Grapple Heavy Grapple on Kubota L47?

[nyone]

Do yourself a favour and focus on light weight using high strength materials. Buying something with thick tines made of mild steel is a waste.

I'd rather have 1/4" tines of AR400 than 1/2" thick mild steel.

AR steels are hardened. That means more wear resistance than mild steel but also means there more prone to breaking vs bending. Its kind of like picking your poison.

On the other hand your paying more for AR steel. How do you check to see what parts are actualy AR steel in a grapple? Do you think the whole thing is? Seams kind of un need to me to make the whole thing out of AR steel.

 

[oosik]

I think one of the major reasons for considering how wide a grapple should be. Navigating in and around your property. Going thru gates with a heavy load. When dealing with brush/limbs/trash - the difference between a 48", 60" or 66" grapple will be NIL.

My grapple is 60". It's basically the same width as my front tires. I did not get the 72" or 84" because I could see no benefits to wider and heavier. In this Land Pride model ( SGC1560 ) - 60" is the narrowest they make.

Somebody - back there in the dark - mentioned the grill guard. Anybody with a grapple should consider modifying the guard to repel stick, stobs and limbs. You will be surprised how much damage can be caused to your grill, radiator or battery without some form of modification. This is what I had done.........

 

[Leozepolusa]

How wide a unit are you considering? If I needed to buy a replacement for my 66 inch grapple, I would drop down to a 60 inch. I don't think the extra 6 inches makes much difference to a 12 foot log as it doesn't need any end support anyway. The weight would be slightly less and so would the cost. 800 pounds is reaching the practical limit (grapple weight) on my L47.

Most of the grapples I've seen are made for SkidSteer or Track loaders. Their loads are carried much closer to the front tires and their lift capacity is crazy high. My friend has a grapple with a deep flat bottom. I can carry almost as much with my root rake style grapple as I can using his 72 inch. The combined weight is the limiting factor and where it's carried relative to the pins.
I originally purchased my TLB as a TL. Like you I wanted a front end loader that was much stronger than a Ag tractor in a small package.
I also use my 3PH a lot.
I have gotten flack for referring to the L47 as a do all Swiss army knife.
While I don't recommend using the saw blade on the jack knife to saw down trees, it works well within its intended use.
Same with the L47. It is a great little machine but It's not a Deere 310.

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? In my prior post I roughly determined the available load capacity would be about 2000 lbs above the grapple weight. The only thing anywhere close to that weight I deal with would be a rare boulder which I simply push around rather than try to lift and transport. Other than that, most of the time I am dealing with piles of brush, smallish logs less than 12" caliper, and rocks less than 1000 lbs. I realize I would gain about 400 lbs of lifting capacity with a lighter weight 600 lb grapple, but that would be 400 lbs beyond anything I would ever need. On the other hand, accidentally slamming into a stump or buried rock is not only possible, but guaranteed.

 

[Torvy]

Well, I wanted the same model in a 60 inch at around 800 lbs, but a 60 is only available with a single clamp. 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? In my prior post I roughly determined the available load capacity would be about 2000 lbs above the grapple weight. The only thing anywhere close to that weight I deal with would be a rare boulder which I simply push around rather than try to lift and transport. Other than that, most of the time I am dealing with piles of brush, smallish logs less than 12" caliper, and rocks less than 1000 lbs. I realize I would gain about 400 lbs of lifting capacity with a 600 lb grapple, but that would be 400 lbs beyond anything I would ever need. On the other hand, accidentally slamming into a stump or buried rock is not only possible, but guaranteed.

I think maybe you are confusing heavier with stronger. Not necessarily.

I'd rather have more capacity than I think I need because we all tend to push limits on occasion.

 

[D&D]

View attachment 823531

Pretty fancy chainsaw carrier

 

[Leozepolusa]

I think maybe you are confusing heavier with stronger. Not necessarily.

I'd rather have more capacity than I think I need because we all tend to push limits on occasion.

It is a skeletan rock/brush grapple with eighteen 3/8" thick tines spaced 4 inches apart and six replaceable teeth. It also has a full width reinforcement bar about 4 inches behind the teeth. So yes, it has a lot of steel spaced such that small boulders won't fall through. I would certainly prefer this same design in a thinner and lighter high strength steel, but I suspect it would cost a fortune. I do realize relatively slow movements to avoid jerking the tractor around will be in order. I guess I'll have to treat the grapple as if it is carrying a decent load even when empty.

I agree about shooting for more capacity than expected for the reason you describe. I am banking on this grapple leaving me with about 2000 lbs of capacity and/or 1000 lbs beyond what I anticipate needing.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

AR steels are hardened. That means more wear resistance than mild steel but also means there more prone to breaking vs bending. Its kind of like picking your poison.

On the other hand your paying more for AR steel. How do you check to see what parts are actualy AR steel in a grapple? Do you think the whole thing is? Seams kind of un need to me to make the whole thing out of AR steel.

Hardox AR...

The reddish coated material you see here is Hardox 450.

Wicked 55 and Wicked 60

Check out how much this is bent, to create the horizontal Wicked TEEF, and keep in mind that it has to be bent more than this, due to the bend memory strength!

Wicked 66

And it now has the horizontal Hardox channel for better grip and raking backwards.

 

[mikester]

AR steels are hardened. That means more wear resistance than mild steel but also means there more prone to breaking vs bending. Its kind of like picking your poison.

On the other hand your paying more for AR steel. How do you check to see what parts are actualy AR steel in a grapple? Do you think the whole thing is? Seams kind of un need to me to make the whole thing out of AR steel.

AR400 on the plate, A514 on the structural tube

There is a reason why they use the stuff in construction equipment, it's tough, not hard and brittle

I'll take my 750 lb twin lid AR400 grapple over my old POS 1,100lb single lid mild steel thick tined grapple any day

I'm using a grapple to lift, push and grab stuff. Heavier grapple means less useful work. Do the math.

 

[4570Man]

The L4701 does not have a 2800lb lift at full height. It is only 2154 according to Kubota.

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A L47 and a L4701 aren’t the same machine.

 

[Torvy]

A L47 and a L4701 aren’t the same machine.

Yes thanks. It was pointed out by the next post and my apology in the one after.