Grapple for the Kubota BX25-D

[CHDinCT]

Another nice video. When I saw those pins weren't greasable, I thought I'd drill and tap a hole for a grease fitting/zirk. Now I see what all's involved in doing it the way it should have come from the factory. I don't have the tools to cut groves in the pins or accurately drill those holes so I'm not sure what I'll end up doing. It did occur to me that perhaps I can find some Kubota pins of the correct diameter and length that have the grease nipple in the end. There's quite a few on the BX25 BH, but I haven't checked to see if any would fit.

One other issue caught my eye regarding the grapple hoses, but I'm not sure if it is an issue or not since I haven't used mine yet. The question is whether the hoses that come off of the grapple right at the 90* fittings, then run up to the FEL quick connects, potentially are in harms way? It looks to me that the open back of the grapple may allow sticks or other sharp debris to come in contact with the hoses, no? I know you added some hose protection there and I plan to do the same, but the hoses do look a little vulnerable.

 

[lowellw2]

I would definitely agree there is some vulnerability of those lower hoses. From my extremely limited usage of the grapple I would say that in picking up brush I found I generally would approach a pile of branches with the grapple more at an angle with the lower tines just on the ground and push them forward while closing the grapple. Other times I would come down on the brush with the grapple wide-open like a clam shell bucket and then close the grapple over the pile. In those instances I did not believe the lower hoses were very vulnerable. However, using the grapple like a root grapple, ie pushing the tines into the ground and moving forward to dig up the shallow debris has the hoses very near or on the ground and I can definitely see a potential problem. Perhaps a modification to the bracket or a replacement bracket design may help but I don't think they can be totally protected. After all even though my BX has the Bro-Tec underbelly protection something managed to get into that plastic hydrostatic cooling fan and shear off the blades. I'm still debating whether I want to disassemble the whole top half of the tractor to fix that. My current practice is to do my tractor work in short intervals to minimize heat buildup. It's hard to imagine that fan does a lot of cooling but Kubota put it there for a reason.

 

[CHDinCT]

Lowellw2, any chance you have the Kubota insurance on your BX24? I hope so because it would be covered less the deductible which is $200 or $250, can't recall. I've read a lot of threads on here about how others have replaced theirs, but never had to try to do it myself. It does sound like a royal PITA. I probably would be tempted to try the cut and glue approach for installing a new one. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

 

[4shorts]

Another nice video. When I saw those pins weren't greasable, I thought I'd drill and tap a hole for a grease fitting/zirk. Now I see what all's involved in doing it the way it should have come from the factory. I don't have the tools to cut groves in the pins or accurately drill those holes so I'm not sure what I'll end up doing. It did occur to me that perhaps I can find some Kubota pins of the correct diameter and length that have the grease nipple in the end. There's quite a few on the BX25 BH, but I haven't checked to see if any would fit.

One other issue caught my eye regarding the grapple hoses, but I'm not sure if it is an issue or not since I haven't used mine yet. The question is whether the hoses that come off of the grapple right at the 90* fittings, then run up to the FEL quick connects, potentially are in harms way? It looks to me that the open back of the grapple may allow sticks or other sharp debris to come in contact with the hoses, no? I know you added some hose protection there and I plan to do the same, but the hoses do look a little vulnerable.

Thanks. I got a new video uploading tonight. This last one I did on the grease nipples was to short to most of the comments on YouTube. Most everyone said they like the longer videos so this one is 65 minutes long and shows how I adapted a fuel filter assembly off a Grand L to a BX25-D and some other off topic things in the video.

I ended up doing the two lower pins the other day so they are all done. Wish you were next door because I'd help you out with yours. Do you have a machine shop in your area? Maybe they could do them for you?

I haven't had the time to really size up the hoses but I can tell you that IF you have the Kubota QC on your tractor the bracket on the FEL cross tube from Land Pride needs to be turned over to get the hoses longer to the grapple. It won't matter if your using a pin on application.

I'll size those hoses up tomorrow. If I think there's a risk of trouble I'll mod them.

Wow. Broken fan blades with the skid pan on :shocked: I've done a few of them. It's a bit of work but not bad. After hearing about your fan I'm glad I made my own guard.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

So Paul.... where do you post pics of the stuff that you've built that didn't turn out better than the factory or aftermarket could ever dream?

You must have screwed up a couple projects in your time? :laughing:

 

[wmonroe]

So Paul.... where do you post pics of the stuff that you've built that didn't turn out better than the factory or aftermarket could ever dream? You must have screwed up a couple projects in your time? :laughing:

After seeing Paul's projects I don't think he's screwed any up, but it would make me feel better if there was at least one.

 

[4shorts]

So Paul.... where do you post pics of the stuff that you've built that didn't turn out better than the factory or aftermarket could ever dream?

You must have screwed up a couple projects in your time? :laughing:

After seeing Paul's projects I don't think he's screwed any up, but it would make me feel better if there was at least one.

Thanks guys. No I haven't screwed any projects up ( yet) but you'll notice during some of the videos I'll start out with a plan then during the video you'll hear me say " that didn't look right or didn't work so I'm changing it to this way".

When I'm doing these things I never have anything for a plan written down. I can see it in my mind what needs to be done so my goal is simply to get there and I do that by making small changes during the process of the project.
I don't like making mistakes. They cost to much in time and material. :thumbsup:

 

[Qrazy]

Wow, fantastic looking guard I'll bet it works better than mine (my MMM) Great work as always

 

[4shorts]

Wow, fantastic looking guard I'll bet it works better than mine (my MMM) Great work as always

Not sure if it works any better than any of the other ones but I was sure happy to see my fan blades in place when I took it down. Thanks again :thumbsup:

 

[4shorts]

Today I made a dolly for the grapple so I could move it around in the shed. Here's a pic of it. It's all aluminum so it's light.