The WICKED GRAPPLE for UTILITY TRACTORS!!!!!!!

[vtsnowedin]

Hope they proliferate and ya'll become rich(er). I was just thinking, my mind wonders sometimes, I hope some liberal does not see all those black,sleek,sexy life threatening grips of death. They will be scared and name them 'assault' tractors and call them military or some other word that invokes fear for them and try to ban them from the public saying that a person should not have such power. For the love of god, think of the children! They will talk of limiting hydraulic flow rates and limits for openings, maybe limit the number of cylinders. You can have one cylinder but not two. Other organizations may call it a tractor grab. Nobody that gets social security should have that much power the liberals shall say....

OK, that may be a little to far....

No spot on. Well done.

 

[vtsnowedin]

OK. I'm looking to buy the perfect grapple for my 5045E (4000lbs lift capacity) There are a couple of JD
branded grapples near by on Craig's list but of course they have no warranty. The JD site has them in the 72 inch size for about $3800. What is your competitive offer? As little BS as possible both ways as I intend to have a good grapple in my possession in the next ninety days.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

OK. I'm looking to buy the perfect grapple for my 5045E (4000lbs lift capacity) There are a couple of JD
branded grapples near by on Craig's list but of course they have no warranty. The JD site has them in the 72 inch size for about $3800. What is your competitive offer? As little BS as possible both ways as I intend to have a good grapple in my possession in the next ninety days.

You'd be good with the 52" or 73". There are frequent arguments for narrow vs. wide and my recommendation concerning width is get what you think will suit you the best because the weight difference is trivial.
I do not have a great idea of pricing yet, but i'll know we'll be well below the JD price.

They were supposed to be burning parts for the new grapple yesterday, so hopefully today or next week we'll have some pics of the build.
I'll share those and prices when they're available.

I'm surprised no one else has chimed in. Plenty of views and not much chatter.
Travis

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Here's the newest image, now dressed with the sheet metal.

 

[Carhartt Cowboy]

And by sheet metal you mean plate steel? Least 3/16"???? Sheet metal is measured in gauges, thin stuff.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

And by sheet metal you mean plate steel? Least 3/16"????

Yes, 3/16" plate steel.
Travis

 

[Deerherd]

You'd be good with the 52" or 73". There are frequent arguments for narrow vs. wide and my recommendation concerning width is get what you think will suit you the best because the weight difference is trivial.
I do not have a great idea of pricing yet, but i'll know we'll be well below the JD price.

They were supposed to be burning parts for the new grapple yesterday, so hopefully today or next week we'll have some pics of the build.
I'll share those and prices when they're available.

I'm surprised no one else has chimed in. Plenty of views and not much chatter.
Travis

It's just a heavier duty grapple than the original. Still a flat bottomed grapple that has a limited opening that gets smaller the more you tip it forward. Ok if your brush piles are less than 3' high. It's still handicapped for handling logs and carrying them close to the pins or stacking them at a landing or on a trailer. Logs roll around way too much and are much harder to pick up with that design. It wouldn't make a very good root rake for that matter either and looks like many of the larger flat bottomed grapples already on the market.

I do like the red hydraulic cylinders though!

A heavy grapple on a utility tractor is a completely different animal than a narrow/light grapple on a SCUT or CUT. I can dig more by mistake with my setup now than I could on purpose with my CUT. With my 70" opening and 84" width I can tackle 5' plus high windrows of brush without having stuff spill over the top or get caught under the tractor. (WR Long RBG2 grapple)

The problem on here is the highly vocal people who have owned and operated exactly one narrow flat bottomed grapple on one SCUT or CUT tractor and don't know any better.

It's true ANY grapple is better than nothing and you probably sell 10-1 flat bottomed narrow grapples versus the others, especially for SCUTS and CUTS. My contention is that is not the most efficient design, doubley so for a larger utility tractor.

You DO sell the WR Long line of Grapples, why don't you put one on your new big tractor and learn this for yourself?

 

[EverythingAttachments]

The problem on here is the highly vocal people who have owned and operated exactly one narrow flat bottomed grapple on one SCUT or CUT tractor and don't know any better.

It's true ANY grapple is better than nothing and you probably sell 10-1 flat bottomed narrow grapples versus the others, especially for SCUTS and CUTS.

Oh no, are we gonna reopen this can of worms? opcorntub:
Maybe we can get some more opinions and first hand preferences because I'm pretty sure there are members that have had/do have both.

The number is more like 50-1 flat bottom Wicked Style vs. rake style counting all of the brands of root rake style that we offer and I'm sure it's over 200-1 of the Wicked Style vs. the WR Long RBG.

You DO sell the WR Long line of Grapples, why don't you put one on your new big tractor and learn this for yourself?

We normally sell the tested attachments locally or keep them to use around here. It'd be next to impossible for us to sell one of those when it's next to a sea of Wicked Grapples!! :laughing:

Seriously, I don't have a problem with them..you will not catch me talking bad about them..never had any complaints, but they just do not sell like the other style.
Travis

 

[Deerherd]

Oh no, are we gonna reopen this can of worms? opcorntub:
Maybe we can get some more opinions and first hand preferences because I'm pretty sure there are members that have had/do have both.

The number is more like 50-1 flat bottom Wicked Style vs. rake style counting all of the brands of root rake style that we offer and I'm sure it's over 200-1 of the Wicked Style vs. the WR Long RBG.



We normally sell the tested attachments locally or keep them to use around here. It'd be next to impossible for us to sell one of those when it's next to a sea of Wicked Grapples!! :laughing:

Seriously, I don't have a problem with them..you will not catch me talking bad about them..never had any complaints, but they just do not sell like the other style.
Travis

Travis,

This wasn't directed at trying to find other members who have used different style grapples on different size tractors. Most people won't have that luxury. It was directed at you as a manufacturer/dealer who should know what works best versus selling on what you believe to be a "consensus".

My point is this: Don't take my word for it, fire up your own big tractor and have at it. (When you actually make one of your new grapples of course.) Instead of theory, conjecture or in spite of what you read on the Internet make a good honest decision on what actually works best.

Understand that those large jaws you're touting will let a pretty sizable log flop around in there. Pick up a log and load them on a trailer with each style and let us know what you think and if you had to do a bunch of them which would be faster? See which one carries more brush more effectively and clears out roots and vines better and quicker and report back, will you please?

I would be real interested to look at the "chatter" after those exercises were completed.

 

[rustyshakelford]

OK. I'm looking to buy the perfect grapple for my 5045E (4000lbs lift capacity) There are a couple of JD
branded grapples near by on Craig's list but of course they have no warranty. The JD site has them in the 72 inch size for about $3800. What is your competitive offer? As little BS as possible both ways as I intend to have a good grapple in my possession in the next ninety days.

I have a cabbed 5055e that weights in at 11k when it's ready for work. I have the 72" standard wicked grapple. For your tractor I would consider the compact version like I have. However, get the 37" opening. I've maxed my tractor out with what I have and would want more lift capacity before a heavier grapple. This thing is plenty strong. When I upgrade to a 5100e I'm getting the utility version.

These are my feelings after doing a bunch of work with the grapple. The loader doesn't seem as strong as I was hoping but the grapple has handled everything great. If your just doing brush then go for the utility version but if messing with heavy logs, the lighter one helps. I had to cut logs down from 16' 6" to 14' so I could lift them. They were almost all the jaws wanted. Big wood!

Bottom line is you can't go wrong with EA and this product is designed for our tractors but we are on the small end.

Brett