Grapple Heavy Grapple on Kubota L47?

[4570Man]

I have a Favor grapple that only weighs like 650 pounds made from hardened steel. I had a M59 when I bought it and have CTL and skid steer now. I’ve not went easy on it and it’s still in perfect condition. I can say with confidence that any activity that could potentially damage that grapple would be way more likely to destroy the tractor.

 

[Notforhire]

Well, I wanted the same model in a 60 or 66 inch at around 800 lbs, but a 72 is the smallest available in a double clamp (same width as the tractor). I am curious why you feel 800 lbs is reaching the practical limit on your L47. Are you are saying the residual available lifting capacity is getting close to the L47's ability based on the heavy weight of the logs you contend with, or is there another reason behind this opinion?

Yes and yes. I have attempted to do lifts that exceeded the pressure relief valve settings. I generally try to avoid doing that. I like to keep lifts well within the capacity limits and not push the machine too hard. If you are operating on rough ground and bounce the machine through a hole, you really put a strain on everything. If it's hilly, like it is here, you can throw a lot of weight on your front end if you are traveling down hill.
On occasion I run my tractor with grapple 5 miles down the road. The empty grapple feels much like a fully loaded bucket on the front end. I think there may be a reason that the loader doesn't come equipped with a 1 yard bucket?? A yard of dirt can run 2000#. This would still be within the lifting capacity of the loader.
Try this some time. Take off the backhoe and see how easily the rear wheels loose traction. (And yes I have loaded tires.) You really need a big counterweight (or a backhoe) to lift anything.

Really just my opinion. I've owned three different grapples.

 

[5030]

Kubota offers cast centers that bolt right up to the rear axle hubs, Have them on both my M9's and I believe they offer them on allmost every Kubota as an option. Loaded tires don't work for me but the cast centers do and I'd wager that the OEM cast centers aren't much more than a tire fill plus if you need to remove the tire, the rim and tire comes away from the center so no additional weight to deal with plus that makes the rear tire-rim adjustable for width as well.

Not that I do that because my rim and tire assembly is too dam heavy to move around anyway. I call my tire man if it needs to be removed or installed which is very rare.

 

[5030]

Ted... A hint and a question (in as much as you are a paid advertiser on here)
1. I'd switch to globular metal transfer with your MIG welding. I'm reasonably sure you use solid wire (not cored wire) from looking at your welds and your Millers are capable (I believe of spray arc)) (globular transfer) welding. With spray arc, you need high amperage (over 200 amps, preferably over 210, a bit more shielding gas (75-25) as you literally blow the molten wire into the weld bead so you have to keep your diffuser fairly clean and dross free as well as your nozzle. On the plus side, it's actually quicker in travel speed that ordinary 'glue gun' welding, takes no more skill and produces an excellent looking bead with no spatter which means less clean up, superior penetration as well as very localized heating of the parts to be joined. On the negative side, requires a bit more shielding gas, 75-25 only and your welders need to keep the torch end fairly clean between weld passes.

I use it all the time on critical welds when I fabricate high stress parts for customers (and yes I get paid to do it). Looks nice and exceeds most stress tests as well. Building an H bracket for a Case Extenda hoe that is NLA presently from very thick plate steel that I cut the parts from on my CNC plasma table from high alloy steel plate as well as machining the inside bushings from bar stock and turning new pivot pins and keepers as well. Not a picture guy so no pictures. If it's real critical and a very high stress part and exotic alloy or non ferrous, I switch to TIG and the appropriate filler rod and inert shielding gas and tungsten as requires, but that is another story for another time.

In as much as you are a paid advertiser here, could you supply me with a quote plus transportation to 49238 (Michigan) for a 'single lid', had no idea what a lid was until I started reading these posts actually) grapple for my M9's with a 72" OR less (not much less) grapple, nothing fancy as I'll just use it for moving branches to my burn pile, no digging or anything of that sort. I have the front mount hydraulics and the females need to be pioneer detach under pressure (ball end) females. No hurry as winter is coming and I won't really require it until spring anyway. if you don't have the fittings don't supply them or the hoses, I have that stuff here in the shop. My mailing address email) is sales@ flipmeisters.com which is also my company email.

The time I'd spent developing and laying out the parts in Versa-Cad and procuring the materials from Alro and then cutting and fitting them and welding it up, I feel that you building me one and shipping it would be cheaper and less time consuming plus I'm always busy fixing people 'oopses' building parts that are NLA as well as farming for fun (no money to be made on farming today).

