New toy

Egbert · Sep 5, 2013

Recently received my new grapple from palletforks.com but today was my first chance to put it to use.

It seems there is always tree debris along the fencelines, and it wastes hay when the cutter has to veer around. I'm guessing I can recover a good acre or two by cleaning up the edges of my pastures. First step is to pick up existing debris, then to gain even more ground, trim back a lot of the overhang that prevents the tractor from getting closer to the edge. I think this will make the pastures more profitable and even more visually appealing.

I spent just 2 or 3 hours today, getting the hang of operating the FEL and the grapple in some sort of a smooth fashion. Even being clumsy, it's a great feeling to lift huge limbs and tree trunks and move them into a burn pile. I can already see that I need to add some rear ballast to tackle the larger stuff, so I'll pick up a 3pt ballast box .. or something .. soon.

Retired city boy with 40 years in computers, now enjoying life on the farm with my new Kioti DK50, a new barn and a new house sometime in the spring

God is good.

adirondackmtnman · Sep 5, 2013

No pics? Congrats on the grapple. I'm debating whether I want to build some for my existing forks or buy a set like you did...what did you end up spending on them if you dont mind my asking?

Sent from my LGL35G using TractorByNet

Egbert · Sep 5, 2013

I bought this particular set for 2 reasons. First - heavy construction, 1/2" steel teeth - while so many are only 3/8". Second, cost, $1425 delivered. Palletforks.com actually had a $100 off offer here on TBN that expired a few weeks ago. I discovered that offer on the last day of the sale and promptly got mine ordered online - otherwise the price was $1525. Funny thing, they advertise on Ebay at a higher price than on their own webpage.

The pro/con for me ... this grapple is 72" ( which I wanted ) but weighs in at 700 lbs. That's actually a bit heavy for my compact DK50. I intend to offset the weight of the grapple, or perhaps a bit more, by adding rear ballast. It was hard to argue with the price, with most of these 72" coming in closer to $1800+.

There are some decent, lighter weight, grapple out there - but I didn't want something that was going to get all twisted up when I put it to hard use. If I wasn't going to tackle some good size trees and boulders, I may have opted for something smaller/lighter.

You can certainly add a grapple attachment to a bucket but the bucket ends create a problem when picking things up. I would think adding to a fork would have much better results. The attachments are not all that cheap, as I recall, and you may find it a coin-flip whether or not to just go ahead a get a full grapple.

aginn · Oct 3, 2013

Since I don't have a quick change bucket, the grapples had to be bucket mounted. I rarely cuss this for getting in the way and they are very useful. I grant you, dedicated grapples would be better. But please don't try and make people overlook the add ons. Good bucket mounted grapples are definitely a work and back saver.
The log that is shown is about 20 inches in diameter. No problems for me so far that weren't easily fixed. Note the lack of pin support where the ram is mounted. I added a brace on each side and life has been good since.

Egbert · Oct 3, 2013

Not to overlook, just pointing out one of the issues when using a grapple on a bucket. In any form, a grapple is an awesome attachment and probably one of the most useful in the arsenal.