I had the EA 55" grapple on my 1526 and just recently traded that for an 1835M and now have the grapple on the 1835M. I like the grapple but it is the only one I have ever owned or used so nothing really for comparison. It gets done what I need done. The 1526 handled it just fine but I always found myself pushing it (1526) to the limit which is why I moved up to the 1835M. So far I have moved some pretty large logs and it does great. I believe EA has video testing it on a 60hp tractor and it withstood everything they threw at it. Would I but it again? Without hesitation but again, I have no other grapple experience. The weight of the grapple preserved most of my lift capacity on the 1526, it is just that I have 75acres and I would like to do some habitat improvement along with building a house and really had the need for more loader capacity.
One side note, on the 1526 I had the WR Long 3rd function. It was a true 3rd function. On the 1835M, I had the 3rd function installed prior to picking up the new. The Massey 3rd function is actually a diverter and not a true 3rd function. I liked the operation of the WR Long better but I am sure in time I will get use to this. With the WR Long, you have two buttons on loader handle, one opens and the other closes. On the Massey diverter, there is one button on the loader handle. Depress and hold the button to operate the grapple. By depressing the button, you are diverting fluid form the dump and curl to the open and close function of the grapple. Depending on how you connect hoses, dump opens and curl closes. You cannot dump and open at the same time. Both work but I did prefer the Wr Long.
If the 60" is a juiced up version of the 55", as they state, it should pair up well with that tractor. The new laminated lower tines look nice.