Thank you in advance.... Daryl (Flip) Davis (my real name that I never use on here and no I'm not my other brother's Daryl either). I have a brother than died in an untimely accident decades ago. I do have a son and grandkids however and his name sure isn't Daryl either...lol)

 

[Notforhire]

Kubota offers cast centers that bolt right up to the rear axle hubs, Have them on both my M9's and I believe they offer them on allmost every Kubota as an option. Loaded tires don't work for me but the cast centers do and I'd wager that the OEM cast centers aren't much more than a tire fill plus if you need to remove the tire, the rim and tire comes away from the center so no additional weight to deal with plus that makes the rear tire-rim adjustable for width as well.

Not that I do that because my rim and tire assembly is too dam heavy to move around anyway. I call my tire man if it needs to be removed or installed which is very rare.

I don't think cast centers are available for the L47. Kubota doesn't even recommend loaded tires.
My apologies for running down that rabbit trail.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Ted... A hint and a question (in as much as you are a paid advertiser on here)
1. I'd switch to globular metal transfer with your MIG welding. I'm reasonably sure you use solid wire (not cored wire) from looking at your welds and your Millers are capable (I believe of spray arc)) (globular transfer) welding. With spray arc, you need high amperage (over 200 amps, preferably over 210, a bit more shielding gas (75-25) as you literally blow the molten wire into the weld bead so you have to keep your diffuser fairly clean and dross free as well as your nozzle. On the plus side, it's actually quicker in travel speed that ordinary 'glue gun' welding, takes no more skill and produces an excellent looking bead with no spatter which means less clean up, superior penetration as well as very localized heating of the parts to be joined. On the negative side, requires a bit more shielding gas, 75-25 only and your welders need to keep the torch end fairly clean between weld passes.

I use it all the time on critical welds when I fabricate high stress parts for customers (and yes I get paid to do it). Looks nice and exceeds most stress tests as well. Building an H bracket for a Case Extenda hoe that is NLA presently from very thick plate steel that I cut the parts from on my CNC plasma table from high alloy steel plate as well as machining the inside bushings from bar stock and turning new pivot pins and keepers as well. Not a picture guy so no pictures. If it's real critical and a very high stress part and exotic alloy or non ferrous, I switch to TIG and the appropriate filler rod and inert shielding gas and tungsten as requires, but that is another story for another time.

In as much as you are a paid advertiser here, could you supply me with a quote plus transportation to 49238 (Michigan) for a 'single lid', had no idea what a lid was until I started reading these posts actually) grapple for my M9's with a 72" OR less (not much less) grapple, nothing fancy as I'll just use it for moving branches to my burn pile, no digging or anything of that sort. I have the front mount hydraulics and the females need to be pioneer detach under pressure (ball end) females. No hurry as winter is coming and I won't really require it until spring anyway. if you don't have the fittings don't supply them or the hoses, I have that stuff here in the shop. My mailing address email) is sales@ flipmeisters.com which is also my company email.

The time I'd spent developing and laying out the parts in Versa-Cad and procuring the materials from Alro and then cutting and fitting them and welding it up, I feel that you building me one and shipping it would be cheaper and less time consuming plus I'm always busy fixing people 'oopses' building parts that are NLA as well as farming for fun (no money to be made on farming today).

Thank you in advance.... Daryl (Flip) Davis (my real name that I never use on here and no I'm not my other brother's Daryl either). I have a brother than died in an untimely accident decades ago. I do have a son and grandkids however and his name sure isn't Daryl either...lol)

Thanks for the words, sir. I'll let Ted know to check it out.
Sent you an email with the best grapple for ya!
Travis

 

[5030]

I don't think cast centers are available for the L47. Kubota doesn't even recommend loaded tires.
My apologies for running down that rabbit trail.

Candidly, I don't know. I just saw them in the parts catalog at the Kubota dealer I work for part time (they do allow me behind the counter where the cash register is at but I keep my fingers off the money anyway and away from the cash drawer...lol) Not that I shoplift at all, but there are sure a lot of new parts back there that I'm sure I could use... I'm not one to betray anyone's trust in me anyway. They are extremely good to me and always have been and I buy all my filters and parts there anyway. We have an excellent relationship that I'd never want to compromise. Whare else could I go where they deliver what I order to the farm, no charge and then forget to bill me for them until I remind the parts manager...

Just took on an Echo dealership as well as Bridon twine and net (at my urging btw). I found out that Bridon is now affiliated with Kubota as an authorized supplier and Bridon products are all made here, unlike Tama-Net which isn't produced here at all. Tama is the JD supplier for net and twine, btw and I prefer Bridon and use it all the time.

Nice thing about Echo chainsaws and brush trimmers is their 5 year consumer warranty with no hassles replacement warranty and I told the owner if they got in any Echo products for a warranty repair (some things aren't warranty), I'd do the repairs as chainsaws and trimmer repairs are not complex anyway unless you get into porting and other internal mods, none of which you do to customers saws and trimmers anyway and they are a bit less expensive than Stihl and on par with Husky tools. Problem with Husky is they sell them at big box stores with no after the purchase repairs if necessary.

Echo does as well in some locations but knowing my dealer like I do, I'm sure they would honor any warranty issues or do repairs to saws and trimmers that weren't purchased there. How they roll and always have and I know that because the used M9 I bought up north, it's treated just like I bought it from them, same service queue same everything when it needs to have dealer intervention.

BTW, Echo produces the best string trimmer head in the business and supplies the fittings necessary to adapt it to ANY other straight shaft trimmer, no matter what brand. I recommend them highly. 100% plug and play and no' I'm not related to 'Chickmechanik' either though she does have a nice set of sisters that I'd like to examine...lol Her husband would probably not be conducive to that at all and neither would my wife.

 

[Jchonline]

I am looking at buying a double claw grapple for my L47. I have my eye on two grapples weighing in the neighborhood of 1,000 lbs. The L47's lift at pins to full height is 2,800 lbs. Does anyone have experience with a heavy grapple on an L47 or similar spec tractor they can share? Just don't want to regret the grapple weight later, although I don't expect to lift more than 1,000 lbs with it. The L47's backhoe will serve as my ballast. I do want the construction features of a heavier grapple. Thanks

I had the 800 ish lb LP grapple on my M62...well matched. The question is what do you plan on lifting with that heavy grapple?

 

[5030]

Good question..........

 

[Smokeydog]

Need a grapple to match your machine potential. You have a commercial built TLB and need one you can’t tear up. Hard to fix a bent cheap one.

 

[5030]

Something I've never had come in the shop was a wanked up grapple. I'm sure at some point I'll get one and hopefully I will be able to procure failed parts easily. People, in general can wank up about anything, especially when they use equipment or add on accessories that aren't designed or built for their intended use.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Something I've never had come in the shop was a wanked up grapple. I'm sure at some point I'll get one and hopefully I will be able to procure failed parts easily. People, in general can wank up about anything, especially when they use equipment or add on accessories that aren't designed or built for their intended use.

I'm in numerous groups on facebook, with all different color tractors.
Guys "wank" up grapples, frequently!
Travis

 

[Camofurever1]

Wanked up grapple....that is funny. Unfortunately, I wanked mine up this past spring. Didn't mess up the frame, I blew the internal gasket on the rod, which is letting fluid bypass and return to tank.

Grapples are great tools. I have owned mine for 13 years. It is on a Deere tractor, but the concept in using one is all the same:

• Keep your load low to the ground as possible, especially when moving.
• Make sure your rears are filled.
• Make sure you have something heavy on the back end for counter weight.
• Do not back pull the ground using the grapple jaws. (ask me how I know)
• Never grasp a tree trunk with grapple before said tree trunk is fully on the ground. (ask me how I know)
• Insure your hydraulic lines are securely fastened to your loader arm so they can't get pinched. (yeah, ask me how I know)
• A brush guard across your radiator and headlights is essential.
• Buy the heaviest and largest grapple your loader will and tractor can safely handle. You will thank yourself later on.
• Don't be afraid to experiment with what you can pickup and move with your grapple. You might be surprised.
  
  
  
  
  
  
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[jmc]

Ever see a full sized TLB running in road gear on smooth-ish pavement and it acts like a bucking horse, because of all their weight beyond the wheel base? For lack of an official term, I call it "galloping". I've got the same galloping when using my 650# skidsteer grade root grapple on my Kubota L4330. Only it's at mowing speed on regular ground. And empty. You might load your bucket up so it's the weight of your pending grapple and see if you can live with that galloping, or low speed to avoid galloping, every time that heavy grapple is mounted.

