours works awesome for brush and picking up logs and you can manipulate it better than just a bucket. Ours looks more like the second one, its lower and can grab smaller logs easier. Brush is is best thing, drive it straight into a pile, clamp down and you pull half the forest away with it, its awesome. Growing up as a child in the woods brush cleanup always sucked the worst, this made life a lot easier.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I have never tried picking a bucket full of piled wood with my setup. I think it would be pretty hard to get any where near a full bucket but maybe with practice you could get pretty good. My grapple works good if hand filled but you probably are trying to avoid getting off the tractor.

 

[dstig1]

There is pretty much nothing that works well for scooping up firewood splits. Even an open bottom grapple will pick up a ton of dirt at the bottom of the pile. Your scooping efficiency is also poor in general - you won't grab much even in the middle of the pile. You will get much better efficiency if you manually load the grapple or bucket with splits. My $0.02 from my experience.

 

[deere5105]

There is pretty much nothing that works well for scooping up firewood splits. Even an open bottom grapple will pick up a ton of dirt at the bottom of the pile. Your scooping efficiency is also poor in general - you won't grab much even in the middle of the pile. You will get much better efficiency if you manually load the grapple or bucket with splits. My $0.02 from my experience.

I concur. I have tried moving split wood both with a grapple and regular bucket. Put a lot of work into only getting a few pieces in the attachment. Much easier just to throw them in the bucket.

 

[Whisper35]

Gordon, where exactly did you get your grapple? I am interested and would like to get some more information about it.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Gordon Gould]

Gordon, where exactly did you get your grapple? I am interested and would like to get some more information about it.

Thanks,
Paul

Grapple is an ATI Grapple Kit. Fits 4' to 5'-6" buckets. Easy to install. It comes with two end plates that bolt or weld onto the bucket. They have pipe hubs on them. The tube comes loose and is long. Insert tube in hubs then weld tube to hubs where you want. Cut off the extra tube on each end.
I also welded some short pieces of rebar on the tines for teeth.

 

[crazyal]

Gordon, how much weight can you lift with that set up? I have a set of clamp on forks and I notice that I loose a lot of lifting power because the weight is further forward that a set of SSQA forks. Just wondering if you have had any issues or larger logs you couldn't lift.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Gordon, how much weight can you lift with that set up? I have a set of clamp on forks and I notice that I loose a lot of lifting power because the weight is further forward that a set of SSQA forks. Just wondering if you have had any issues or larger logs you couldn't lift.

Al, as I am sure you know the lift capability of the loader decreases with height. I have the LA482 loader which isn't the strongest one in the world. At max height it is spec'ed at 1060 lbs at the bucket mid point and 1225 lbs at the pivot pins. I always role the bucket all the way back as I pick a big log (as in the pic) to get the weight as far back as possible. I figure after I subtract the bucket and grapple weight I can lift a 700 lb log that way. To put it perspective if your talking 10' logs thats about a 20" pine, 18" fir, or 14" hard maple.
So to answer your question, yea there are logs I can't lift.
That was true even before I had the grapple and used chains and hung them behind the pivot points if they were big.

Edit: If you look a the winter picture in post 3 that is a maple. I could grab and hold it with the grapple but that is as high as I could pick it up. It was about 18" at the stump.

 

[GregbkH]

I use a grapple and a thumb on my backhoe for handling wood. The grapple can grab multiple logs at once where the thumb is just one at a time. the grapple can pick up one at a time also.

 

[davethegundoctor]

I put this on my pallets forks. When I am done I just side off. Holds a tree great. Less money than a bucket-grapple.

skid steer mounted pallet forks grapple Forklift skid steer

David Pidgeon
New Haven, Vermont

 

[davel8257]

I recently bought a set of logging / skidding tongs for around $150. I run a short (3-4ft) length of chain over the top of the loader bucket and let the tongs 'dangle' in front of the bucket. If I tip the bucket way forward, the tongs dangle out and are free to swivel. I drive up to a log and 'plop' the tongs about 3 ft from the end. If, after 2-3 tries they don't grab, I have to dismount and manually place the tongs around the log. When I lift, I try to get the log to swing 'long-ways' -- the 3ft section comes under the bucket and the longer end stays out in front. It helps to level out the bucket. I've been mostly lifting old, dry, fallen stuff and this has worked great. I can haul back the log into the backyard, dismount, grab the chain saw and cut up into useable pieces without a lot of bending over, running the saw chain into the dirt, having the bar get bound up, etc...

This has been a cheap investment that has been a great time saver.

 

[Red Horse]

Well I'm one of the satisfied Wildkat 48 guys. great bang for the buck. And yes I do use it for bucking logs. Takes a bid of attention to "pinch" log with tines as the grapple does not close tight like a clamshell bucket but it does the job. As for picking split firewood from pile, that is a crapshoot with a good amount of "spillage" What I find works best is open grapple and manually stack-see avatar-. I also have a set of forks so I also will stack on pallets and then move to house as needed.

 

[davethegundoctor]

I put the web-site on here above for the Pallet Forks Grapple. Here are some photos of it on my Kubota M7040.

 

[oldbones]

Dave- I saw that one when I was thinking grapple. I ended up buying a bolt on grapple (The Thumb) and building the slide for my forks. I can move logs, brush, and hold the logs so I can cut to length. Second handiest thing I ever put on the loader tractor. Handiest was the fork attachment I built. Third would be the snowpusher. Tree puller is nice, too. Don't use the bucket more than once or twice a year now.

 

[David_Kb7uns]

Have ATI grapples on regular bucket, Bradco grapple bucket and thumb on backhoe of the L3130. For large logs holding them in the grapple bucket is ok, but having to regrip thew logs and worry about hitting the loader with the saw too time consuming. What I like to do is to lay 2 logs out and stack all the other logs on them and most times can cut several logs at once as I have a large saw with alot of power (039 Sthil). If I am stocking the wood shed I will have the pile close and just scoop with the BX to move. If it is farther, will stack the wood in the RTV.

David Kb7uns