I suck at using a grapple

[jjp8182]

oosik,

sounds like you use a method very similar to what I do -- except I have to tilt my grapple to get the material to do the same sort of pushing/rolling action.

Being able to push the material into a pile big enough to be worthy of making a trip to unload it is handy -- especially when having to work in the heat & humidity of an Alabama summer.

On the worst of days even operating my tractor (with an open platform) can quickly become miserable. Using the ground to help force enough material in such that the jaws won't fully close (but will still holding everything) is my goal for every trip. That way if/when I have to move anything by hand I'll still have time to finish the task before the heat really picks up in the afternoon.

 

[plowhog]

Anyway, what I do when cleaning up limbs/trees/debris is to drive into the brush with the front bottom lip on (or just above) the ground, and the grapple tilted forward such that the bottom inside of the grapple (which will be making contact with the material) makes an angle between 15 and 35-ish degrees with the ground. This is to allows the grapple to catch and roll the material into a pile, at which point I either put the FEL arms into a float position or lift the arms (to keep from lifting the front of the tractor) as I tilt the grapple even further forward to a point where the lid hinge will be directly above (or very close to directly above) the point where the lid/lips will be close. Then it's just a simple matter of closing the grapple and hauling the material off like normal.

That sounds like a good process which I will try. I have a HLA grapple, dual lid. I believe it is a 66". Probably this one:

HLA Attachments - Root Rake c/w Grapple

 

[goeduck]

That sounds like a good process which I will try. I have a HLA grapple, dual lid. I believe it is a 66". Probably this one:

HLA Attachments - Root Rake c/w Grapple

I have multiple grapples and one (different brand but same style) as yours. I only use that one for root raking and back raking. It does not have the opening geometry to grab much of anything. There is a variant of the rake style that has longer and more curved lower tines that grabs more. You can move material with it but it takes patience, it is not grab and go like an L bottom grapple.

 

[jjp8182]

That sounds like a good process which I will try. I have a HLA grapple, dual lid. I believe it is a 66". Probably this one:

HLA Attachments - Root Rake c/w Grapple

Looking at that I don't see why a similar process wouldn't work. You may even be able to get away with just putting the lift arms in float while pushing the material into a pile (though it may be necessary to tilt the grapple back slightly to keep the points from digging into the ground).

Doing this I've found that if I drop a limb or two while hauling things away, it's easy enough to pick them up on the trip back to the work area ...where I just drop them and start the process over again.

Worked really well when taking down a pair of Bradford Pear trees this summer - just dropped all the limbs/trunks in the direction they wanted to fall and cut some of them into more manageable lengths (the larger of the two was basically a 40ft diameter ball of green). At that point I just used the tractor/grapple to "bulldoze" the limbs into a rolling pile big enough to be worth making a trip to deposit by/in the pasture.

If I hadn't used this sort of technique I'm positive it'd have taken me more than the 5hrs to remove both of them --- the attached show a before and after of the larger one.

 

[Xfaxman]

This is plowhog's (the OP) clamshell style:


And the other popular style called L Bottom:



Either style can be single lid or dual lid. Here is a thread with pictures from EA: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/393132-wicked-grapple-guide.html?highlight=

 

[goeduck]

This is plowhog's (the OP) clamshell style:

View attachment 573115
And the other popular style called L Bottom:

View attachment 573117

Either style can be single lid or dual lid. Here is a thread with pictures from EA: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/393132-wicked-grapple-guide.html?highlight=

On mine which are almost exactly like those, I can get much more into my L bottom. Just look at the geometry to see which has more capacity. The rake is better for what it is intended, raking.

 

[adventure bob]

It takes practice...after nearly 4 years of logging and cleaning up brush I can get an area rake clean with my grapple. I can even do fine tasks that my son thinks are a kick like pick up a tennis ball or a hockey puck. Cant do an egg, cause I have no reference for feedback through an electrical switch. I used to push the brush all over the place and get frustrated that this was pretty useless. Then I watched a guy on a forestry crew use a grapple on the front of a bob cat...amazing. The push and roll technique is prbly the best way to gather up loose stuff in a way that is better than hand loading it into the grapple.