Grapple New 54" Grapple, first use

[emcvay]

Hi All,

Thanks again for all the advice in the past as well as recently! I finally settled on the LS 54" root grapple as it was both in stock locally and priced right (Thanks Buck at EFC Equipment!). I also had Rod over at Okanogan Truck and Tractor add a diverter valve since they had the tractor to replace a bad bearing and seal on the front end which caused my 4WD to fail -- two years without 4WD was rough!.

Got the tractor and grapple back to the cabin and began to tear stuff up right away! ha!

I will be doing a LOT of work with this grapple so I'll be able to report how well it performs for me...I'm abusive to the tractor and implements so if anyone is going to tear it up, I am! ha!

 

[MechanicalGuy]

Be careful they're easy to break.

 

[emcvay]

Well I have no doubt I'll find that out! I will try NOT to break it of course, but I have a lot of work to do and I've pretty much broken every thing I use out there when it comes to the tractor LOL except the auger.

I am hoping, however, that this grapple does the job! Luckily my neighbor up there is a welder though so at least if it does break I should be able to get it fixed.

 

[oosik]

I have no knowledge of your brand of grapple. I have a Land Pride SGC1560. It's designed as a skid steer grapple and has 820# of AR400 steel. I've had it ten years now and not a moments problem. Works great on my M6040 Kubota.

One overall wish - that implement manufacturers would QUIT using electrostatic paint - powder coat. I MUCH prefer a quality brand automotive paint.

 

[emcvay]

That's a much heavier grapple than this LS. Which means, I'll likely break it before too long but we'll see. It's funny, I said 7 years ago in my 3 1/2 year review of the tractor, not to buy cheap implements but then this was all that was available so I bought it and it was priced right Now the question is: how much can it really do?

We'll find out!

 

[ctgoldwing]

when you need one they can't be beat!

 

[MechanicalGuy]

I'm talking about cylinders will break if you leverage them wrong, you'll bend the mast if you push too hard...I've managed to use mine very hard and not break it yet, but I've bent several tines, including the 1/2" end tine, and I've also put a slight bend in the mast.

Not to mention the three holes in my grill that I've caused by letting branches breach.

 

[shooterdon]

We have a guy like you at deer camp. He can break a hammer. I will not let him use my tractor and he gets annoyed with me. I just smile. I have the only tractor with a cab so it is "in demand".

We call him "Bash Brother"

 

[scaredychicken]

i love my grapple ... very useful

Okanogan Truck and Tractor

I started to wonder if we were almost neighbours.
Moses Lake is in Washington State, but the Okanogan part threw me off.

I'm in the Okanagan Valley, BC Canada
so, neighbours, sort of

have an awesome day - stay safe

 

[Smokeydog]

I have no knowledge of your brand of grapple. I have a Land Pride SGC1560. It's designed as a skid steer grapple and has 820# of AR400 steel. I've had it ten years now and not a moments problem. Works great on my M6040 Kubota.

One overall wish - that implement manufacturers would QUIT using electrostatic paint - powder coat. I MUCH prefer a quality brand automotive paint.

With any paint or powder coat the durability depends on the prep. Both are highly durable if applied properly. I too have seen the badly peeling of badly prepped powder coating. More to do with manufacturers quality control than the process. More interested in how it looks new than how long it last. The low voc and water based primer paint on my dodge truck peels too. Meeting EPA VOC requirements for small manufacturers is extremely expensive and paint finish quality suffers.

I have had 100’ of custom railing powder coated. After I clean, the fab shop hot water pressure washes, hot phosphate rinses and dries before powder coating. Meets the toughest marine, mining and industrial requirements. Things like ornamental railing or grapples does take a skilled knowledge to apply powder coat properly.

 

[emcvay]

i love my grapple ... very useful


I started to wonder if we were almost neighbours.
Moses Lake is in Washington State, but the Okanogan part threw me off.

