Project All-Klaw (root grapple)

[Trucker1]

I am building a root grapple from two halves of an old Prentice log loader "pulp bucket" that was owned by my Grandfather Allen--(the "All" in my project name).

Each one measures 20" wide.

 

[Trucker1]

With each piece being 20" wide, I welded a 19" spacer in between the two pieces.

This will give me my base for a 60" wide grapple.

 

[Corm]

That certainly looks like it will be real rugged! I'm anxious to see the rest of the build.

Corm

 

[Trucker1]

I have cut the two inner ears off by 4" so that I can weld in 4" square tubing across the top. This square tubing will give me a strong surface to weld my mounts, plus tie it all together.

 

[Trucker1]

I have cut off the large 1.5" round tie rods that you can see in top of the previous pic. I will be reusing these later for guards in the center.

I have welded in the 4" square tube, then welded in 4" C-channel for my JD quick attach mounts. I also plasma cut the mounts for the grapple from 1/2" steel and drilled out 1" holes for the pivots. I spaced them for a 30" wide grapple.

I was afraid that 30" would be too wide, but everyone started ordering Markham grapples that wide about that same time, so I figured I had made a good decision.

 

[Trucker1]

I hand drew the pattern for my grapple on cardboard, transferred to 1/8" hardboard for plasma cutting.
(Apologies to all who designed this first, if it ain't broke, why fix it?)

I then plasma cut my design from 1/2" steel.

 

[Mike058]

Are you going to add any tines to the bottom to dig under roots?

 

[Trucker1]

Mike058--Not really. There'll be a tine in the center where the spacer was added. The 1/2" plate at the ends of tines will be removed as marked on pic.

That will give me 7 tines altogether.

 

[3RRL]

Very nice work so far.
I'll say one thing, you will definitely have a heavy duty grapple there. Have you determined how much it will weigh yet? Not that it should be any problem for your JD though.
I like the beef! Keep the pictures coming.

 

[Mike058]

Mike058--Not really. There'll be a tine in the center where the spacer was added. The 1/2" plate at the ends of tines will be removed as marked on pic.

That will give me 7 tines altogether.

Gotcha. Didn't realize those plates on the ends were coming off. This is a great way to recycle old steel.