Grappling fun - A Picture Thread....

fruitcakesa · Oct 31, 2019

goeduck said:
The only drawbacks as I see it are the added weight and if you need to lift a tall load with the forks. But it looks like you could pull a few pins and remove the thumb? I am surprised fork grapples are not more common. :thumbsup:

The additional weight is minimal for the M and yes, if necessary, the thumb is easily removed.

Newby first timer · Oct 31, 2019

dragoneggs said:
Tough call as I have neither in hydraulic but for log gathering/brush clearing seems a grapple would be best. For picking rocks, maybe a thumb. I do get by with my mechanical thumb on rocks now. My vote considering my circumstances would be the grapple.

I Have picked up Cedar trees maybe 15 foot tall with my Backhoe Thumb and moved them around to pile them up. The Thumb also makes it real nice to hold the trees up while I cut them up for Firewood. I do not have very much Brush on my property. My Situation makes it hard for me to Justify the Cost of a good Grapple. Everyone that owns a Tractor has different Needs with Different Typographical areas where they are using them. I would Love to have a Grapple but I think that it would just be sitting on the ground most of the time in my case.

fruitcakesa · Nov 1, 2019

Newby first timer said:
I Have picked up Cedar trees maybe 15 foot tall with my Backhoe Thumb and moved them around to pile them up. The Thumb also makes it real nice to hold the trees up while I cut them up for Firewood. I do not have very much Brush on my property. My Situation makes it hard for me to Justify the Cost of a good Grapple. Everyone that owns a Tractor has different Needs with Different Typographical areas where they are using them. I would Love to have a Grapple but I think that it would just be sitting on the ground most of the time in my case.

That is the reason I went with the fork grapple. I already owned the forks and the cost of the thumb was minimal compared to dedicated grapple.

dragoneggs · Nov 2, 2019

Newby first timer said:
I Have picked up Cedar trees maybe 15 foot tall with my Backhoe Thumb and moved them around to pile them up. The Thumb also makes it real nice to hold the trees up while I cut them up for Firewood. I do not have very much Brush on my property. My Situation makes it hard for me to Justify the Cost of a good Grapple. Everyone that owns a Tractor has different Needs with Different Typographical areas where they are using them. I would Love to have a Grapple but I think that it would just be sitting on the ground most of the time in my case.

Now that most all the clearing I wanted to do is done, I can’t justify a grapple either. The thumb will do.

calpalmer · Nov 26, 2019

My 1154 FEL on a M7060HDC has about 3K lifting capacity, and the EA 66" grapples eat up a bunch of that weighing in at 770 lbs. Off hand, I don't know the add-back of the bucket, but the forks have to be less so maybe only a 4-500lb penalty.... Good provocation!

Xfaxman · Nov 26, 2019

calpalmer said:
My 1154 FEL on a M7060HDC has about 3K lifting capacity, and the EA 66" grapples eat up a bunch of that weighing in at 770 lbs. Off hand, I don't know the add-back of the bucket, but the forks have to be less so maybe only a 4-500lb penalty.... Good provocation!

770 lbs. sounds too heavy. Did you weigh the grapple?