Grapple Millonzi 60 inch Grapple

[pitt_md]

The remote itself cost $743 + labor and materials the price I was told for the adapter was $800. Add on the $100 for a adapter plate plus the labor to modifiy the bucket. I had no idea that the adapters were $800 Maybe I was a little high at $2200 but not by much.

The plot gets a little deeper...
The rough specs I sent in for the adpter measurements were not good enough as Millonzi tells me that they have to make every set of adapters custom and need the EXACT specs. Well I don't have anything that I can use to measure that close and sure don't want them to build something that will not work for me because I was off this way or that by a millimeter. So at this point John the engineer at Millonzi is going to go to the local Kabota dealer and see if he can get the specs he needs from them.

Nothing is ever easy!

 

[Charlesaf3]

still something I don't get pitt - you'll need a remote to operate the grapple, either way, so a better way of looking at it is $900 for the QA (still seems high to me $3-400 Is what I'd expect) or ~$200 for the adapter to the kubota? Apples to apples?

Did you ask John about his price for a QA adapter?

 

[pitt_md]

Charlesaf3,
Not sure I follow your line of thought. As I see things the QA will cost me $700 - $800 (from kubota dealer, no I have not asked John YET) + $100 for backing plate + labor to mount backing plate to existing Kubota bucket. On the low end of things I see it as around $900 for QA setup or $120 for adapter to pin grapple to. Not what I would call apples to apples...

What don't I understand?

 

[Charlesaf3]

no, that's what I meant - just that you shouldn't be putting the remote cost in there if you will be buying it either way.

So 900 to 120 is the fair comparison. May well not be worth it at that, but 900 is steep like I said - I'm paying $325 for my qa setup

 

[IslandTractor]

$700 for an adapter seems a lot though not terribly surprising from a Kubota dealer. They cannot argue about the cost of steel for these things though as they only weigh about 80-100lbs max.

Given the price difference, the pin mount might make sense unless you intend to switch out implements a lot. The cost of the pin mount from Millonzi is roughly the same as what the dealer charges to put an adapter plate on your standard bucket so the net cost for going to QA is $700 from the dealer. I suspect Millonzi would charge less than that for their adapter but their prices have also been going up. I am a bit confused as to why Millonzi doesn't have the standard tractor pin mount dimensions in their data banks. It is not like you are trying to get an adapter for a Belarus or something. If ATI and WRLong can do this sort of thing from a catalog I'd think Millonzi could too. All the big manufacturers seem willing to give specifications like that pretty easily. I know that when I called Woods to get backhoe bucket pin measurements they immediately sent me a pdf file with the measurements and diagram. Clearly Kubota and JD have that stuff and I wouldn't imagine they consider it to be an industrial secret.

There is another option to investigate. Somebody has been selling via ?eBay a $299 QA adapter. You might want to search on that as I recall seeing it discussed on TBN in the past few months. At that time I looked at the manufacturer's website/ebay site and it did look for real. There is no reason I can think of why these adapters need to be so expensive as they are not high tech, have a pretty basic mechanical design, and are made of simple steel plate with some welding and bending. Kioti includes them as standard equipment on the new DK series.

Finally, if you do get the pin mount, it is not the end of the world to convert it to universal QA in the future. I bought a used JD mount 4n1 bucket and just had a local welder cut off the unnecessary hooks and weld on an adapter plate. Works fine and cost about $200 for plates and welding labor. Guy did it in my driveway so it was no big hassle.

 

[pitt_md]

IslandTractor,
you wrote: "If ATI and WRLong can do this sort of thing from a catalog I'd think Millonzi could too." I think you read my mind. I am giving Millonzi a chance to come up with the specs they need to build the addaptors to fit my loader. I told them that I do not have precision measuring equipment and I don't want to be put in a position of buying something that does not fit because I messed up a measurement. If they can't get the specs I will talk to WR Long.
I did find a site that makes a QA adaptor: Washburn Company & hayspear.com skid steer adapter to fit front end tractor loader

Once again the problem is they want me to measure my loader and give them the exact specs to build it to. I know this isn't rocket science. I have a couple degrees in the sciences and I guess I am picky about how things fit/work. I feel that when I am spending this much money I don't want to be guessing or doing something halfa$$.

 

[IslandTractor]

Once again the problem is they want me to measure my loader and give them the exact specs to build it to. I know this isn't rocket science. .

Actually it's worse than rocket science, it's like watch making. If you screw it up by even a couple of millimeters you can end up with a useless device or a real hassle trying to get pins to line up. I am sure those center to center hole measurements are well recorded in the manufacturer's engineering documents. The issue is how to get a hold of them.

I guess I can understand how the fabricators want you to get measurements as otherwise it is their burden if they measure the wrong series loader etc. Recall that there are slight manufacturing variations from year to year and sometimes those might affect pin measurements. Still, if you have the serial number and model number of your loader, that is what a company like Millonzi should be able to work with. Either that or just call the tractor manufacturer customer service to ask for the information.

 

[IslandTractor]

This is the company that makes a cheap ($400) QA adapter. (I was off by $100).

Skid Steer Adapters

I have no experience with their product but it looks pretty much like the ATI which is a nice product and it also looks like the standard Kioti QA adapter which also works fine.

In any case it is a lot cheaper than $700 at a Kubota dealer etc.

 

[Ductape]

FWIW..... haven't seen what their (the $400) loader model specific units look like, but the universal fit unit pictured puts the bucket out quite a ways. This won't be an issue so much on larger capacity loaders, but might make a noticable decrease in lift capacity on lesser loaders.

 

[IslandTractor]

FWIW..... haven't seen what their (the $400) loader model specific units look like, but the universal fit unit pictured puts the bucket out quite a ways. This won't be an issue so much on larger capacity loaders, but might make a noticable decrease in lift capacity on lesser loaders.

Does this model push the bucket out more than "brand name" adapters? All the adapters push the bucket out at least 4-5 inches anyway (that is a guess, not a measurement).