The Beast Gets a New Toy!

[Dougster]

Sorry guys... my 4110 looked so happy this afternoon with it's new toy that I just had to take a picture. I know this belongs somewhere in attachments, but... forgive me... I'm keeping it in the family!

Just brought it back from the freight depot today. No, it's not connected up yet, but please don't tell the Beast. It's having way too much fun to go and spoil it for him!

Now my neighbors are ***REALLY*** going to love me!

Dougster

 

[Travis_R]

Thats VERY mean lookin'! I love it! You should put a picture of it in the "attachments" forum also. Glad you shared it with us. I wish I knew how to get a pictures posted up on here. I'll have to get family/friends to show me how one day.

Travis R

 

[Dougster]

Thats VERY mean lookin'! I love it! You should put a picture of it in the "attachments" forum also. Glad you shared it with us. I wish I knew how to get a pictures posted up on here. I'll have to get family/friends to show me how one day. Travis R

Thank goodness my girlfriend let me borrow her digital camera all this week!

It is a nasty mean looking thing! But then again, who wants a wimpy, happy looking root grapple??? Grapples are supposed to be intimidating! Scaring my evil neighbors is half the fun!

In "under 700 lb" grapples (my desired weight limit!), my girlfriend originally picked out the Millonzi lightweight 72" as the meanest looking grapple (mainly because of its skeletal grapple arm design and it has those yellow & black "Stay Back" warning stickers all over it!!!)... until she saw this one!

Another member talked me into considering a more narrow grapple for the 4110... but I still didn't want to go below 66" (roughly the track of the tires). This is the result.

Now the big question: Use the rear remote with some long lines? Or swallow hard, dig deep and buy the W.R. Long electro-hydraulic valve. Hmmmm...

Dougster

 

[jpm]

congrats dougster i hope you'll enjoy using it soon. The rear remotes are faster to set up ,added valves are a "cleaner" install. good luck j

 

[rback33]

Congrats! That thing looks awesome. It should work great. I would go to the rear remotes. Faster, easier and can be made to look good if the time is taken to do it right.

 

[Dougster]

Thanks guys! Money being extremely tight right now (the grapple itself was saved & budgeted for last year), I will likely try the rear remote approach first with some long lines from Tractor Supply. I've been looking at how I could do that and I think I could live with it just fine. We're going to get some exact measurements tonight by routing a garden hose so I can get as whisker close as possible with standard length lines. The W.R. Long valve is great, but another costly tractor project is probably not in the cards right now while I am still struggling hard to save for the fixed thumb for my 509 backhoe. Some folks have talked about a way I could use the rear remote without endlessly disconnecting and reconnecting the 509's hydraulic lines... some sort of manual switching valve? If it is cheap enough and reasonably compact, I'll try to add that little luxury!

Dougster

 

[k54frog]

GREAT Pic!!
Also, same question as Travis_R... how do you get the picture to show in the body of the post rather than as a link/attachment?

 

[Dougster]

GREAT Pic!! Also, same question as Travis_R... how do you get the picture to show in the body of the post rather than as a link/attachment?

Thanks for the compliment! I think the picture appears here as a picture because I am using an external link to my ISP-provided web storage space. I believe that pictures posted elsewhere within TractorByNet show up as links.

Dougster

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Doug,
Very nice lookin setup ! I often thought how nice it would be to have one, to move my brush piles to the burn pile !

Someday !

Good luck with it !

 

[Dougster]

Mornin Doug, Very nice lookin setup ! I often thought how nice it would be to have one, to move my brush piles to the burn pile ! Someday ! Good luck with it !

Thanks Scott - I see you're still way ahead of me on implements... so I can't feel too sorry for ya! I'm expecting this thing to do some serious digging out of rocks and roots as I clear out the back of my property... hence the desire for heavy duty while still staying within my weight cap. Does me no good if I couldn't lift the darn thing up fully loaded!

Still, I've got to contact Millonzi and find out where they get those nifty yellow & black "Stay Back" decals! I want a bunch of them! A skull and crossbones decal would be great too... anything to help intimidate the neighbors!

Dougster

 

[scott_vt]

Thanks Scott - I see you're still way ahead of me on implements... so I can't feel too sorry for ya! A skull and crossbones decal would be great too... anything to help intimidate the neighbors!

Dougster

Gee Doug,
If I was to put skull and crossbones decals on my FEL my neighbors might think I was advertising for " Pirates of the Carribean "

Oh, and BTW, I believe you have a backhoe, one implement of that caliber negates many smaller implements in my BIO !

 

[cjw]

I wish my wife was as understanding as ure grill friend

 

[Dougster]

I wish my wife was as understanding as ure grill friend

That's the joy of keeping separate bank accounts! What can she say if it's my saved and scrimped money anyway? Best to just go with the flow and smile! And don't think that she's not going to have some serious fun with this new "toy" as well! Just wait and see!!!

I will also add that she is quite savy and understands how reclaiming and improving my land will end up paying big benefits in a couple years when we make our escape up to "Live Free or Die" country. I'm sure the grapple will get lots of use up there as well!

Dougster

 

[Oleozz]

I use the rear remotes with my grapple. The hoses and fittings cost me about $190. I have three places where I can disconnect them, one at the remotes, one where the couplings are for the FEL, and the last one is out where the cross bar is for the bucket. That is one mean looking grapple that you have.
Have fun.

 

[Dougster]

I use the rear remotes with my grapple. The hoses and fittings cost me about $190. I have three places where I can disconnect them, one at the remotes, one where the couplings are for the FEL, and the last one is out where the cross bar is for the bucket. That is one mean looking grapple that you have. Have fun.

One set of couplings came with the grapple... and obviously we will need a complete second set if we are to make the long lines from the rear remotes "semi-permanent." I'm not sure I'll need a third complete set because I don't ever see myself removing the FEL. Hopefully, my cost... ignoring the selector valve for now... will be under $150.00.

However, I am still looking for a suitable, quick-connect or permanent-mount manual selector valve for the rear remotes so that I can leave the BH and grapple lines connected at the same time. Not to be used at the same time... just permanently connected for fast selection. Sadly, all I can find is this:

... but it is electric remote-controlled and costs $499.00. It defeats the whole whole point... i.e., serious cash savings... of not getting the W.R. Long electro-hydraulic valve in the first place.

A manual selector valve would make this whole "use of rear remotes for front grapple" arrangement quite convenient and acceptable... but if a selector valve (plus the long hoses, etc.) is going to cost nearly as much as the W.R. Long valve, I better give up now... or swallow hard, dig deep and go for the W.R. Long valve straight off. There would go another delay in coming up with the cash for my Bradco 509's fixed thumb!

Dougster