What CK20's with new grapples eat for breakfast?

[IslandTractor]

What CK20\'s with new grapples eat for breakfast?

A healthy diet always includes fiber. Lots of it. Breakfast starts with a brush pile especially after your dad buys you a grapple. See photo.

Millonzi 48" QA light duty grapple. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif I don't know what they mean by light duty because this little guy is made of 3/8ths steel and is very capable. It weighs in at 285lbs (plus about 100 for the adapter) so maybe that is the light part. I'll post a few photos from the first day of work in replies to this post. To make a long story short, I cleared a 20x15x8ft brush pile in about 15-20 gulps and in a fraction of the time it would have taken with my FEL/bucket/toothbar. It would have been faster but I kept getting off the tractor to take photos.

I could grab enough brush that I was lifting my filled rear tires and had to attach the Bush Hog for balance. The KL120 lifted almost everything I could get into the grapple, including one entire 10 inch tree (cut in three). The one thing I could not lift was a massive stump (about 4x4x3) and that I grabbed with the grapple and pushed along the ground to the dump pit.

The grapple is a universal quick attach style and I got a Kioti specific adapter to mount it. I got mine off ebay directly from the company (Millonzi International Products Group, Perry OH) but I haven't seen them list more grapples that way. Ebay might have been a marketing experiment. I know they have gotten some dealers interested including at least one known to denizens of TBN. I'll let him identify himself but anyone near Lake Ariel, PA shouldn't need to travel far to see one.

I am running the grapple off a rear remote with hydraulic lines running over the rear axle then under the left side and up the FEL post to FEL arm to grapple. Works well (Highbeam was right about not needing a thumb switch or trying to operate curl and grapple simultaneously). I haven't made permanent mountings for the new hydraulic lines and so far everything is just zip tied. Quick connects at FEL cross piece, FEL mounting post and at rear remote. That way I can leave the lines in place when removing the grapple or even the FEL.

 

[IslandTractor]

Re: What CK20\'s with new grapples eat for breakfast?

This is a bite without any rear ballast on the tractor. Much more than this and the rear got light so I stopped and put the mower on.

 

[IslandTractor]

Re: What CK20\'s with new grapples eat for breakfast?

This was my biggest "bite". Note the shadow of the load is bigger than the tractor. Gotta teach this pup to take more polite bites in public as it is hard to see where you're going with all that stuff in front. FEL handled it fine however and it was not my heaviest load as it was mostly saplings intertwined with briar.

 

[IslandTractor]

Re: What CK20\'s with new grapples eat for breakfast?

Approx. 10 inch tree cut in thirds. One gulp. No problemo for either the grapple or tractor. Go little fella, go. Who says you need more than 21hp to do serious work????

 

[IslandTractor]

Re: What CK20\'s with new grapples eat for breakfast?

Burp. All done. On to the lunch time brush pile after I take my driver home for a quick brewski. That's hard work operating those levers you know.

 

[KiotiJohn]

Re: What CK20\'s with new grapples eat for breakfast?

Oh man I like it! You don't say how much it cost though. Do you mind telling? No Prob if you don't want to say. Or I missed it. I can do that easily after as little sleep as I've had these last several days!

You put it on yourself? How much hassle was it?

Be very careful about where you put those ties, and watch those hoses. I had mine zip-tied, but somehow, they loosened enough and one of the hoses worked loose enough for something beneath to catch it and pull it right off and started wrapping in the tire. Try not to tie them to the metal hydro lines as this could tear them out good if what happed to mine happens to yours!

That weight is pretty darn good. You don't lose all that much lift as it is similar to the reg. bucket + a little.

Thanks for the posting.
John

you posted a couple more while I was typing my first part of this. Love your house, very picturesque.
When I first saw the pic of the trunks in the bucket, optical illusion made it look like you'd dropped on on the hood. I looked thrice though and saw I was seeing things!
Time for BED!
John

 

[IslandTractor]

Re: What CK20\'s with new grapples eat for breakfast?

This was the root/stump that was too big to lift. It wasn't at all hard to grapple and push or skid to its final resting place however. Skidding with the grapple seemed to cause much less damage to the turf than if I had dragged it with a chain. Just left the deep impressions rather than tearing up the ground.

 

[IslandTractor]

Re: What CK20\'s with new grapples eat for breakfast?

I did not mention price. I got it via ebay and don't know if they will sell any more that way. It was $575 which is certainly a bargain. I'm glad no one else from TBN was bidding. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I doubt they'd sell that cheaply again. Keep in mind that the competition here is either bucket grapple add ons for about $400-600 or similar but heavier duty grapples for $1500 and up. I don't know what the dealers will charge but it fills a big gap between the bucket attachments and the CT Tree Guy type grapples. From my research the closest competitor in size/weight is the RBG2 from WRLong but that was priced much higher from the dealers I contacted. The QA to Kioti adapter was something I asked the company to custom make and they quoted a price which I agreed to but they then asked that I take the first prototype and report to them on how it worked in lieu of the payment.

Installation was pretty easy. I spent about half the time installing the hydraulic lines and quick connects that I had ordered through Rick Wallace. Taking the Kioti bucket off was duck soup. Someone had gotten paint on the adapter attachment pins so I had to get that off before I could remove the pins, once that was done it went quickly. Putting the QA adapter on to the FEL arms was not difficult but required two people to line things up for the pins. After that it was simply driving forward, hooking the top lip of the grapple QA, curling to put the bottom in place and then closing the two locking pin levers. Changing implements takes only a few minutes. I am wondering now whether I should put a QA plate on my Kioti bucket. Actually I'm not wondering whether but how. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[KiotiJohn]

Re: What CK20\'s with new grapples eat for breakfast?

Very very cool. I'd get someone to weld those attachment points onto your bucket. It's just a matter of copying what's on the grapple right?

Sounds as though you got the whole thing for what ATI charges for a QA plate for the CK30. I'm not sure they're even making one for the CK20, haven't had a desire to have one until I saw this thread.
I want the grapple!

You're right, I've had my bucket off and it's a breeze to disconnect, albeit more trouble than your new setup.

This is the greenest I've been in a LONG while! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

John

 

[Mavrik02]

Re: What CK20\'s with new grapples eat for breakfast?

Great pictures and nice grapple! I sure could use one around here at times.

What I really love are the pictures of the work that CK20 can do! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif