"The Thumb" Bucket Grapple questions

[George2615]

I like that unit, what did you pay for it with the extra base? I use my forks a lot and can really move a lot of brush with it and my homemade brush forks that fit over the tines giving me a full width five-tine platform to pick up the brush with, but I would find the thumb useful for holding the load on. I would likely buy/make a shorter set of forks for the lift backer so that I could use the Thumb for grabbing a load of stuff from a trailer (for example) where I couldn't slide under it and had to do the full dump and grab - the 42" on my forks would be too long to permit this. Much lighter in weight than a full root grapple too - BTW, I use my forks to get roots out, including manzanita burls and they work very nicely. Thanks for the post. I'll do a post on my brush forks when I can dig them out from the snow and take some pix - pretty simple setup.

I already have a third-function for my 4n1 so that expense is already taken care of. I wouldn't use the thumb on my 4n1 but I'm thinking of getting a lighter bucket for snow and odds and ends when I don't need the 4n1 and the second bracket for a thumb might be attractive in that case.

The thumb with two base plates plus some extra steel I bought ran about $650. Below is a link to another post where I showed how I modified my forks to fit it and the site for the thumb. I bought my forks from a local SS surplus center and they are 42". The thumb is their 36" model.

Thank for the quick reply. I viewed you pictures and I like the one with the two red long extended bars, it appear to get under anything better, to give you a better grab. What is that piece you have the thumb and bars attached to, which is not a bucket.? And you have a picture with the thumb on your bucket. what host/h.-fluid line do I need to make the thumb functional. My Mahindra 4500 has four h-fluid lines, and they are all used for the TAS loader>ML360 I already have on it. What will I need to do/add to my Mahindra 4500 to operate a thumb mounted on my bucket???

I used one of my rear remotes to power the thumb. Hoses and fittings ran about $200-250 a my local TSC store. If you don't have rear remotes there are aftermarket kits for adding a remote function or 3rd function from your loader PB port. One member here even sells a kit and they're available through Everything Attachments (another member)

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/331646-pallet-fork-frame-styles-pros.html
https://greens-machine.com/index.html

 

[flingwing1969]

Thanks. I was thinking that the 36" would have to be the one to use.