What CK20's with new grapples eat for breakfast?

[HODAK]

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

Island - I think you are looking for an adapter that pins right on and there is one available from a company called ATI or something like that. I'll find it or you can contact Wallace Tractor as I believe you must purchase through a dealer. Then you would have to modify your bucket and your done.

 

[HODAK]

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

www.preseeder.com

 

[IslandTractor]

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

I use a rear remote. From there I have quick couplers and hoses going to the left side underneath the seat and above the rear axle, inside the tool kit area and then come up to the left FEL attachment post (same place as the stock FEL connections on the right side). There are quick couplers there as well and the next hose goes along the left FEL arm to the cross piece where I have (at the moment) a rather inelegant zip tied fitting. The hoses from the grapple also have quick couplers and those come back to the cross piece. I currently have zip tied them when I hook up the grapple to control the extra length so it doesn't get caught on anything but I will eventually come up with a welded mount on the cross piece to keep things tidy and out of harms way. I'll post a couple of photos. It is not yet permanently installed, especially I haven't yet built any brackets similar to the Kioti brackets for the FEL quick connects on the right side but that is my over all plan (anyone know where to buy those?). Right now the hoses on the left FEL attachment post are zip tied to a mending plate that I bent in half and slipped into the post receptacle.

 

[IslandTractor]

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

Here is another photo of the temporary front cross piece hydraulic hook up. I'd like to find a fitting like Kioti uses on the right side FEL post to more cleanly and safely mount the quick couplers. Should be able to weld such a fitting on to the front cross piece without too much trouble.

 

[IslandTractor]

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

I saw the Tach-All fitting but it also is the male version and what I need is the female version that would put the receiver plate on to the Kioti bucket without welding. From what I see with the Tach-All it is similar to the adapter I already have that goes on to the pins of the the Kioti FEL arms and provides the male QA part. ATI sells the weldable adapter plate which a lot of other companies also sell but I haven't found one that has the pin ears to allow a non welding hook up to the original non QA bucket.

 

[JerryG]

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

Island,
You have to download the complete ATI catalog for the pin-on quick attach. I don't know why they don't show it on their web site.

 

[IslandTractor]

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

Actually I did but still could not find it. What page?

 

[zeuspaul]

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

Island,

Where did the brush go? I am trying to figure out what to do with similar brush piles...just a lot more of them....lower piles but a lot longer.

Could you have backed up and lowered your bush hog onto the brush pile? Would a 30 HP tractor and a medium duty rotary mower have ground up that pile of brush if you lowered it onto it?

I considered getting a grapple to deal with the piles but I couldn't figure out what to do with the brush...move it into another pile??

Sorry for the newbie questions. You dealt with a similar situation to mine so I though I would ask.

I have yet to buy the tractor and attachments. One of my primary concerns is dealing with a lot of brush.

Thanks

Zeuspaul

 

[IslandTractor]

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

Excellent questions.

In my situation I intended to burn but could not due to local conditions (lack of professional fire fighters, history of fires, neighbors uncomfortable, etc.). I then intended to chip the brush but after exploring that decided I'd need a very large chipper (=$$). Serendipitously, as I was clearing brush I discovered an old building foundation/basement filled with water. I decided that I would remove that potential drowning hazard and solve my brush problem at the same time. So far I have put three of my six brush piles into the hole. I think I can get them all in though I may need help from a dozer to push my new piles further into the foundation.

I presume that is not a possibility for you. Some people who cannot burn or chip do dig holes for the brush but that would be some serious digging for the amount of brush I have.

Your suggestion of using a rotary cutter (brush hog) is one that people do use. With a true brush pile that should work. A 30hp tractor with a brush hog could certainly handle it. I think my 21hp could as well. In my case however because I originally intended to burn, I had some big stumps and many trees that were bigger than 2-3 inches in diameter mixed in the pile so using a brush hog would not have worked. If you separate the brush from the trees you could potentially brush hog the small stuff into mulch and then either bury, chip or haul away the larger stuff. Firewood is another solution for the 3+" trees.

