Grapple Another grapple project.

[Hill Farmer]

I have gotten an add on grapple to weld onto the bucket of my loader. This will be going on a 94 Belarus 825 with a Great Bend loader and 6" bucket. When trying to fit things the other day I decided it fit best setting up about 2 inches. In the pic I have it setting on a 2X2 tube scrap that was laying around, but will be using a 1 3/4 X 2 channel that will weld all the way across the top of the bucket. It may be overkill, but I don't want to warp the bucket and also wanted a solid place to weld on some chain hooks.
If I go this way, the grapple will like about 8 inches closing fully against the cutting edge of the bucket. My reasoning was that I would prefer it to open wide rather than close fully. Do the folks that have one and have some seat time with it see a problem with this? Does it really need to close all the way? I guess I just could not picture myself needing to clap down on anything smaller than the 8". Visabilty on this tractor/loader combo is terrible, not sure I could really operate it well enought to grab something smaller anyway. This project is a first for me, so I'm looking for opinions. Here are a few pics.

 

[jimmysisson]

Open wide gets you being able to come down on a brush pile and grasp it. Close tight gets a grip on the odd-shape things you'll think of to pick up, and the sticks and stones that don't present themselves straight to your bucket lip. I'd like both. I often wish my Millonzi grapple would close tighter, rarely wish it would open wider. It's not a bucket type, though, so I'm probably not qualified on that opinion.
Jim

 

[Hill Farmer]

Thanks. Any other comments? This thing is getting welded up tight tomorrow.

 

[GATC35]

I put that same exact grapple on my New Holland TC-45 several months ago. I mounted mine on a "C" channel 4 inches wide with 1 1/2 inch legs that goes completely across the bucket. The top of my bucket is round so I mounted the "C" channel inverted, open side down, the legs are welded to the bucket. Several things I wound up changing on mine. When fully extended the cylinder flange ( end piece that the tie bolts go thru ) will contact the vertical upright mount. This puts the cylinder in a bind when fully extended. You can see this in your first picture. I took a grinder and cut out a 1 inch deep "V" in mine so the cylinder flange does not touch the upright. After about 10 hous of use mine started popping while opening and closing. I found the two pivots bolts were threaded where they pass thru the grapple arms. The threads had started cutting into the grapple arms. I solved this problem by using 2 Cat I pins, the type that would be mounted to an implement. I think thet are 7/8 inch diameter. I just took the nuts off the threaded part and threw them in my junk drawer. I used the smooth end of the pin with a lynch pin to hold the arms. This also makes them quick release, you don't need wrenches to take the bolts out. The weak link of the grapple is the verticle upright. The welds on my cracked with only about 5 hours on it. I wound up re-welding mine with multiple passes to make it strong enough. I have considered adding a brace towards the upper end anging back to the bucket. As far as the closing goes I have a tooth bar on my bucket. When closed the grapple actually meshes between the teeth, which makes it able to pick up almost anything.

Hope this helps. If you have more questions let me know. I maybe able to get you a picture of mine, it may take me a couple of days.

 

[Hill Farmer]

Thanks Mark. I'm starting to wonder if I bought the wrong grapple. Looked at them all and decided they where pretty much the same so went with the best deal. Plus this one claimed to have a 10 year warranty.

I noticed the top of the cylinder wanting to try to hit the bracket on mine also. It was just clearing on my final set up, but was not closing all the way. I may have to get the grinder after mine. I was a little ticked about the bolts also. No big deal, but I called and specifically asked about them after noticing some pics with bolts and some with pins. I was told mine would have pins, but you see what I got. Never thought about the popping, was just thinking about the ease of taking it off.

 

[GATC35]

I'll try to attach these pics....

 

[GATC35]

A few more

 

[LD1]

Let me start by saying that I have never used a grapple nor even seen one in person but i do plan on building one in the near future so take this for whar=t its worth.

Comming from a maintenance background, if it were mine, I would drill and tap either the pins or the bosses and put a greese zerk in there. Sure would make them pins last a lot longer. Similar to a loader bucket.

But like I said, I have never used or seen one and maybe this isn't a problem at all.

 

[Hill Farmer]

Thanks for the pics, looks like almost the same thing I'm dealing with. Supposed to rain all weekend, so maybe I can pull it into the shop and figure this thing out.

 

[rcrcomputing]

There is one called "The Thumb". Wonder if it has the same issues?

Course, it's also about 435.00 by the time you have it shipped... May have to try to make one.