My Wicked Grapple bush grabber attachment

   / My Wicked Grapple bush grabber attachment #1  

k0ua

Epic Contributor
Joined
Jun 28, 2009
Messages
30,825
Location
Branson, Mo.
Tractor
Kioti DK35se Hydrostat
I have been thinking (yes I know the dangers :)) of adding a small bush and sapling attachment to my excellent EA Wicked grapple.
When the grapple closes, the upper lid and lower tines meet in 4 places but only on the ends and only a small area.

Sometimes if the sapling is big enough you can get at grip on them and pull them out of the ground, but more often than not they slip sideways between the upper and lower incisors, and they slip off. There are things like rose bushed, blackberry bushes and saplings under 1 inch in diameter that you just cant pull.

Sure you can dig these things up with a lot of ground disturbance or you can cut them off to grow back soon. I wanted to build something to actually pull them out without getting off of the tractor and without tearing up too much ground.

I started this afternoon on it. One goal was to make something easy to put on and off, be able to see its action between the FEL and the tractor body, to be inboard of the FEL loader arm, and hopefully to make no modifications to the grapple at all.

I have a good start on the lower clamp pad, I still need to weld in a stiffening spine on the back of the clamp pad, and perhaps some ugly rough 6011 beads for holding power on the pad face. The upper clamp pad will be more difficult and it not fully 100 percent solidified in my mind yet.

Today was a much cooler day, and this fat boy appreciated that.:)
Pictures follow:

View attachment brush 2.jpgView attachment brush 3.jpgView attachment brush 4.jpgATTACH=CONFIG]480470[/ATTACH]View attachment brush 6.jpg

Pay no attention to these lousy welding beads. :laughing: I haven't welded in a while and it shows. And my auto darkening helmet stopped working for some reason. I switched back to my old jackson. These weld beads wont matter anyway, they just keep the piece from falling off, the clamp pad will be in compression during use, and bear on the grapple tooth anyway.
 

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   / My Wicked Grapple bush grabber attachment #2  
Didn't I mention such a design in another thread and you claimed it wasn't needed? I'll be interested how this turns out. I may have to build one. I think you'll need a sharpened edge ideally serrated to achieve enough bite strength.
 
   / My Wicked Grapple bush grabber attachment
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Didn't I mention such a design in another thread and you claimed it wasn't needed? I'll be interested how this turns out. I may have to build one.

I done some experimenting today with pulling sprouts, with the stock grapple, and could only pull one larger cedar one. That was because the teeth dug into the cedar and it was large enough for the grapple to get a grip on. No luck with the smaller stuff. I will continue on the design and testing and let everyone know if this is worthwhile or not. I have high hopes, we shall see.
 
   / My Wicked Grapple bush grabber attachment #4  
James,

You might want to have a look at how I did the plates on the sides of the teeth on my grapple ... or take a look at W.R. Long's "RBG" series of root rake grapples, which uses the same design (where I got the idea)

Basically, they are 1/4" (thick) plates that taper back at a 45 degree angle to form a 1" slot in between each tooth (there's nothing that says they have to be 1" ... could be 3/4", 1/2", etc.)

IMG_0273.jpg

They work very well to pull small brush out by the roots.
 
   / My Wicked Grapple bush grabber attachment
  • Thread Starter
#5  
James,

You might want to have a look at how I did the plates on the sides of the teeth on my grapple ... or take a look at W.R. Long's "RBG" series of root rake grapples, which uses the same design (where I got the idea)

Basically, they are 1/4" (thick) plates that taper back at a 45 degree angle to form a 1" slot in between each tooth (there's nothing that says they have to be 1" ... could be 3/4", 1/2", etc.)

View attachment 480502

They work very well to pull small brush out by the roots.

I could see how that would work!
 
   / My Wicked Grapple bush grabber attachment #6  
I could see how that would work!
Yup ... there's enough rollback built into the unit that the blades on the tip of the teeth/tines are an inch or two above the ground when it's lowered down and rolled all the way back ... which prevents it from digging in and disturbing the ground ... beyond whatever just pulling the brush out by it's roots does.
 
   / My Wicked Grapple bush grabber attachment
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Doesn't a Piranha tooth bar do it that way?

To a point. But his grapple not only traps the brush in the angled slot but he has a lid and tooth that comes in behind the brush/sapling that will hold it in the slot with pressure. A double whammy.
 
   / My Wicked Grapple bush grabber attachment #9  
I'm very interested to see how this turns out. Would like to buy either the 50" or the 54" wicked grapple and I also have a desire to pull saplings straight out of the ground without grubbing as well.
 
   / My Wicked Grapple bush grabber attachment #10  
If your flat surfaces need more grip you could lay several welds right down it such that they "bite" together (interlock).
 
 
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