I'm in the Okanagan Valley, BC Canada
so, neighbours, sort of

have an awesome day - stay safe

Hey! I used to live in both Peachland and Kalowna as a kid Neighbors indeed!

I moved from Moses Lake down to Pasco (when I became a member 10 or 11 years ago I lived in Richland which is one of the 'Tri-Cities' of Eastern WA (Richland, Kennewick, Pasco) but the cabin is up in the Okanogan not too far from Osoyoos (by road I think it's 40 miles).

Did you notice the spelling I used? Okanogan (USA) vs Okanagan (CAN)? That really messed with me when we first bought up there! LOL

 

[emcvay]

We have a guy like you at deer camp. He can break a hammer. I will not let him use my tractor and he gets annoyed with me. I just smile. I have the only tractor with a cab so it is "in demand".

We call him "Bash Brother"

I tend to feel it's more of a problem of the area (rock, rock and then more rock) but my wife tells me I'm a typical Marine -- like a Bull in a China shop! Just go roaring in and getting it down while smashing and breaking everything in my way hahahaha

Truthfully, I've been known to drive too fast when plowing snow (broken plow a few times over), grading (broken box blade), moving rocks and dirt with the FEL (bolts coming out) and then of course, plowing too fast for our area and hitting rocks resulting in a broken 3 point.

I'm learning though! ha!

 

[emcvay]

I'm talking about cylinders will break if you leverage them wrong, you'll bend the mast if you push too hard...I've managed to use mine very hard and not break it yet, but I've bent several tines, including the 1/2" end tine, and I've also put a slight bend in the mast.

Not to mention the three holes in my grill that I've caused by letting branches breach.

I need to watch that! I hate to break things but I also realize where I am at is tough on all things...kinda like wheelin' the jeep, get rough and it breaks...take it easy and, well, sooner or later it will still break

 

[barts]

I have had 100’ of custom railing powder coated. After I clean, the fab shop hot water pressure washes, hot phosphate rinses and dries before powder coating. Meets the toughest marine, mining and industrial requirements. Things like ornamental railing or grapples does take a skilled knowledge to apply powder coat properly.

I've had good luck painting over metal prep (phosphoric acid) that's applied on degreased metal in the sun and let dry, washed off and let dry. Reasonably tough. For really difficult conditions, of course, it's really hard to beat hot dip galvanizing; the fabricated outdoor seating brackets on my folk's place were hot dipped 40 years ago, and look the same now as they did back then a 1/4 mile from the ocean.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Love my grapple! As a matter of fact it has been a while since I used it, time to put it on the ol' tractor and get some work done. Gorgeous spot you have there!!

Question, I take it the open sides on your hood are custom? Does that serve a purpose? Looks kinda cool!

 

[emcvay]

Keeps the rats from moving in

 

[Surshot]

The secret to the graple is two parts, have a very heavy duty root rake, at least 1" thick tines, so he bottom part of the jaw stays stable, then get at least two hydraulic cylinders on the upper jaw, one on each side of the upper grapple jaw(s).
I have a tree farm and use my grapple a great deal of the time.
Once you learn how to break up downed trees with one, it reduces tree cutting time a bunch, like as much as 12 to 1.

 

[emcvay]

Alright! Haven't busted it yet! Bent tines/teeth several times but am able to bang them out and keep on going when it happens. I've used it a fair amount since last fall and am doing a review soon on my YT channel. In fact today's video is mostly the tractor in action with the grapple. Pretty happy with this grapple for the price but I can see why folks want the $5k units Just above my price point then (and now) so this one works! Might have to beef it up some though...specially they bottom teeth.

 

[emcvay]

For this interested, this isn't the review, just a video of me using the grapple a lot (and doing other stuff)...but I'll do the review soon!

As for the tractor Still loving it!

 

[emcvay]

OK! Here it is. My review on the LS 54 Inch Grapple. I hope it helps someone here as I couldn't find a lot of video on this grapple (other than from salesman) when I was searching.

And I think this will demonstrate the reason many recommend the big heavy grapples