Grapple for DK-40se/hst; best unit for $

[IslandTractor]

not quite sure what you're referring to the size of my tractor? My 2420 has never had a problem lifting anything in the grapple I wouldn't buy less of a unit on my farm ask my brother he destroyed a John Deere frontier in two months not the loader the cheap grapple. My tractor easily lifts 2500 pounds to full height 13 foot in the air which I never do ,so why would I go with a lighter unit? when I just use a little common sense and don't use the tractor like a bulldozer which we have plus an excavator to handle the heavy stuff. As far as quality goes you get what you pay for my present unit will outlast anything it's attached to include in my other tractors which includes an old 95 hp case which lifts 3600 pounds or so to full height.

I'm not sure if you are responding to my post as I did not refer at all to the size of your tractor. However, reasons to consider a lighter duty grapple include 1) it is easier to pay $990-1000 for a light duty grapple than $2500-5000 for a heavy duty unit, 2) the vast majority of people will never "break" their light duty grapple especially if they use it properly and don't twist it, 3) heavy duty grapples can also be twisted and broken(check TBN reports), 4) a light duty grapple has a higher lift capacity by 250-500lbs simply because of the weight of the grapple. That is more important to some folks than others. I lift stumps with mine and I need every pound of lift even though my loader lifts 2700lbs.

I'm sure there are some reasons to spend three times as much for a heavy duty grapple but my point is that unless you have a clear reason don't be swayed by the notion that "heavy duty" is better. It might be in some situations and worse in others. Same as with a brush hog, if you are mowing a field regularly you probably will be very happy with a "standard" duty hog and having a pricy heavy duty unit will be of little benefit. If you are a commercial mower and regularly mow areas with debris or big saplings then spending the extra for a top brand heavy duty mower makes a lot of business sense.

 

[steve0413]

I'm with IslandTractor on this. My brother, as I noted before, has two 100+ HP John Deere tractors. He also has a heavy duty grapple (not sure of the brand) which he hates. He watched me clean up the two big trees we had blown down a week ago using my DK45 with light duty Gator grapple. He was amazed and said he couldn't have done that with his JD and heavy grapple in near the time it took me. He has already had to replace one of the top "claws" on his heavy duty and has less than 15 hrs on it. I have many hours on my Gator grapple, some are hard hours. My opinion is simply this, the Gator grapple will handle more than you have business doing with a 45 HP tractor. I'm willing to bet that my unit with the skid steer quick attach will break the tractor before the light duty grapple in any situation. I'm just not willing to try it.

 

[kattywumpus]

I agree with both IslandTractor & steve0413. I have used my Gator grapple a great deal and it has held up well. I'm very glad I went with a light weight grapple.

 

[RADIUM]

I guess it all comes down to what you're doing. As I stated in my earlier post my brother ripped the frontier grapple to the point welding the bottom with quarter-inch plate to keep it from spreading again as he used it as a rock bucket pushing through soil. I guess I'm looking from a different point of view when using multiple size tractors the 2420 being the smallest I can tell you after four years of hard land clearing close to 85 acres stumping tree roots which stop you dead when you hit them ;-) and the grapple is no worse for wear other than paint scrapes as good as the day I purchased it some photos of my work take care

 

[foggy1111]

Yep, twisting is what distorts grapples. Just looking at how they are all designed it is clear they are both designed and built to resist straight lift forces extremely well but are much weaker with lateral or twisting forces.

I'm guessing that Foggy1111 had an edge rather than the middle tines of his grapple under a stump when he put lift/curl force on the grapple and it broke the mount. That would have put a twisting force on the grapple that slightly moved the mounting pin and put additional strain on one side of it. I think he is right that the upper JD specific hook on the grapple mount is what gave way first but that was likely aided by the twisting of the grapple. It is abuse if you try to do that but to be fair, when a grapple is dug in under a stump you cannot see where the tines are engaged against a root so even if the grapple is visually midliine with the stump, one side of the grapple may meet significant resistance before the other side which can cause twisting. Some of that is tolerated well by the grapple but in this instance it popped the upper mount off. As the JD mount is pinned at the bottom the grapple doesn't just fall off the mount it transfers all the shock force to the lower pin and destroys the mounting system. With a skidsteer mount the grapple would just fall off cleanly if it fell off at all. In five years of using my skidsteer mount I've knocked the grapple off once (improper mounting on my part) and the grapple just popped off as soon as I put force on it but did no damage to itself or the mount.

I never did like the JD quick attach even though it saves weight as the skid steer style attachment system has much greater contact area and the mounting plate provides more rigidity and cross linking of the two mounting points. Still, as Foggy points out, the JD system works with JD products so perhaps Gator needs to copy whatever JD does with the implement side of the mount.

Actually, both top hooks are bent on my grapple. This caused the left side to let go first.....which I did not recognize until too late. After it let go...it put all the pressure on the lower pin which caused the pin to stetch from the weight / load applied. The pin is both elongated and bent!! The left side let go and again under load the pin broke the casting on my loader.

To me, this is 100% a defective design by Gator. I will not call them or try to get anything out of them....but IMO they didnt test the Deere Mount they offer. It is NOT a good set-up and lots of other Deere owners will experience a problem like this if they use 'em hard.....all due to a lack of .25 lbs of metal and 2 more minutes of welding (it only takes a small gusset IMO to solve the issue). I'd be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that Gator will add a gusset (or some other improvement to the mount) if they continue to offer a JD model.

I suppose your SS mounts will hold up fine....but this will be my LAST Gator purchase. Three strikes and your OUT. I am not going to support a manufacturer that costs me lost time and money because they didnt do their homework or test their products.

