Grapple --- 1 Lid or 2

[Poopdeck Pappy]

One thing you should consider doing is welding some heavy duty expanded metal across the back plate of the grapple to keep brush out of your tractor's grill.

 

[Hilbilly]

One thing you should consider doing is welding some heavy duty expanded metal across the back plate of the grapple to keep brush out of your tractor's grill.

Great point. Someone else suggested the same thing earlier and I should have responded then.

I will either put some expanded metal across the back of the grapple or on the push bar that is mounted to the front of the tractor. The push bar is probably a better location, since that would protect the rad at all times, not just when I'm using the grapple.

 

[txdon]

Great point. Someone else suggested the same thing earlier and I should have responded then.

I will either put some expanded metal across the back of the grapple or on the push bar that is mounted to the front of the tractor. The push bar is probably a better location, since that would protect the rad at all times, not just when I'm using the grapple.

That is what I have on my front grill guard and you do need it on the tractor because the grapple is going up and down and the pokey sticks are not.

 

[Hilbilly]

I noticed that on an earlier pic of yours and that is where I got the idea. Heck maybe it's better to have it on both the grapple and the tractor. I guess time will tell.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

I laid the parts out and double checked before starting to weld, to make sure it was square and not twisted. After tacking it all together I found it was twisted so I knocked it apart and started over. Got it the second time. But for the next time I screw up, how do you flame shrink to move it after it's welded?

It's a big ol bloody pain in the arse but with persistence it can be done. Mostly when it's twisted from the heat of welding rather than welded out of square. I'm by no means an expert. I only learned of it last year with my welding table build needing to flatten the 1/2" plate I had for the top and then tried it a few weeks ago when my bucket didn't turn out the way I wanted.

Check out the first few pages and then the last few for the heat/flame shrinking. Feel free to check out the whole build while you are there
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/welding/302426-welding-table-build.html

 

[TomSeller]

What you could do, is weld on 4 hinge positions with equal distance between each adjacent hinge point. Then a cylinder mount in the middle. Then you would be able to mount one lid on the center two hinge points and see how it works. If you then thought you needed two lids, you could fab up another lid and weld on two more cylinder mounts, mounting the lid on the outside hinge points. I am surprised grapple companies don't do this in the first place. "Would you like one lid or two with your grapple today?"

 

[IslandTractor]

What you could do, is weld on 4 hinge positions with equal distance between each adjacent hinge point. Then a cylinder mount in the middle. Then you would be able to mount one lid on the center two hinge points and see how it works. If you then thought you needed two lids, you could fab up another lid and weld on two more cylinder mounts, mounting the lid on the outside hinge points. I am surprised grapple companies don't do this in the first place. "Would you like one lid or two with your grapple today?"

If they used four mount positions, they could offer a grapple with either one or two small upper jaws or one large upper jaw. Maybe even sell the large upper jaw as an optional extra.

 

[TomSeller]

If they used four mount positions, they could offer a grapple with either one or two small upper jaws or one large upper jaw. Maybe even sell the large upper jaw as an optional extra.

Yes! Then the question would be "Would you like one lid, two lids or super size lid with your grapple today?"

 

[IslandTractor]

Yes! Then the question would be "Would you like one lid, two lids or super size lid with your grapple today?"

And, "do you want fries with that?"

 

[Hilbilly]

It's a big ol bloody pain in the arse but with persistence it can be done. Mostly when it's twisted from the heat of welding rather than welded out of square. I'm by no means an expert. I only learned of it last year with my welding table build needing to flatten the 1/2" plate I had for the top and then tried it a few weeks ago when my bucket didn't turn out the way I wanted.

Check out the first few pages and then the last few for the heat/flame shrinking. Feel free to check out the whole build while you are there
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/welding/302426-welding-table-build.html

Thanks for that link. There is a lot of valuable info there. I really like your table, especially with all the features you designed in to it. Very well thought out.

My progress has been slow and now my shoulder tendonitis is flaring up (even the cortizone shot isn't helping) which pretty much put me out of action for the rest of today and maybe tomorrow. I did get to try some AC stick welding and after the first few attempts it went better than I expected. The first part of the weld sucked and had to be redone but after that I started to figure out what I was doing wrong. I think the biggest problem I had in the past when trying to strike an arc was due to me using an old welders helmet that didn't have an auto darkening lens. Much easier to strike an arc when you can see where the end of the rod is.:laughing: