TODAYS SEAT TIME

jamtuc · Aug 17, 2018

I thought I may take it to the machine shop in town to see if they could put it in the hyd. press. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Mainahs70 · Aug 17, 2018

Got my 3rd function working by putting correct 10 amp fuse in. Tested it out by moving a few of the rocks around the build sight. Pushed over a 4" tree and got under it and popped it out. Interesting to see a 20' tree sticking straight up in the air in your grapple. Was able to lift a whole good sized maple that the logger had felled. This grapple will be my favorite attachment.

Molalla1 · Aug 17, 2018

jamtuc said:
I thought I may take it to the machine shop in town to see if they could put it in the hyd. press. Keeping my fingers crossed.

They will still heat it up one would think. . . I have run into similar situations and all went well.

4570Man · Aug 17, 2018

I don’t heat stuff in the press. It’s too hard to hold hot. I don’t think you’d have much problem bending that in a vice with some heat though.

SplitHoof · Aug 17, 2018

Mainahs70 said:
Got my 3rd function working by putting correct 10 amp fuse in. Tested it out by moving a few of the rocks around the build sight. Pushed over a 4" tree and got under it and popped it out. Interesting to see a 20' tree sticking straight up in the air in your grapple. Was able to lift a whole good sized maple that the logger had felled. This grapple will be my favorite attachment.

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Those are some impressive rocks you got there! What kind of counterweight you got on the back? Your tires filled?

Mainahs70 · Aug 17, 2018

Rimguard in rears and was told that added 1000 # Those pics I have the EA boxblade at 600~# on. I know the hoe at 1100# and further out will be better when I have a lot of heavy lifting to do. The 2 biggest rocks I had a bit of float in the right rear when I too quickly lowered the grapple. Same happened when I picked up a complete felled sugar maple.

This grapple stuff is fun.

Oh, and what other vendor monograms your attachments?

Ernie A

daugen · Aug 18, 2018

Jamtuc, I like your idea of taking it to someone who has the right equipment. My vices could never handle that and I have a
wonderful old fashioned ironworks downtown. Plus these guys are usually very reasonable in what they charge.
Not impressive steel quality of your lower arms...though they must bend all the time since all the parts catalogs offer lower lift arms.

I had a worn out/loose/sloppy lower arm ball in a 27hp MF/Iseki tractor and the part was 370 bucks. For that?
Probably your same reaction, for that?
So I had the local guys cut the balls off and weld new ones on. They have huge hydraulic presses, old but likely work just fine. You know this machinery is old due to complete lack of safety guarding.
I kind of like supporting their business, gives me an opportunity to go in and poke around. I bought my steel from them when I learned how to stick weld last summer. They gave me lots of scraps to practice on.

Does heating and bending the steel back affect the strength of the part, change the steel properties?
I guess better to bend your lower lift arm then rip the attachment area off, or a big structural part of the tractor.

I bet most pro welders/steel shops could fix that in half an hour. $35

Many of the very talented folks in this thread have much heavier duty tools, and for sure the knowledge to do this.
I'd likely hurt myself...

or set something on fire...