A few other issues are the SS flat hydrualic couplings for a JD tractor?? ....and the lack of protection from logs and branches pushing through the open back of the grapple ...and bad advice when ordering my 2nd toothbar. OK.....FOUR stikes and your out.

Still the price is right and I like the size, most materials, design and heft of this product. But somehow they just dont "get it". Two stars....and that's a stretch.

 

[chamjoe]

Actually, both top hooks are bent on my grapple. This caused the left side to let go first.....which I did not recognize until too late. After it let go...it put all the pressure on the lower pin which caused the pin to stetch from the weight / load applied. The pin is both elongated and bent!! The left side let go and again under load the pin broke the casting on my loader.

To me, this is 100% a defective design by Gator. I will not call them or try to get anything out of them....but IMO they didnt test the Deere Mount they offer. It is NOT a good set-up and lots of other Deere owners will experience a problem like this if they use 'em hard.....all due to a lack of .25 lbs of metal and 2 more minutes of welding (it only takes a small gusset IMO to solve the issue). I'd be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that Gator will add a gusset (or some other improvement to the mount) if they continue to offer a JD model.

I suppose your SS mounts will hold up fine....but this will be my LAST Gator purchase. Three strikes and your OUT. I am not going to support a manufacturer that costs me lost time and money because they didnt do their homework or test their products.

A few other issues are the SS flat hydrualic couplings for a JD tractor?? ....and the lack of protection from logs and branches pushing through the open back of the grapple ...and bad advice when ordering my 2nd toothbar. OK.....FOUR stikes and your out.

Still the price is right and I like the size, most materials, design and heft of this product. But somehow they just dont "get it". Two stars....and that's a stretch.

Why would you not call them? It seems reasonable to discuss the issue with them. It also seems reasonable that they fix it and perhaps make you pay for freight. Now, if they blow you off and don't give a **** then that's something I think all the forum members would want to know. They seem like a relatively small shop so I can't say I would have expected them to have the time and money to do a bunch of R&D on everything they make. They do seem to offer competitive pricing and I have been trying my best to also find the "best" manufacturer for grapples and these guys seem to be in the running. I wasn't clear on what the other strikes you have against them. I must say you are the first post I have read regarding quality.

 

[RADIUM]

well apparently someone did break their light-duty grapple LOL , I don't want to turn this into a my tractors bigger than your tractor BS debate I'm simply stating you get what you pay for ,growing up on the farm my entire life I've never once said to myself I wish I hada a lighter piece of equipment it just goes against the rules of life. structural design is critical when engaging ground activities you never know what you're going to run into quite literally. for a small home owner I agree with you a 40 hp tractor picking up some firewood doesn't require a heavy duty grapple take care

 

[foggy1111]

Why would you not call them? It seems reasonable to discuss the issue with them. It also seems reasonable that they fix it and perhaps make you pay for freight. Now, if they blow you off and don't give a **** then that's something I think all the forum members would want to know. They seem like a relatively small shop so I can't say I would have expected them to have the time and money to do a bunch of R&D on everything they make. They do seem to offer competitive pricing and I have been trying my best to also find the "best" manufacturer for grapples and these guys seem to be in the running. I wasn't clear on what the other strikes you have against them. I must say you are the first post I have read regarding quality.

What am I going to do?....ship it back to them?....two ways? Freight and time would kill on a heavy product like this. There is no way I am going to wait and do allot more work to ship this item back for repairs. Calling those folks will only serve to slow me down more. I'm gonna fix it correctly and get back to work. I got stuff to do.

As far as them being a small shop and not expecting them to do their homework for this product....I dunno. Maybe I expect allot....but they need to KNOW what they are building and make it correctly. I read all the reviews on this product before buying one.....and they seemed to be OK....all I'm saying is that they did NOT make a good mount to fit on a JD tractor....and that caused me allot of money and time.

Yep, everyone has problems....but this is poor engineering IMO. ALL they had to do was to copy the JD design commonly found on JD buckets.....and NOT make it lighter-duty or take a short cut...which they did here. (I gotta wonder what someone with a 4x20 series JD will do to this grapple mount.) It IS a grapple after all.

 

[Damifino]

foggy, I understand your frustrations, but I found out a long time ago, it's best to talk to them than about them.

I know you first knee jerk reaction response is to bring to the forefront your dissatisfaction, all I am sayin brother is just give them a call and see what they can do for you, I understand you being p*****off right now, but it took me many years to learn, "cooler heads prevail" sermon over, good luck on your endeavor.

 

[IslandTractor]

well apparently someone did break their light-duty grapple LOL ,

Nah, they popped off a poorly designed/fabricated JD mount and that resulted in some damage to the tractor. The grapple was strong enough that the mount broke, so I'd say that says something about "light duty" grapples.

I agree with Foggy that Gator/Markham screwed the pooch on the adapter though. I think JD is the only mount they make other than the standard skid steer. Should have stuck with the basics they know as both Gator/Markham originated as skidsteer implement companies. The skidsteer mount is far stronger than the JD mount can ever be. The JD mount is two independent attachment points with no cross bracing at all and only a few inches of contact with a rounded receiver. The standard skidsteer mount not only has a v shaped contact point which is less likely to pop out but is wider and has a plate that links the two FEL attachment points therefore distributing the load better when an off center force is placed on the implement. If Gator had built a heavy duty grapple for Foggy but used the same adapter it would have failed just the same way. The adapter is the weak link and when Foggy did not realize he had an asymmetric load it gave way.