Turned my Skidding Tongs into a Poor Man's Grapple

[Gordon Gould]

After yesterdays rain all my nice packed skid trails were like wet concrete. Rather than go out in the woods and trash them I played in the shop. My seldom used tongs caught my eye and I started playing around. I made a toggle latch.



Here it is open 24"



Lift the cross bar and it releases



Added a frame to my cross draw bar



Here it is on the tractor. I have a pulley up on the rops. When I pull the rope from the seat the tongs latch open



Test time on a log on the landing.



Now latched open



And a video so you can see how it works. As usual my photography isn't that great. Sorry. I just set the camera on a bucket.

http://youtu.be/8SYf0Cg4lGY

gg

 

[murphy1244]

That is real slick!!

 

[jmc]

Nice! (What's the point of having a tractor if you have to get off of it?)

 

[arrow]

Nice! (What's the point of having a tractor if you have to get off of it?)

Exactly....Nice job Gordon. Good Idea!

 

[HarryN]

Brilliant!!

 

[k0ua]

Ain't nothing wrong with that outfit.. That pretty cool.:thumbsup:

 

[Rustyiron]

Very clever, but your going to make your winch jealous:laughing:

 

[kirkawilson]

Nice rig! Can you adapt the frame/tongs to grab a standing tree trunk or vertical pole?

 

[PapaPerk]

Very nice!!! I like that! Much simpler than a hydraulic grapple!

 

[Billrog]

Very clever Gordon I'm sure a few will copy that idea before you get it patented :thumbsup:

 

[GPintheMitten]

Outstanding.

 

[Sodo]

That works great! Good job!

 

[motoman3b]

Great ingenuity!! I will probably be stealing this idea! how thick is the metal you used?

 

[skyhook]

What a great idea.:thumbsup:

 

[Baby Grand]

Thanks very much for for posting this, Gordon.
I have been trying to think up a simple way to get my tongs on a log and off a log quickly, and repeatably.
You, sir, have cracked the code. I'm bustin' out the welder this weekend.
I dub thee Sir Gordon of Grapple.

 

[PapaPerk]

Great ingenuity!! I will probably be stealing this idea! how thick is the metal you used?

You could at least figure out metal thickness yourself! Lol!

 

[Gordon Gould]

Thanks for all the very nice comments. I am glad you all liked it.
That video was the very first time I tried to pick up a log. It was starting to get dark so I just set the camera and gave it a whirl. I was surprised how well it worked. After a little practice it is quicker. Also you can come on to the log at a pretty good angle and it will still grab.

motoman3b I pretty much used what I had around. I did make one trip to the hw store to get some 3/8" shaft bushings which are welded onto the hinge piece as spacers and so they aren't to floppy. And I bought the 3/4" bolts for the draw bar holes. The hinge pieces are 3/16" X 1" bar and a short piece of 1/8" X 1" angle for the stop. The A is 1/4" X 2" angle with a piece of 3/8" plate on top.

gg

 

[Walkin Horse]

I have never used tongs. Does a more expensive set work better than the cheap ones. I bought a cheap cant hook from NT one time. No matter what I did I couldn't get it to work. I finally heaved it into a burn pile after getting smacked with it. I went and bought a good one and no problems. So I didn't know if the same holds true for tongs.

 

[PapaPerk]

I have never used tongs. Does a more expensive set work better than the cheap ones. I bought a cheap cant hook from NT one time. No matter what I did I couldn't get it to work. I finally heaved it into a burn pile after getting smacked with it. I went and bought a good one and no problems. So I didn't know if the same holds true for tongs.

I think you answered your own question. Buy a quality tool... It will work much better!

 

[2458n]

Nice idea and video. Thanks for sharing your intellectual property. That is a term for stealing your idea. My problem is no ROPS, but where there is a will there is a way. Thanks. What else do you have kicking around in your head?