3 point hitch grapple

J_J · Apr 4, 2011

Lt220,

Just a little curious why you did not make it to close tighter on the trash and logs, etc. I believe I would have left out the bottom center brace, and let the grapple close down tighter.

Lt220 · Apr 6, 2011

J_J said:
Lt220,

Just a little curious why you did not make it to close tighter on the trash and logs, etc. I believe I would have left out the bottom center brace, and let the grapple close down tighter.

I thought about that. I decided to go with the design for strength. If I was to build it again I would probably change several things but It works great as is. I have not had any trouble pulling limbs or logs with the design. I was using it on a tree job yesterday. One of the trees got up rooted because it was rotten. I used the grapple to finish digging up the root ball and hauling off the stump. The stump was over 36" across at the root ball.....this grapple is a hoss!

beppington · Apr 7, 2011

Wow, that is a beast! Looks great, almost JD OEM!

Mod you might consider: Chop out the middle section I marked with red X's, & extend the verticals & horizontals so they meet, brace them with a cross-brace, & then the grapple should close down even on smaller stuff.

Lt220 · Apr 9, 2011

beppington said:
Wow, that is a beast! Looks great, almost JD OEM!

Mod you might consider: Chop out the middle section I marked with red X's, & extend the verticals & horizontals so they meet, brace them with a cross-brace, & then the grapple should close down even on smaller stuff.

Thanks for the suggestions. I did consider this type of lay-out for the grapple when I was building it. I added the lower cross piece simply because I wanted a solid tooth bar to tightly bite down on a log for skidding. I do agree that an open type grapple would allow me to close more but I wanted the cross piece tooth bar. Also,my cylinder (10" x 2") is about at it's max for extending due to my attachment points. I would have to go with a larger cylinder if I re-designed it. I plan on (in the future) making an open type grapple for my FEL when I get one.

Lt220 · Apr 9, 2011

The pictures don't show if but I added a removable tooth bar that attaches to the forked frame. This tooth bar works very well with the lower cross piece tooth bar on the grapple. This allows a good bite on a log.