Grapple width

[IslandTractor]

I shortened up the hoses and added the Pioneer 1/4" couplers to mate up with my John Deere lines and couplers already on my tractor. If I was doing it again, I would leave about two inches more hose.....as when the grapple is tilted all the way the hoses are getting a bit tight. It'll work out....but a word of warning to the next guy. .

You are not the first to forget that when the grapple is in full dump it stretches the hoses a bit. If the hoses are the correct longer length however they can vulnerable to catching on an obstruction when the bucket is fully curled. The best way I have figured out to deal with this is to wrap a bungee cord around the middle of the hoses and attach the hooks to the torque tube or to the welded hose connector on the torque tube. If the bungees are just slightly stretched with the grapple curled it will hold the hoses out of harms way but leave enough stretch in the bungee so you can still stretch it out for full dump. If you have a shorter bungee just use a ziptie at the middle of the hoses and hook one end of the bungee there. I should note that the bungee should not be one of the heavy duty solid rubber types but rather a pretty stretchy type.

 

[jcims]

I mounted the Markham / Gator Grapple to my 3320 yesterday and got the hoses hooked up today. Markham had sent me SS hoses with flat connectors. Somehow I thought they did not furnish hoses.....so it was a little bit of a surprise. I shortened up the hoses and added the Pioneer 1/4" couplers to mate up with my John Deere lines and couplers already on my tractor. If I was doing it again, I would leave about two inches more hose.....as when the grapple is tilted all the way the hoses are getting a bit tight. It'll work out....but a word of warning to the next guy.

The "48" Markham Grapple actually measures 51" and change.....which is a good thing as it just about covers my front tire track on the tractor. The 1/4" hoses operate very smoothly and at a proper speed IMO. :thumbsup:

My grapple is powered by the JD 3rd function SVC control lever...just to the right of the Joystick on my tractor. I'm very happy with this set up.

Looks great! Hopefully will be ordering mine next week. Also like the intermediate tines, might copy that idea myself if you don't mind.

How was the grapple delivered? Was it palletized? Did you have it delivered residential or commercial?

 

[foggy1111]

Looks great! Hopefully will be ordering mine next week. Also like the intermediate tines, might copy that idea myself if you don't mind.

How was the grapple delivered? Was it palletized? Did you have it delivered residential or commercial?

The grapple came on a pallet and I had it shipped to a commercial address that does some work for me.

I bought the grapple with the intermediate tines....and I really like the looks of that set up. It cost an extra $100 for the intermediate tines. I stayed with the 3/8" material thickness throughout. It sure appears to be stout enough for my tractor.....time will tell.

 

[dstig1]

Foggy - I see you have the same packing list plastic sleeve stuck to yours that you can't get off like I do :laughing:

Mine showed up mid last week. I spent Mon & Tues this week getting it installed and working. I got a diverter valve and switch from Fasse. They were very helpful. I got the hydraulic lines and fittings locally from another great shop A1 Hydraulics in St Paul, MN. Also very helpful. I ran hoses instead of hard lines in the interest of time. Maybe someday I'll re-plumb it (yeah, right...). So $1128 for the grapple including shipping and the extra tines. They should almost be standard - or least some info on the option on the website as I wouldn't have even thought about the extra tine option if I hadn't read it here. And then about $350 for the Fasse stuff and another $350 for lines and fittings and stuff.

My disappointments are not huge. The grapple has a rather skimpy design in the Skid Steer QA hooks. There is typically a plate that you can bump against, but this only has hooks at the top. If the grapple is sitting uneven, I think it will be very hard to get both sides hooked in. See pic below. I may add the plate later, if I see this being an issue. The only issue with the Fasse stuff was the wire on the switch was waaay too short to work at all. So I did some re-soldering and such. I think the QA missing plate is significant whereas the short wire is a minor annoyance.

I added a master switch on the dash so that you can't accidentally bump the thumb switch when the grapple is off. Not a huge deal but I thought it was cleaner. Tucked in next to the hazard light switch. Couldn't find a weather proof one, but it gets stored indoors mostly.

Here's a shot of the front coupler mountings, hoses, and you can see the diverter way back at the top edge of the pic (follow the hoses):

The switch on the joystick:

 

[dstig1]

Oh - I had one heck of a time reconnecting the hydraulic fittings today after swapping to the bucket. I had forgotten to relieve pressure at first when disconnecting (wouldn't come apart), but did that on all circuits (lift/lower, curl/dump, AND the diverter grapple open/close circuits). The one fitting I was able to push together though it was hard. The second would not go.

I have read that sometimes the fluid heats up and expands from sitting in the sun and so you should manually pop the connection valve to relieve the last bit of pressure and then they will go. So I did that (even though it only sat for 20 min and it was cloudy), and it still didn't help. One side of the stubborn one I could not get to relieve pressure through pushing or banging on the fitting, but the other side I did. Still no go. I tried relieving the pressure with the joystick (yes, engine off) multiple times but no go. Finally after trying it a bunch of different ways, I grabbed a quick-grip clamp and was able to pull the connection together that way. But I still had to pull on that clamp like a son of a gun to get it together. Now it is together just fine.

