Questions About 425 Attachments

[jfh28]

these are the teeth on my grapple....mr could you post a pic of your teeth since you have sharpened them?.........Jack

 

[MossRoad]

They're buried right now. Let me see if I posted any pics years ago....

 

[MossRoad]

Still looking. It was sometime before 2005.

 

[MossRoad]

It was April 18, 2004.
No pictures, though. Sorry...

The person that told me to sharpen them was FOURTEEN! I miss talking to him!

My neighbor, Danny, who has owned 63 tractors so far and usually spends several hours a day on one, immediately upon trying my Grapple Bucket remarked that it needed sharpening! He has achieved excellent results by grinding every edge, bottom and sides of buckets, and sides of rock teeth, with a chisel-like one bevel 45 degree cut, like a lawnmower blade.

Hey, Fourteen!
I pulled out the grinder and sharpened the blunt nosed rock teeth to a 45 degree angle. Made a very noticeable difference. So much so, that I transplanted two forsithea bushes with easy. First, I pointed the toothed bucket down and jammed the teeth into the soil. By applying down pressure and rocking the joystick side to side while dancing on the treadle pedals(my favorite pallet fork method), I was able to get the little bucket completely burried. Then it was just a mattter of curling it up while operating the pedals and I popped out a perfect bucket full of soil. I set it aside, then went and did the same thing under the bush. Popped it out and put it in the exact duplicate hole that I had dug. Picked up the pile of soil and replaced it in the hole where the bush was. Repeated for the second bush. Took all of 5 minutes to transplant both bushes.

Thanks for the tip! I recommend it to anyone with the factory rock teeth. By the way, I used my $14.95 el cheapo Harbor Frieght grinder to do it. Took about 2 minutes per tooth.

 

[SpringHollow]

I use my box blade on the 3 pt adapter to grade my driveway. Between that and the bucket, it works reasonably well. I would not want to do it that way on a 1/4 mile driveway. My driveway is only 350'. I do not find a grapple bucket overly useful. Mini hoe with thumb qnd/or a grapple are nice to have. I modify old truck snow plows - the v-plow is great. I would think you want forks and a lifting boom. I have a 3pt adapter and use that to mount 3 pt york rakes, box blades, and lifting boom.

A PT mower would be much nicer under many circumstances than a walk behind brush mower

My attachments get left outside.

Ken

 

[jsduke]

Well, my list is nearing final form. I am going to talk with EA about a grapple. I will post what comes from that conversation.

Still curious if anyone has experience with the PT utility grapple. I agree with Moss, from the picture it does look a little less than substantial. But that is solely from the one pic so...

With just the grapple and maybe the 60 inch rake undecided the list is: small (dirt) bucket with teeth, light material bucket, 60 inch blade, mini hoe with thumb, and pallet forks. With some creative nesting/stacking (thanks again MR) I should be able to get all (or most) inside.

About the grinding of the bucket teeth Moss, I assume the profile is a top to bottom bevel as in a chisel blade and not any side grinding, yes? I also assume that the resulting edge is not actually sharp but sharper as too.thin of an edge would be fragile.

I appreciate everyone's input. Thank you

 

[jsduke]

Oops! Ken, you do have the PT utility grapple, yes? Assuming that it is the same basic style as the small one for the 425...what has been your experience with it if I may ask?

Yes a brush mower on the PT would be nice. My 26 inch walk behind with 16hp Kawasaki can get into the nooks and crannies very well and is a beast. If I had open field type brush the PT mower would be on my list.

 

[jfh28]

It was April 18, 2004.
No pictures, though. Sorry...
.

thanks for looking.....appreciate it........Jack

 

[woodlandfarms]

Ken said something very important. I was raised on a farm and implements, as well as tractors, all stayed outside. Eventually a lean-to barn was put up, but only the tractor was ever put away, implements stayed outside. I proudly continue that tradition. IMO the only two implements that would benefit from protection are my mower and my stump grinder. And only to protect the bearings (which are greased regularly so can easly survive the exposure but I digress). What I am getting at is no implement needs cover. place your bucket at an angle so water does not collect and I cannot think of another implement that needs special care.

I am not criticising anyone who does protect their implements, I am just arguing it is not truly necessary. Shop space should be working space, not storage space. I went into a friend of mines shop, he was bitching about how little room he had and how he was going to build a new shop ($100K). I asked him why not put his implements outside, they are nothing but solid steel and paint. No reason to build a new shop and even if your $1000K box blade rusted away (That will NEVER happen) it would be cheaper than a 100K shop.

 

[MossRoad]

Yes, I just ground down the tip of the tooth from the top, so I never touched the bottom of the tooth that is parallel to the ground. The teeth are rounded from the factory, so I ground following the shape of the tooth. You'll see them if you get them. Very easy.