Forks Brush fork help needed

[IXLR8]

I have a set of EverythingAttachments light duty pallet forks. I was thinking of turning them into a light duty grapple setup to move a bunch of brush piles I have. My thought was to have some bolt on hydraulicly operated 'jaws' hold the brush in place. Presently slinging chain over the load is a pain. Would appreciate any thoughts/comments/guidance from the collective wisdom here. Biggest issue I see is figuring out cylinder length and mounting points. I want the 'jaws' to move at least 90deg.

TIA

 

[mwb]

I made a thumb for my pallet forks
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/190364-homemade-grapple-pics-video.html

My forks are the kind that are attached by a round bar across the top - the forks float which is not as nice as the fixed ones for some things. If your forks are the kind that are hooked on top and bottom then it would be easy to make a removeable bracket to support the thumb.

My grapple works extremely well for brush (see video) but is not very good for small debris, rocks etc. The single thumb is very light weight compared to a full grapple. The forks will also save a bunch of weight (lift capacity) and can probably hold more brush than other dedicated grapples.

 

[IXLR8]

Thanks.. that is exactly what I was planning on doing. Although your 'thumb' is shaped differently than I was planning... I think I will copy yours though. How did you figure pivot and mount points to get the movement you wanted... or did you just mock something up, trial and error?

 

[mwb]

My placed the holes based on the used cylinder I had, 16" closed, 22" extended. I did everything in AutoCad to get the movement I wanted. Here is a drawing of the parts:





I can give you more info if you want, pics, dwg file, dxf file.