skid Grapple

hounded6 · Apr 20, 2010

Hello, first I am glad to have found this forum. I think it is awesome. I had a question about building a grapple rake for a skid loader though. All the plans that I have found here have been for tractor loaders mostly. I was planning on building a smaller version of the loader styles. I was wandering what size of hydraulics to use and how to attach it? Any help or links to the forum is apprectiated.

hounded6 · Apr 21, 2010

well ... I got quite a bit done today. I don't really know if I am making it right or not. The CAD drawings are almost done though. Its basically based off of one of the HD grapple rakes from gatorattachments.com. I am doing custom demensions though because I don't know if my skid loader could handle to heavy of a grapple. I went looking for a hydaulic cylinder today. I havent really seen any sizes on this forum for demensions, so mine is a 10x2 stroke diameter. with a 1" 1/8 rod. working pressure is right around 2500 psi? Does this sound about right? I like the size and reach. I was wandering about how most people design there bushings? Do most people just use pipe and then greasable pins?

dex3361 · Apr 21, 2010

Sound close to what my Anbo grapple is. I is the GRM 66.

dfkrug · Apr 22, 2010

hounded6 said:
I havent really seen any sizes on this forum for demensions, so mine is a 10x2 stroke diameter. with a 1" 1/8 rod. working pressure is right around 2500 psi? Does this sound about right? I like the size and reach. I was wandering about how most people design there bushings? Do most people just use pipe and then greasable pins?

I use 1.000 ID DOM tubing for bushings, and 25mm or 63/64" rod for pins.
There are many discussions about this. e.g.:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/127693-dom-tubing-question.html
You might also look at the many many grapple threads, if you have not
already.

You don't say what kind of skidsteer you are designing this for. A run-of-
the-mill Bobcat delivers 3000psi or more, so be careful buying cheapo
2500psi cyls.

ETpilot · Apr 23, 2010

Before buying cylinders do the planning first. I am working on a FEL grapple. I have a wooden mock up done. I made a cylinder mock up of PVC pipe and EMT tubing. I had planned on using an 8" cylinder but when I tried it on the mock up, it did not open enough for me. I then changed to a 10" cylinder and that one would work great. I am ordering some steel tomorrow. I will probably get started in about 2 weeks when the steel gets here.

dfkrug · Apr 23, 2010

ETpilot said:
Before buying cylinders do the planning first. I am working on a FEL grapple. I have a wooden mock up done.

Mock-ups are a very good way to go. Also, learning from the mistakes of
others is a Good Thing. There is plenty of work to do in the fabrication
without re-inventing every wheel, so-to-speak. For very complicated
projects, it is a good idea to even purchase plans. The cost of plans
are often much less than the cost of the mistakes made in designing
everything from scratch.

hounded6 · Apr 24, 2010

Thanks for all the feedback. I like the idea of using the rod for the pins. As for model construction. I plan on finding the right cylinder that I am looking for and designing it around that. Ya it might sound stupid, but I can match everything up in an animated solidworks assembly. I think this would also be more accurate in the end. Does anyone know if there would be to much stress on the pins if I made the top claw and cylinder detachable? So I could make it into just a bottom rake?