 

[Leozepolusa]

Wanked up grapple....that is funny. Unfortunately, I wanked mine up this past spring. Didn't mess up the frame, I blew the internal gasket on the rod, which is letting fluid bypass and return to tank.

Grapples are great tools. I have owned mine for 13 years. It is on a Deere tractor, but the concept in using one is all the same:

• Keep your load low to the ground as possible, especially when moving.
• Make sure your rears are filled.
• Make sure you have something heavy on the back end for counter weight.
• Do not back pull the ground using the grapple jaws. (ask me how I know)
• Never grasp a tree trunk with grapple before said tree trunk is fully on the ground. (ask me how I know)
• Insure your hydraulic lines are securely fastened to your loader arm so they can't get pinched. (yeah, ask me how I know)
• A brush guard across your radiator and headlights is essential.
• Buy the heaviest and largest grapple your loader will and tractor can safely handle. You will thank yourself later on.
• Don't be afraid to experiment with what you can pickup and move with your grapple. You might be surprised.
  
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Your logic of buying the heaviest grapple your tractor can safely handle has been my thinking as long as the remaining 2000 lb lift capacity is well beyond my anticipated needs. I am trading away lift capacity for durability. As I previously mentioned, accidentally crashing into buried rock or stumps is assured, yet lifting a 2000 lb log or boulder is not in the playbook on my property. If the occasion ever arose, I would cut down the log length or push the boulder instead. My original post was really trying to determine if there were unexpected safety issues or outcomes with a 1000 lb grapple on the L47 TLB. I can certainly load the tires if the L47's 1660 lb backhoe isn't enough ballast.

 

[Notforhire]

I don't know if you noticed but Camofurever1 has a JD 5055 which is a larger tractor than a L47.
When I bought my 800# grapple I had a 5065e. You didn't really notice the grapple weight compared to the Kubota.
My JD had loaded tires and I never bothered with a counterweight unless I was doing a really heavy lift or on a slope.

Pictured is a stump bucket/grapple (about 400#) in use.
The L47 is a pretty powerful, but it's still a small (compact) tractor. A 50 series JD is a utility size. There is no comparison.
BTW the JD didn't "gallop" like the Kubota does.

BTW on page 91 which covers liquid ballast, in the operators manual it states;
When the BT1000b backhoe is installed, rear ballast should be removed.

Why they say that, I don't know.

Because my tractor came without a backhoe when I bought it, the rears were loaded. I run them loaded with the backhoe on. I just can't see draining them every time I mount the backhoe.

 

[mikester]

Your logic of buying the heaviest grapple your tractor can safely handle has been my thinking as long as the remaining 2000 lb lift capacity is well beyond my anticipated needs. I am trading away lift capacity for durability. As I previously mentioned, accidentally crashing into buried rock or stumps is assured, yet lifting a 2000 lb log or boulder is not in the playbook on my property. If the occasion ever arose, I would cut down the log length or push the boulder instead. My original post was really trying to determine if there were unexpected safety issues or outcomes with a 1000 lb grapple on the L47 TLB. I can certainly load the tires if the L47's 1660 lb backhoe isn't enough ballast.

Don't confuse "heavy" with "strong" or "durable".

Good design and high strength steels go a lot further down the road than a heavy POS that's poorly designed an fabricated. I have lot of pics of repairs on the latter.

 

[mikester]

Don't confuse "heavy" with "strong" or "durable".

Good design and high strength steels go a lot further down the road than a heavy POS that's poorly designed an fabricated. I have lot of pics of repairs on the latter.

Check out this 1,100lb single lid grapple - this happens when you weld 1/2" thick mild steel tines to 1/4" thick mild steel tube.

Heavy does not mean strong or durable.

 

[oosik]

I've had and used my Land Pride grapple for nine years. I've never had a reason to take it off. I normally will be lifting very heavy rocks and chunks of pine tree trunk. I use common sense - so...I've never damaged the grapple. The paint has, long ago, worn off the tips of the lower tines. They are now painted fluorescent orange - better to see.

I have to agree with 5030. Anything I might do that would cause damage to the grapple would, most likely, cause some form of damage to the tractor also. In particular - the FEL and its various components.

For me, at least, the cost of tractor repairs is just too much to risk. A little more time - a little more patience - the job will still get done and without anything being damaged.