Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Grapples make lousey snow plows oh well.

[dex3361]

I know it is a goofy thead title. But hey I was out in the cold to long today. Neighbor down the road had a few trees damaged in the snow storm we had before Christmas and I went to give him a hand. Here is the tree before starting. This tree is some type of cedar that is about 45 years old.

 

[beenthere]

dex
Now the rest of the story....
must be a grapple in that pic somewheres...and what happened to the damaged tree? Did you help him cut it down? Was the grapple in there to clear a path, or to remove damaged limbs?

 

[dex3361]

It was really cold this morning at about 14º. Its a good thing I do well in the cold I had to tram the tractor about 2 miles before working on this tree removal. There are some pro's and cons to different types of grapples. The Anbo has shorter lower tines that makes you grab and clasp everything. Compared to the say the Markham Grapple that has the longer Lower tines that allow you to slip the tines under and carry. The Anbo does allow you to Back rake with the upper tines and that is very handy and will give you a little extra reach. The upper tines will raise the front of the tractor fully extended which surprised me.

 

[dex3361]

dex
Now the rest of the story....
must be a grapple in that pic somewheres...and what happened to the damaged tree? Did you help him cut it down? Was the grapple in there to clear a path, or to remove damaged limbs?

Went ahead and took the tree out and moved it down over the bank to be burned in better weather.

 

[dex3361]

There were 2 tress the same size and he decided to take them both out since we were getting the mess cleaned up without hurting his lawn.

 

[spruce Deere]

Nice! What type of grapple is that? With a log loader 'excavator with a big log grapple/heal rack instead of a dirt bucket' I grab a tree like that after its lay'n on the ground and use the tree as a "broom" to sweep snow for short distances or push the "tree plow" with the grapple against the heal rack Spose you could talk yer neighbor into keep'n the tree for a snow "pusher" for your tractor

 

[dex3361]

You can see in this the second pic why I have my wheels set to their widest. There are not many flat spots in WV. Flat to us is if a box doesn't roll away. I know I have lousy humor.

 

[dex3361]

Nice! What type of grapple is that? With a log loader 'excavator with a big log grapple/heal rack instead of a dirt bucket' I grab a tree like that after its lay'n on the ground and use the tree as a "broom" to sweep snow for short distances or push the "tree plow" with the grapple against the heal rack Spose you could talk yer neighbor into keep'n the tree for a snow "pusher" for your tractor

Its an Anbo grapple. Never thought of that use for a tree but I could use it to sweep the shop/garage out as well. Here is shot of the grapple.

 

[dex3361]

Here is the finished brush pile. 2 decent sized yard cedars reduced to this small pile. It was cold but it was a day on the tractor and my wife followed along in the truck to take the pics and help pile up the small pieces of brush(you didn't expect me to get off of the tractor did ya. Hey she might have jumped in the seat while it was unattended).

 

[Glen Watkins]

Nice Job Randall! I want a Root Rake! Do you think that was the thing to get versus a Grapple?

 

[dex3361]

I like the Anbo grapple/root rake and it is built very well but is light weight. It would be nice to have the lower tines longer like a Markham grapple but there is a trade off which is more weight. I have found the Anbo to be awesome and great to work with and makes brush work a breeze. The Anbo only weigh less than 400# and is made out of AR 400 steel and this allows them to make it lighter and still keep it strong. I think the other nice thing about the Anbo is being able to back rake, I think you can see that in 1 of the pics in the previous posts.

 

[Glen Watkins]

Thats what I thought would be good with this style you can roll it over and go in and rake out between trees. Rake up a pile clamp and haul to a burn pile! That is this years plan anyway. Wish I could find a used one but not looking good. Thanks for the info!

Dex you think it would be better to have long tines on the bottom? I thought that was the idea of this style you can rake forward with it also, no?

 

[dex3361]

Thats what I thought would be good with this style you can roll it over and go in and rake out between trees. Rake up a pile clamp and haul to a burn pile! That is this years plan anyway. Wish I could find a used one but not looking good. Thanks for the info!

Dex you think it would be better to have long tines on the bottom? I thought that was the idea of this style you can rake forward with it also, no?

What I think you lose is that when you open the Anbo everything falls out so if you want to add to what you have grabbed you have to dump it onto the pile and grab that. It is a trade off that I gladly accept and doesnt really pose a problem but I want to point out any thing that may be an issue for someone. If I had to choose again and had the choice I would grab the used Anbo again. You are right that the backing is a great feature.

 

[dex3361]

I normally clear a lot of brush in the winter time. It is so wet and muddy here that I cant use the grapple to clear the brush. There hasn't been any more tree breaking snow storms (thanks to me buying a new diesel generator) all I can do is wait for it to dry up and then the grass will start to grow. Oh well. I really have nothing to complain about.