Here's my brief go-to answer on the subject...
I think both styles have certain advantages.
Root Rake Style
The root rake style is designed to allow you to forcefully pull brush, vines and other debris backwards with the top lid, which isn't recommended with many long bottom grapples.
You can also pull down hard with the top lid if you want to pluck a limb from a tree or snatch a vine from one.
Dozer-like tine geometry promotes a tractor's ability to better push the tines through the ground with ease, putting the pressure on your rigid loader arms instead of your curl cylinders.
This design also keeps the load closer to your tractor, which reduces the center of gravity and somewhat increasing the tractor's lift capacity.
Our newest 55" Wicked Root Rake grapple, weighing 200 pounds, takes lightweight grapple construction to the next level and maintains strength at the same time. Ted proved it by testing the grapple on our
L6060 and
putting footage on YouTube for the world to see.
It is, by far, my most recommended grapple for small compact and subcompact tractors such as the Kubota B and BX series to squeeze every possible amount of lift capacity from them. The strong, ultra light design is untouched by any other on the market.
For those with larger tractors, the 55"'s big bro is our 400 pound range 60" and 72" Xtreme compact root rake grapple. It's a "Ted enhanced" version of Bradco's compact root rake grapple and has been bulletproof from the start. It's best for tractors with 35hp up to around 60hp.
Long Bottom Root Grapple
This Original Wicked style is the best selling style for tractors, hands down. It's full spanning hinge pins and reinforced cylinder mounts allow you to do some things described above with the lids, but good judgement should be exercised.
Our unique, unobstructed long-bottom Wicked Grapple tines also promotes a tractor's ability to push them through the ground, unlike many cheaper ones which use bulky triangular gussets as shown below.
You should be able to grab a larger pile of brush with the traditional Wicked style because you can cradle and physically fit more "inside" it.
It will also be more efficient for grabbing loose material such as leaves, pine needles, hay or firewood.
More useful situations. Cradling an oversized boulder, moving plywood or roofing material, stacking tools for transport or even pinching a ball point pin!
I hope this helps!
Travis
