My very own grapples!

[3RRL]

Tom,
Solar grapple? ... LOL!
Thanks for the advice, but Surplus Center is already sending out the correct valve. So I'll just swap it out at camp next visit up.

 

[3RRL]

Good news for Loretta.
Surplus Center sent out the correct valve and it arrived last Thursday. We drove up to camp for a couple reasons, to install that valve and get her grapple going, but also to clear some camp spots for the Memorial day camp out at our place.
Here is what the 2 valves look like together. The 110v/120v valve is smaller than the 12v valve. You can clearly see the difference in marking. It only took a few minutes to switch the valves.
Now she is ready to go.

 

[3RRL]

Here she is practicing with her bucket grapples, trying to get a feel for where to place the bucket and grapple for a good clean pick up. Unfortunately for me, she practiced on a live animal trap the kids had put out in the meadow.
Now it is toast but she's happy.

 

[3RRL]

After she got the hang of it, she used her new bucket grapples like a pro and started to do the clean up around the camp sites.
It sure is handy to have another set of "hands" for work like this.



Below is a video of the first time she tried them out. She was working at the homesite when I drove up in her tractor. She stopped what she was doing and immediately got on it and started to work the grapples. You can see they are run by a true third function solenoid valve, so you can use the lift/lower and curl/dump simultaneously while operating the grapples. You have to feather the FEL controls in order to do this on her tractor, since there is only so much flow, but you can see them operate while she is moving the FEL. I tried to get her to do all the functions at the same time, but she had a little trouble with that.

 

[schmism]

Ive often wondered about a gauge location on my FEL hydrolics. From what i understand this would be a good spot. (but ive never taken a pic to conferm so i borrowed yours 3rrl)

so you can put a T there and plumb the guage in?

sent you a PM about the grapple

 

[tommu56]

Here she is practicing with her bucket grapples, trying to get a feel for where to place the bucket and grapple for a good clean pick up. Unfortunately for me, she practiced on a live animal trap the kids had put out in the meadow.
Now it is toast but she's happy.

Rob she is actually practicing on how to deal with trap with a skunk in it!

tommu56

 

[Defective]

Rob she is actually practicing on how to deal with trap with a skunk in it!

tommu56

I sincerely hope she never puts that practice to use...

It'll be a bugger to get the FEL truly clean!

 

[3RRL]

OK - I guess I can see I'll have to tell the story.

When the handle was horizontal, it confused me to no end. Up was down and down was up. Every time I wanted to move the loader, I had to stop and actually think "I want the loader to go up, so I move the handle down".

I thought it was sooooo odd. I asked Rob about it and he said all tractors were that way.... that you pull back to raise the loader and push forward to lower the loader. But it just didn't make sense to me. With a horizontal handle, I just couldn't make my brain wrap itself around doing everything the opposite.

So, I was really excited to have a vertical handle. Now, that I could mentally translate to forward = down and backwards = up.

Once the vertical handle was mounted, Rob realized that with the valve mounted the way it was mounted, it was now backwards - forward was up and backwards was down. That made perfect sense to me ... until Rob told me why the handles that way. He said to imagine a string attached to the handle, and the string pulls the bucket up.... pull back and the string pulls the bucket up.

oh.

now I get it.

and now, I can't imagine it any other way.... not to mention that if either one of us tries to drive the other's tractor, we'll be totally screwed up.

So, now Rob gets to make another bracket for the valve and handle

You remember THAT post from Loretta?
Well, last visit up, after installing the correct solenoid valve, I decide to turn everything BACK around so her darn valve works the way it's designed and supposed to work. What PITA!!!
So here are some photos of the FEL valve...AGAIN.
Oh, and also a couple pics of Loretta moving her Jinma Chipper with my Kama.



I worked her tractor for a couple of hours also, and I'll have to say that RanchHand FEL valve is as smooth as butter.
It's a really, really good valve.

 

[bostonrats]

These help with rule number one, NEVER GET OFF THE TRACTOR

 

[montejw]

Awesome! Thanks for all the details and photos.

 

[tnpete]

You guys are too kind.
You can see I'm a fast learner ... Loretta taught me well.
Thank God for pictures so a tedious little detail like that draws some interest.

Yellow paint ... Swiss cheese hahaha. I'm sure Loretta will react to that one. I can't take all the credit, since Loretta wanted more lightening holes.
BTW, I just weighed those jaws and you won't believe it ...they are exactly 50lbs all welded up like that.



That is pretty light for being 24" wide and compared to what they would be without holes. I was planning to add a plate on top of her bucket and also one on the back to add strength and rigidity to it. I calculated the top plate (1/2 x 6 x 32") to be 27.2lbs. The pivot brackets and pins (all) weigh 10.8lbs and the cylinder weighs 15.9lbs. So that's 103.9lbs for the whole shebang! If I decide to use the back plate behind the bucket lip, add another 27.2lbs for a grand total of 131.1lbs.

But that is not really what it will weigh because I'm planning to use only 6" x 6" squares under the pivots instead of the entire plate across the top to cut the weight down. If I do that for the top and back, the plates will weigh 30.6lbs. That will make the entire assembly weigh 107.3lbs with top and back stiffening plates. Her loader lift capacity is less than 1000lbs, so for what she wants to do, the grapple weight won't hurt that too much.

WOW I Think a kit for that grapple would sell good. I know I would like to own one like that.
Pete

 

[3RRL]

WOW I Think a kit for that grapple would sell good. I know I would like to own one like that.
Pete

Hi Pete,
When I get settled into our new Log Home and get the shop set up, I will consider making the kits.
I've had many requests now.
Thanks,

 

[Eagleview]

Legends , the pair of you .

 

[tnpete]

Hi Pete,
When I get settled into our new Log Home and get the shop set up, I will consider making the kits.
I've had many requests now.
Thanks,

Thanks that I think will keep you busy for a while. Hope to order one when you start making the kits.
But the way metal prices are going up. IT may cost more then the bucket LOL
Pete

 

[Defective]

If THAT kit costs less than the bucket, I'd lose all respect for Rob. Buckets are simple things.

 

[Eagleview]

Hey Rob , i'd get them Cadmium coated instead of painting them . They'd look like they where out of a Terminator movie .

 

[JustGary]

Great work (both of you), and thanks for the detailed narration and great photos!

I do have one question that I didn't see answered in the posts so far (but maybe I missed it): Where did you break your hydraulic system to install the new valve? Did you put it after your FEL spool (with power beyond), or somewhere else? I'm ready to start on a grapple for my Kubota L2800, and I just can't figure out where to break the system using only one valve (I'm pretty sure my spool does not have power beyond).

Regards,

- Just Gary

 

[3RRL]

Good question Gary, I don't know if that was explained or not?
In fact you can break the system in any convenient place as long as this valve is fed via a power beyond sleeve from the last valve. It is always best to feed another valve with power beyond, and I try not to deviate from that practice. Having said that, I've seen many systems that feed another valve without the power beyond that work too. I would check to see if indeed your valve does not have power beyond or if it needs the plug removed and a sleeve inserted to make the port active.
What I did on this tractor was feed this solenoid valve from the dumptrailer valve's power beyond port. In my case, it was the most logical and required the least amount of hose to connect it into the system in relationship to where I located the valve.
But like I said, it can be put in anywhere and work the same.

 

[JustGary]

Rob -

Thanks for the prompt reply.

After some more research here on TBN, it looks like my Kubota LA-463 FEL may well have power beyond. I had been led to believe that it didn't have it. I'll check it when I get home tonight.

The other thing I am curious about is if you are both still satisfied with your choice of electric solenoid valves. Specifically, do you miss having the ability to feather the speed of movement on the grapple as you use it? I would think that slower motion could be a benefit sometimes (like working near things you can't move but don't want to hit). After watching the video you posted, it looks like it moves pretty fast.

You could add speed control to your valve with a simple pulsed DC circuit, but you would have to work out how you want to set the speed. Three choices come to mind:

1. Just use some slower, fixed speed instead of wide-open valve action. A flow restrictor would do just as well or better for this, I suppose.
2. Add a dial somewhere to set the speed. This could be anywhere from conveniently located to buried under the hood.
3. Change the joystick switch to a tophat style so that the more you push it, the faster the grapple moves. Elegant, but perhaps the most trouble mounting the switch.

Regards,

- Just Gary

 

[3RRL]

What a lot of guys do is plumb the work ports to the grapple cylinders with 1/4" lines, which helps slow it down. Others use flow control or inserts inside the fittings with a small orifice ... same principle. Personally, I like having the speed.
It allows me to "catch" some boulders and stuff when I scoop them up. Like when I'm trying to position the bucket and grab before I lose the position I was in. That is a personal choice though. Most of my grapple work has not required feathering as I thought it might, so in my case, I'm happy about that. This tractor is faster than my Kama tractor. My Kama is a little slower and sometimes I wish it were as fast as this one. The Kama has dual bucket grapples on it with the valve powering both in series. So the when the line is split into two, it is slower.
Here is the Kama grapple thread. there is also a video of it working in there.
Tatro Grapples with WR Long Valve
There are also a lot of threads where I've shared photos of some grapple work done with it. Let me know if you are interested in viewing them.