The WICKED Root & Debris GRAPPLE!!!!!!!

[IslandTractor]

Here's my stuck pic...

Nice!

Was the loader just not strong enough to "curl" the grapple to lift the front wheels or did the grapple just not have enough solid material to curl against?

Also, you might consider running the grapple hoses through some protective web tubing to keep them from flopping about. I run mine through some of that protective web tube and then have a zip tie in the middle which I bungee loosely back to the FEL torque tube. It just keeps a bit of midline tension on the hoses so they stay in the middle and neither flop to the side nor fall down. If I can find a photo I'll add it below.

 

[Sysop]

On a typical day, my loader will lift the front of the tractor with ease. I had even put some old/spare sections of utility-pole/fence post that were about 6' long across under the grapple to try to have something to push against. I pushed them down as far as the loader would go, even with it curled down all the way to get as much downward-reach as possible. The posts are gone now. I suspect they have a good 24" of muck on top of them. The tractor raised none and I quit pushing when it got to the loader pins. The swamp gets much deeper the farther forward you go. I couldn't find the bottom. That was when I quit and as I curled back, covered in mud, pinched the line. Switched to trying the backhoe, with no more luck than anything else.

The 16k+lbs wrecker had to dig his wheel lift on the back into the ground to winch it out. First try, he was dragging the wrecker instead of the tractor.

 

[IslandTractor]

On a typical day, my loader will lift the front of the tractor with ease. I had even put some old/spare sections of utility-pole/fence post that were about 6' long across under the grapple to try to have something to push against. I pushed them down as far as the loader would go, even with it curled down all the way to get as much downward-reach as possible. The posts are gone now. I suspect they have a good 24" of muck on top of them. The tractor raised none and I quit pushing when it got to the loader pins. The swamp gets much deeper the farther forward you go. I couldn't find the bottom. That was when I quit and as I curled back, covered in mud, pinched the line. Switched to trying the backhoe, with no more luck than anything else.

The 16k+lbs wrecker had to dig his wheel lift on the back into the ground to winch it out. First try, he was dragging the wrecker instead of the tractor.

You were stuck really good!

 

[Sysop]

You were stuck really good!

That's what the wrecker operator said too, even had that same expression on his face.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

My, My. What a mess, Sysop!
Haha, I admire your adventurous spirit that drove you to get out there and see what she's got right off the bat!

It's kinda like Ted yesterday evening.
We finally got the new grapple plumbed and hooked to the B3350(hoses are too long because we'll be hooking it to the 6060).
We were looking on anxiously as Scott opened and closed the lid for the first time. It was after 5, so Ted told Scott to go on home, climbed on the tractor, backed out, proceeded to drop the tines into the packed gravel lot and plow ahead full throttle!! Front wheels were off the ground and it was like nails on a chalkboard.
Of course, I filmed and posted some of it on our Facebook Page.

After he made a few wide open passes, he started grabbing random objects. The bucket off the L6060, the B3350 bucket, the Bobcat CT122 bucket, THE DUMPSTER and he even headed towards me with the beastly, light Wicked thing!!
Yes, it was a fun evening.

And today, it'll be on a tractor capable of even more destruction; the Kubota L6060.
Travis

The maiden voyage gets TWO THUMBS UP!

 

[N2DFire]

Thanks for picking up my slack, Steve!

The video was 100% unplanned. Ted told me he was going out to test the grapple on our BX2670 and I said "Video Time"!
Travis

Hey man, you do a lot. You can't be everywhere. :thumbsup:

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Hey man, you do a lot. You can't be everywhere. :thumbsup:

Thanks! I try to be. :thumbsup: I wish I could've been on site during Wicked Grapple testing earlier. I'm looking at the video footage now!
Travis

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Rule #1 when using a grapple. Do not turn when the tines are in the ground.
Travis

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Rule #1 when using a grapple. Do not turn when raking backwards.

 

[Xfaxman]

Did it survive? Can't tell from the picture.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Did it survive? Can't tell from the picture.

View attachment 499797

Amazingly, yes. I haven't even watched a tenth of the footage yet.
Nate has it trimmed down and the YouTube video is still gonna be like 50 minutes long!
Travis

 

[IslandTractor]

Rule #1 when using a grapple. Do not turn when raking backwards.

View attachment 499795

I find that the grapple trumps the front wheel steering whenever the grapple is engaged more than a few inches into the ground going forwards or backwards. I have certainly done that many times with no damage.

 

[Xfaxman]

Yep, I can't turn when the Gorilla Grapple tines are in the ground.

I wonder why Ted won't let me test his grapples? :laughing:

 

[Sysop]

Finally got around someplace to get a couple pics up.

My 54" single lid wicked grapple upon delivery:

Couple of the aftermath of getting stuck:

...and after getting things cleaned up:

 

[Xfaxman]

Your pictures are too big, didn't load on my computer:

 

[Sysop]

5344x3008 probably isn't the most web-friendly. I resized them to 1920x1080. Hopefully they'll work for you.

 

[Xfaxman]

Yep, thanks, they show up now. :thumbsup:

 

[k0ua]

Interestingly enough they showed up fine on mine.

 

[Xfaxman]

Did you see them before His post today?

Before he resized them, they would all slowly download for about a minute, almost complete, then change to the icon shown in my post above. I could right click the icon and open in a new tab, but it would get partway through, then quit.

Maybe it is just HughesNet.

 

[Sysop]

They worked fine here as well. Hughesnet or any point between A and B may be at fault. Not all data follows the same paths, some paths are more littered or difficult to follow and stuff can get lost. They did need resized though, they were very large files...