 

[Highbeam]

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

Ah, brush management. I'll throw in my two cents.

An amazingly huge amount of brush is generated by land clearing when the tool you use collects and piles the slash. So much slash is generated that you end up with a big problem after only a small amount of clearing.

A couple of lessons I've learned: First clear out a spot to make your slash pile and then pile the slash. Do not push slash into rooted trees or stumps. Keep your piles as dirt free as possible to help them dry up sooner and to keep the topsoil where it belongs. For burning, stack the pile clean, tight, and as tall as you can. Several smaller piles with a mix of large and small slash is good if you're burning them yourself. Make the piles as close as possible to where the slash came from, extra distance takes lots of time to haul slash, if you intend to burn create the burn piles away from saved live trees.

With the tractor I have a process. I go through the woods brushhogging anything that can be chopped up and then push over trees that I can push over. I chainsaw the small stuff off of the fallen tree for shredding and then haul the tree and stump to a long narrow stack of logs. The stump stays on. If I can't push the tree over then I leave it for a logger. If I need it gone now then I saw it down and drag it off. Minimize new stumps, the logger will push the whole tree over with his excavator. My slash piles are now much smaller since a majority of the old style brush piles is a tangle of small material that can be chopped up with a brush hog. The only pile is large stuff that stacks very tight and can be salvaged for firewood or left to rot. By chopping up most everything with the brushhog you are left with a lot of organic duff on the ground that can be tilled in or left to rot. Much less ground disturbance too. The grapple would be very handy for picking up and moving stuff that is not choppable to a nice stack. Getting off to chain drag these things one trunk at a time isn't fun and you end up trying to balance trees on the bucket teeth.

Bah, need to start a new thread for this. I took some wicked good pictures of brushhog chopping and clearing.

 

[IslandTractor]

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

Good points Joe. For someone starting a project they would be well served to follow your advice.

In my case I was dealing with a massive tangle of briar and 2-4 inch trash trees we call choke cherry as well as the occasional larger tree over grown with vines that in turn served as climbing points for the briar. I experimented with numerous ways to attack it and did a portion of the work before I had my tractor and brush hog. It was toe to toe combat with Mother Nature and not a pretty sight. As such there was not much of a system involved and my brush piles were composed of everything from big wads of briar to stumps. If I had to do it all over again the two tools I would have used would be the brush hog and the grapple. A bucket grapple with toothbar would have been adequate but the real grapple is way more capable and versatile. I still have a couple of acres to go so may try to be a bit more organized now that I finally have the right tools for the job at hand. I am laughing now at my intial efforts which involved driving my poor Craftsman mower backwards kamakaze style into the briar. I looked worse than the briar did at the end of each day. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Highbeam]

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

My humble pretractor beginnings....

 

[IslandTractor]

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

My progression was:

Craftsman riding mower
Poulan weedwacker (!! What was I thinking??)
Serious blade for weedwacker (still delusional)
Hedge trimmer attachment (don't laugh, great on vines)
Toro sickle bar mower (not even maybe)
DR Mower (great but not for 4 acres)
Kioti TLB with Bush Hog
Toothbar (big help)
Millonzi Grapple (nirvana)
B52 airstrike is next on my brush clearing list

 

[Highbeam]

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

Mine was:

-Lawn mower and other assorted household tools to see and make a parking area.
-Bulldozer to see what I had and clear little roads and some brush. Messy and made more work with the mud filled piles of slash.
-surveyor to keep me from destroying more of neighbor's land.
-logger with excavator to do what a dozer can't and burn my piles of slash. Highly recommended.
-tractor to maintain and to continue clearing.

My dilusion was that I can do anything without heavy equipment that it would just take longer. I now know to limit the machinery use to jobs that are reasonable for the equipment. Everybody is happier and the cost is lower.