Not another grapple thread!?!?

[Raincoast]

P.S.
TXdon & Oosik... What kind of work do you do with your clamshell grapples? And more importantly, do you like them? No wishing you'd bought the L bottomed unit instead?

 

[txdon]

Good info! Thanks guys.
I like Tom's "pinch of salt" analogy. I don't think I'll be picking up too many tiny objects from the forest floor. Maybe time to re-consider the clamshell grapple idea.
Do any of you L bottom grapple owners have trouble dropping the load, once you get it to the slash pile?
I watched one video where the poor guy spent a couple of minutes trying to drop the load onto a fire. By the time he dropped the brush, it was fully engulfed. Pretty exciting, but a bit tough on paint & hoses I'd think.
Cheers! Dan

As you can see in mine the back comes to a "V". When something gets stuck I just put it on the ground and back up. I do not get off the tractor, and this might happen once every fifty scoops.

 

[txdon]

P.S.
TXdon & Oosik... What kind of work do you do with your clamshell grapples? And more importantly, do you like them? No wishing you'd bought the L bottomed unit instead?

I have been clearing land of Youpon, fallen trees and scrub brush. For me I could not have pick a better shaped grapple for popping them out by the roots. It is 50" wide.
For limbs I lopped or chain sawed I throw them in the grapple to take to the brush pile. I'm doing both today I take a picture of the 2 days worth of brush I've accumulated.

 

[TomSeller]

As you can see in mine the back comes to a "V". When something gets stuck I just put it on the ground and back up. I do not get off the tractor, and this might happen once every fifty scoops.

Same here. I do get items wedged in the tines, but like you say, drop it to the ground and back up. I don't have the best uncurl angle so sometimes clingy stuff hangs up a little. I like to drop my brush beside the fire, back up, close the lid and push it into the fire. I don't like it when the brush catches fire while in the grapple from the heat which can easily be 1000 degF. Remember, you have hydraulics up there, not to mention the front of your tractor. I do let chunks of wood roll off into the fire. I don't like to push anything heavy with the lid closed, it is too hard on the hinges. Pushing brush is fine, but no stumps. Just after the attached picture, I dropped those vines at the edge of the pile and pushed the whole pile towards the fire. Be safe.

 

[Jim Timber]

The short answer, no. No trouble at all. Dump the "bucket" down, and it goes slighty past vertical, how can anything stay in it?. unless some small stick goes between the teeth. But in that case just back out and go for another load and it will work itself out. Nothing of any significant size stays in mine. Maybe the dump angle on some loaders is not as good, I dunno.

Some of the bend radii on root grapples is excessive IMO, and cuts into how close to vertical you can get with the bottom tines.

As I've been mentally trying to design my own root grapple, I keep wondering what these guys are thinking making the L so acute? You could gain the same structural value by having a gusset inside the corner without having the bucket mount pointed so far forward. It's not like the J shape has any more capacity than an L with some bracing.

 

[Raincoast]

Jim... After seeing some frustrated fellas trying to dump a load of tangled brush, I started wondering the same thing. When I dump my FEL bucket, it goes well past vertical. With the angle designed into most flat bottomed grapples, it looks like most are lucky to achieve a vertical drop from the tines.
I see that the Land Pride grapple has an optional tine shape at the tips. No "teeth" and the tips slope downward instead of sweeping up.

 

[txdon]

As promised here are the popping brush pics, and one raking pic.

I can tilt the grapple so the lids hit the ground and the back tines do not touch the ground - there is no problem dumping.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

TXDon, I knew at one time but I've forgotten. What brand of grapple is yours? It looks extremely well built.

 

[Raincoast]

Thanks for the pics, Txdon. Is that a "Rake Shop" grapple? Pretty skookum rig! Looks a bit heavy for my DS45, though. I'd like to keep the weight at 500lbs or less.

 

[Xfaxman]

Also, I will be dumping loads of slash onto burning slash piles...

I hope you have good insurance that will cover your burned up tractor when it unexpectedly dies at the brush pile.

I don't get near it while it is burning.

But they are pretty big to start with.