Obviously this is not normal but I am at a loss as to what I did wrong and how to avoid that in the future. Any words of wisdom, or do I need to keep a bar clamp in the tool box?

 

[IslandTractor]

I understand your point about the QA plate but there is a benefit to not having much of a plate there. You will have a much better view of what you are trying to load into the grapple as the plate will not block you.

Regarding reconnecting fittings, many of us just wrap the male fitting with a rag and tap the nipple with a flat hammer. Some oil will squirt out and you should then be able to easily depress the nipple and reconnect. With a female QC, use a 1/2 inch bolt threads down to cover the recessed nipple then tap the bolt head with the hammer.

 

[jcims]

I understand your point about the QA plate but there is a benefit to not having much of a plate there. You will have a much better view of what you are trying to load into the grapple as the plate will not block you.

Regarding reconnecting fittings, many of us just wrap the male fitting with a rag and tap the nipple with a flat hammer. Some oil will squirt out and you should then be able to easily depress the nipple and reconnect. With a female QC, use a 1/2 inch bolt threads down to cover the recessed nipple then tap the bolt head with the hammer.

Maybe just a single strip of 3/8" (almost like the tines) up and down would give you something to bump without impeding the view. I'm just bummed that i'm probably two weeks out from having working hydraulics to operate mine. So it just sits. :/

 

[kennyd]

Oh - I had one heck of a time reconnecting the hydraulic fittings today after swapping to the bucket. I had forgotten to relieve pressure at first when disconnecting (wouldn't come apart), but did that on all circuits (lift/lower, curl/dump, AND the diverter grapple open/close circuits). The one fitting I was able to push together though it was hard. The second would not go.

I have read that sometimes the fluid heats up and expands from sitting in the sun and so you should manually pop the connection valve to relieve the last bit of pressure and then they will go. So I did that (even though it only sat for 20 min and it was cloudy), and it still didn't help. One side of the stubborn one I could not get to relieve pressure through pushing or banging on the fitting, but the other side I did. Still no go. I tried relieving the pressure with the joystick (yes, engine off) multiple times but no go. Finally after trying it a bunch of different ways, I grabbed a quick-grip clamp and was able to pull the connection together that way. But I still had to pull on that clamp like a son of a gun to get it together. Now it is together just fine.

Obviously this is not normal but I am at a loss as to what I did wrong and how to avoid that in the future. Any words of wisdom, or do I need to keep a bar clamp in the tool box?

Was the grapple raised? The weight of it can put pressure on hose. Is you solenoid active with the key OFF? You said you moved the joystick to bleed pressure, but how about in the diverted circuit?

 

[kennyd]

Regarding reconnecting fittings, many of us just wrap the male fitting with a rag and tap the nipple with a flat hammer. Some oil will squirt out and you should then be able to easily depress the nipple and reconnect.

That is the way I do it, but usually just prsesing against the loader frame is enough-no need for the hammer.

 

[dstig1]

I understand your point about the QA plate but there is a benefit to not having much of a plate there. You will have a much better view of what you are trying to load into the grapple as the plate will not block you.

The area is already blocked by the face of the QA on the loader (that's why you see all that orange in the photo). A 6" wide strip vertically would not affect view but would give you something to bump against for fighting uneven ground. I've already seen the issue with my forks and bucket, and they have places to push against. (I have a very non-flat piece of land.) With nothing there, I expect this to be far worse and require several on/off-the-tractor trips to muscle it in place. That's against the whole point of a QA...

I will try it for a while, but I suspect I will be welding on a bump plate down the road. Mostly because I don't have time to do it now.

Regarding reconnecting fittings, many of us just wrap the male fitting with a rag and tap the nipple with a flat hammer. Some oil will squirt out and you should then be able to easily depress the nipple and reconnect. With a female QC, use a 1/2 inch bolt threads down to cover the recessed nipple then tap the bolt head with the hammer.

That is the way I do it, but usually just prsesing against the loader frame is enough-no need for the hammer.

Tried that numerous times. These are flush-face, so you need something to push them with. I used a large bolt. The male fitting on the tractor would not budge. I was able to relieve the pressure on the mating female side to that one, but it didn't help much. When I would whack the male fitting it would depress slightly but never enough to squirt oil out.

Was the grapple raised? The weight of it can put pressure on hose. Is you solenoid active with the key OFF? You said you moved the joystick to bleed pressure, but how about in the diverted circuit?

The solenoid valve is operational with the key in "on" but engine off so that is how I was doing it. I connected it to a circuit switched with the ignition.

Grapple was dead at rest on the ground as I had fully relieved pressure on all sides of the loader circuits by rotating the joystick around all positions, several times, including the diverter circuits.

That's what bugs me - I did all the things I have read about but nothing worked.

The only one that was fighting me in the end was the male end on the tractor. The bar clamp trick worked, but I don't want to make a habit of it.