MTL Grapple Review

[JCoastie]

And lastly informed me that a 1* review would void the warranty of the grapple I purchased. He then hung up.

wow! awful

 

[fried1765]

wow! awful

Apparently, Cliff is still building his well deserved reputation.

 

[sheamus]

Wow that is terrible.

One of the issues with the cheaper grapples I see is weight. The EA root grapples for compact tractors are under 300# for the 50”, and 350# for the heavier duty 54”.

Most of the cheap ones don't list weight, and when they do, they are almost always 450# or more. The root rake styles can be lighter, but I am only interested in the non-rakes (the ones with flat bottom).

On a 25-40HP CUT the weight can be a significant difference. So I am considering paying for the EA plus shipping to Canada...

If I owned a bigger, heavier tractor, I'd just get a cheap grapple because weight is less of an issue.

 

[fried1765]

Wow that is terrible.

One of the issues with the cheaper grapples I see is weight. The EA root grapples for compact tractors are under 300# for the 50”, and 350# for the heavier duty 54”.

Most of the cheap ones don't list weight, and when they do, they are almost always 450# or more. The root rake styles can be lighter, but I am only interested in the non takes.

One a 25-40HP CUT that is a big difference. So I am considering paying for the EA plus shipping to Canada...

If I owned a bigger, heavier tractor, I'd just get a cheap grapple because weight is less of an issue.

Because I have a Kubota L48TLB grapple, weight was not a significant factor for me.
My Mid-State Attachments grapple weighs 500#, but also has a fully covered steel back plate, which keeps the branches away from my tractor.

 

[PLanger]

MSU......sorry about your trouble. I have owned an MTL grapple going on 3 years and using it on a second tractor. I have never had a reason to contact the manufacturer other than ordering. The grapple arrived promptly after the order was placed and as new. It has been excellent and I have had no issues and no reason to contact the manufacturer. I would buy another in a heartbeat based on my experience. Great value IMO. Many share this opinion. This is not an accusation, but in general I am always suspicious of a new member that jumps on the forum with an axe to grind.

 

[fried1765]

MSU......sorry about your trouble. I have owned an MTL grapple going on 3 years and using it on a second tractor. I have never had a reason to contact the manufacturer other than ordering. The grapple arrived promptly after the order was placed and as new. It has been excellent and I have had no issues and no reason to contact the manufacturer. I would buy another in a heartbeat based on my experience. Great value IMO. Many share this opinion. This is not an accusation, but in general I am always suspicious of a new member that jumps on the forum with an axe to grind.

I understand your new member "axe to grind" comment, but MTL (Cliff) has a whole host of customer complaints.
Based on their customer complaint history I would certainly not buy anything from them.
You were obviously a lucky customer.

 

[TractorTYMe]

I initially was going with an MTL grapple, but reading up on things made me decide to save up a little more and get the Homestead Implements one on my profile picture, I'm glad I did. It is an awesome tool.

 

[caver]

I bought an MTL tree puller last year and really the only thing wrong was one zerk was missing and another angled so it was not accessible. It was built better than I expected. The price has gone up several hundred bucks so glad I bought when I did.

 

[MSUBulldog]

MSU......sorry about your trouble. I have owned an MTL grapple going on 3 years and using it on a second tractor. I have never had a reason to contact the manufacturer other than ordering. The grapple arrived promptly after the order was placed and as new. It has been excellent and I have had no issues and no reason to contact the manufacturer. I would buy another in a heartbeat based on my experience. Great value IMO. Many share this opinion. This is not an accusation, but in general I am always suspicious of a new member that jumps on the forum with an axe to grind.

I fully agree with your comment. First off, the grapple itself is definitely solid. Being an engineer, I am aware that many steer clear of implements made of A36 structural steel on larger machines. However, I was perfectly fine with it given the price and my intended use for my NH TC40A. All welds appear solid and there is no doubt it will last me for a long time. As far as having an axe to grind, I was never looking for a fight. I personally decided to take the bad reviews with a grain of salt and give them a shot. Seriously, everything went flawlessly until I asked a question. That’s when it went down hill very fast. I did not appreciate the condescending after hours response nor the ridiculous phone call that came the next day. To cap it off, there was a blatant lie response to a review I left on google. Most people I do business with don’t respond after hours to messages sent within business hours. Most would wait unti the next day. Unfortunately, MTL did and blamed me. The reason I posted here was this site helped me chose a heck of a tractor back in 2008. I was an active member at that point, but unfortunately my information got lost and I had to create a new account. I wanted to repay the favor to many of those that regularly use the site and are actively looking for answers to questions. I also wanted to weigh in on the fact that bad experiences with MTL are very legit. One should not get treated like garbage for asking a question. Especially after they just dropped $1200 or more on an implement. Thank you again for the response to my post.

 

[AbbiesFarm]

I bought the MTL 72" RK5 Rock Grapple in February 2020, I love it. I use it mostly for brush and tree clean up. Well made, no issues, so I never needed to call or complain. The finish is fine so far, it's a tool that gets treated pretty bad and the steel is thick enough that rust won't be an issue for so long I don't really care if the paint fails. Heck I've used it to place brush directly in the burning burn pile. I don't particularly understand why people are so critical of paint on implements. I have implements that are 30+ years old, probably been without paint for most of their life and they are still just as usable today as they were 30 years ago. Shipping was fast, like 8 days. I could have 2 of these for the same price as one of the brand everyone pushes here. Great deal.

 

[Louis Mace]

My MTL Attachments experience...

Bought and paid $8500 for an XC8 rotary cutter
Waited 9 weeks because they didn't have any in stock. (see below #4 later on)
Was told it would be shipped on a custom pallet when ready.
Received my cutter via a big-name shipper and it was laying on the floor in the nose of the trailer with no way to move it. It was 2007 lbs and no "custom pallet" was to be found.
Once it was drug to the tail of the trailer I noticed:
1. the case drain line was torn off the motor
2. the motor cover was bent like it had been hit
3. the blades, which supposedly were plasma cut, had deep gouges in them like the plasma cutter hit a 1/4" bump in its track every 3"
4. the serial number plate said it was produced in May of 2021
5. One of the main hydro hoses had a gouge in it near the motor fitting, presumably from the case drain line being torn off
6. the metal "MTL" logo on the motor cover was bent up
7. I was told when I purchased the unit that the hydro motor would be a 200; I received a 175. (Incidentally, a 175 is not even listed in the owner's manual as an available size nor did we discuss a 175.)

My main concern was the torn case drain line and the motor size. If the unit had been flow tested after production, I think there should have been some hydraulic fluid in the line as well as spilled onto the deck when the line was torn off. Both were completely dry. No sign of fluid anywhere.
As for the motor, I requested the higher torque 200 due to the type of cutting I do; a 175 was never discussed.
I called the guy I had spoken to when I made the inquiry and subsequent order. He said to send it back and he even contacted the shipper for me. He said he would bill it back to the shipper as freight-damaged and I could get another one in "early spring". I thought all was ok.
I called this week to get an update and to ask a question and the guy started out fairly testy with me as though I was a bother.
The conversation quickly went downhill with him accusing me of costing him $600 in return shipping and him telling me I was one of the type of people in the world that he hated. See above...he said he was going to bill it back to the shipper so I'm not sure where he got the price of $600 that I cost him.
The conversation continued to go badly on his part; as I still wanted to buy an XC8, but it got so bad I started to change my mind. It went downhill further to the point of him telling me all I was looking for was an "art piece to sit back in my chair and admire" and that he had sold 12,000 of these and none had come back. Yes, he said 12,000. I hardly doubt he has sold 12k when it took him 9 weeks to get me just one...
He continued to abuse me verbally and I let him go on just to see how far he would go. I was in a good mood, and I sure surprised myself in how calmly I treated him; as he had no reason to get that angry.
Finally, he refused to sell me one and refunded my money because we needed "to part ways".

For anyone considering a purchase from MTL, I would caution you against it. My story is just mine and mine only. If price is all that drives you, then spend your money anywhere you wish. If working with sellers who respect you and value your business is important to you, I would recommend you take MTL off your list. At this point, I wouldn't run their equipment if it was given to me.

Again, this was my experience; yours may be different.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I wanted a MTL XC7 brushcutter with mulching teeth, and after reading this thread I looked up all the reviews and they were less than flattering about their poor customer service and the owners treatment of customers, but I decided to give them a call and see how it went for myself as the reviews on the cutters themselves were good, I tried for several days and all I got was an answering machine message stating that if I was getting this message that it was because they have extremely high call volume and that it would be best to reach them by text, I found it highly unlikely that everytime I called that they were that busy, so I decided I would try my second choice Rut Manufacturing and see if they would answer the phone, they did everytime I called 3 or 4 times with different questions, so I ordered a Terminator XP brushcutter from them, hopefully it will be a good product.

 

[otherpinz]

I purchased a 84 inch rock bucket grapple from MTL. One of the claws is bent now, but as it is 1/4 steel, I think it was my fault.(God know how) I had some problems with shipping and the owner helped me with it, but was a bit pissy about it blaming me.

 

[Danica]

That story is outrageous! If you were buying thru a dealer I’d contact the OEM. If you were working thru and OEM owned distribution channel you should relate this story on very appropriate forum you can. I wouldn’t have been so calm; your “good mood” must be a very Zen-like place to be!

 

[Rmart30]

Im on year 4 of owning a dual lid 66" MTL and have no complaints for what it is and cost. It arrived to me 3 days after i paid for it. Ive moved more than 300 trees that ranged from 12"-24" trunks and were 30-50 ft tall. Moved more brush and limbs than i ever want to do again. This " cheap" implement has saved me a good $8-10,000. For me it was a good investment.

 

[Jstpssng]

The owner of MTL is widely known among tractor owners, to be a complete A-hole.
He only gets 1st time customers, who are uninformed.

I ordered mine, it was delivered, end of story. I never had any problems.