The WICKED Root & Debris GRAPPLE!!!!!!!

[IslandTractor]

To answer your question: 1. Primary use is moving slash / brush away from landing area as I bring felled trees up to buck the logs. 2. Secondary use is to back rake area after trees / brush are cleared to prepare for overcasting of seed. 3. Otherwise, while not clearing out woodlots into usable pasture, I will use it to clean up wasted hay from feeding areas, move downed trees and clean up about 1000 piles of limestone rock I'm finding in the woodlots I'm clearing. Apparently when they were growing tobacco here 60 years ago, the would pick rock from the tobacco fields and pile it up in what is now the woodlots. The WR Long attachment you recommended to me may not be designed hold up to my uses. I need an attachment made from AR400 steel with a serious box tube as a backbone. I'm running it on an 80 HP skid steer with 3,000 lb lift capacity, so I can handle a little extra weight up front to get an attachment I won't wreck within the first year. Got maybe 12~15 acres to clear and I don't know how many tons of limestone to pick. Need a very heavy duty attachment. The claw style seems to be the best compromise for all my planned work. All that said, I do appreciate the interest. It's good to hear from others with greater experience than my own.

Good description of the work you are planning.

I'm pretty sure that either an open bottom or claw/rake style would do fine with the brush work. Brush is where those two types essentially overlap in efficiency.

The rock piles are a different matter. If the rocks are of many different sizes, then I think the rake grapple just might drive you crazy. The open bottom might also but there is a simple fix that would improve it. The ideal would be a rock rake bucket. No real need for a grapple.

I think the claw/rake would be a problem because they are 1) hinged at the top and 2) entirely dependent on clamping force to retain the load. With brush this isn't an issue as brush is compressible and sticks together. Open the jaw wide, cram in as much as you can and then squeeze it together to hold it in place. With rocks, you cannot compress the load. Because the rake style hinges from the top, whatever rock first touches both sides of the grapple jaws essentially stops further closure. Not such a big deal unless there are smaller rocks either above or beneath the big one. Those underneath you cannot touch and those above may well fall out as you move. Imagine picking up different size stones at the same time with your hand. If your palm is facing down (hinge at top) and you grab a big rock first, you will not be able to grab a smaller rock under the first and secure it (for this analogy imagine your fingers are splinted and don't curl around the big stone). If however you use your hand with the palm facing up, you can carry different sized rocks in random order as gravity keeps them in place and your clamping thumb is really only necessary to stabilize, not hold, the stones. That is how a rock rake or open bottom grapple would work. More efficient at moving random sized hard material.

The problem with an open bottom grapple for moving rocks is that the gap between tines is typically about 7-9 inches so smaller rocks will fall through. That can be fixed by installing intermediate tines that don't need to be as strong as the primaries as they can be mounted an inch or so below the surface. Depending on the size of the rocks and the basic intertine distance you could even install two intermediate tines to catch even small rocks. The intermediate tines could be installed temporarily with a few welds and removed when the rock piles are gone.

Good luck.

 

[jmc]

To answer your question:
1. Primary use is moving slash / brush away from landing area as I bring felled trees up to buck the logs.
2. Secondary use is to back rake area after trees / brush are cleared to prepare for overcasting of seed.
3. Otherwise, while not clearing out woodlots into usable pasture, I will use it to clean up wasted hay from feeding areas, move downed trees and clean up about 1000 piles of limestone rock I'm finding in the woodlots I'm clearing. Apparently when they were growing tobacco here 60 years ago, the would pick rock from the tobacco fields and pile it up in what is now the woodlots.
The WR Long attachment you recommended to me may not be designed hold up to my uses. I need an attachment made from AR400 steel with a serious box tube as a backbone. I'm running it on an 80 HP skid steer with 3,000 lb lift capacity, so I can handle a little extra weight up front to get an attachment I won't wreck within the first year. Got maybe 12~15 acres to clear and I don't know how many tons of limestone to pick. Need a very heavy duty attachment. The claw style seems to be the best compromise for all my planned work.
All that said, I do appreciate the interest. It's good to hear from others with greater experience than my own.

I've got a W.R. Long clam style that would take some effort to destroy. That said, whatever you get, compare the tine spacing with the size of your rocks.

 

[jmc]

I've got a W.R. Long clam style that would take some effort to destroy. That said, whatever you get, compare the tine spacing with the size of your rocks.

Oops. Didn't see Island's post before I responded. Still, you might get away with a clam style for large, flat scales of limestone, like we have a few miles north of you.

 

[IslandTractor]

Oops. Didn't see Island's post before I responded. Still, you might get away with a clam style for large, flat scales of limestone, like we have a few miles north of you.

Agree that big flat pieces wouldn't be an issue for either style. It's the multisize field stone that is the problem

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Here's a review from Jim in CT that we received yesterday. 72" ETA Wicked Root Grapple:

"I have used this grapple for about 6 months and it does everything I expect it to. A strong durable product that will last for years. I have used it to clear brush, carry logs, rake the surface for debris and carry rocks without any issues. A well designed product."

 

[k0ua]

Here is what the little single lid one looks like when you are on the "business end"

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Here is what the little single lid one looks like when you are on the "business end"
View attachment 368591

That looks to be a perfect fit!
Travis

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Here's some feedback I just received on our 72" Wicked Grapple installed on a 4610 JD:

"Travis – I just wanted to offer this to you guys – This was some of the best money I ever spent on equipment – I compare it to palletizing loads in a warehouse so one man can move with a forklift. I moved more debris to burn piles in 6 hours that would have took couple of guys days. Best thing is it will show up for work each morning! Install was easy & straightforward – Thanks for a good product!"

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Here is a quick review from Curt in TX. He has a 72" Wicked Root Grapple on his MX5100 Kubota.
Travis

"Had this about 4 month's, pick up a lot 40' telephone poles and use it as a root rake and you can not bend it. Works just like in the video."

 

[1026mrg]

Good description of the work you are planning.

I'm pretty sure that either an open bottom or claw/rake style would do fine with the brush work. Brush is where those two types essentially overlap in efficiency.

The rock piles are a different matter. If the rocks are of many different sizes, then I think the rake grapple just might drive you crazy. The open bottom might also but there is a simple fix that would improve it. The ideal would be a rock rake bucket. No real need for a grapple.



The problem with an open bottom grapple for moving rocks is that the gap between tines is typically about 7-9 inches so smaller rocks will fall through. That can be fixed by installing intermediate tines that don't need to be as strong as the primaries as they can be mounted an inch or so below the surface. Depending on the size of the rocks and the basic intertine distance you could even install two intermediate tines to catch even small rocks. The intermediate tines could be installed temporarily with a few welds and removed when the rock piles are gone.

Good luck.

Exactly right.... we have a JD (Frontier) root grapple that is great for the things that everyone has already mentioned, (e.g., brush, moving slash, moving trees that have been cut into log length, etc.). It is probably the handiest attachment for the tractor. Have cleared a number of fields up here then plowed, disked them, etc. For the initial rock moves, the real big 'uns, the root grapple works OK. But once you get to the intermediate sized rocks, they absolutely "fall through the cracks".

Borrowed a neighbor's rock bucket and it works much better than the grapple for dealing with rocks & stones.
Now have a stone bucket on order, complete with grapple claws for that as well. Although it can work with or without the grapple claws.

But the stone bucket is absolutely the answer.