Finished Fabricating my Grapple.

[treesquirrel]

I had mothballed this for over a year and finally got around to finishing it.

I have never found a grapple that uses bucket teeth so you can replace them so I chose to use them here.

I hope you all enjoy...the red jaws and teeth were for fun!

 

[bulldoglover]

looks great!

 

[ropensaddle]

I have thought of doing something similar for my 610 bob cat I guess one cylinder is strong enough?

 

[matt9923]

I have thought of doing something similar for my 610 bob cat I guess one cylinder is strong enough?

Ya it should be plenty, it only needs to hold it firm not crush it, used one with a cylinder that looked way to small but it worked fine!

 

[treesquirrel]

I have thought of doing something similar for my 610 bob cat I guess one cylinder is strong enough?

This clamp uses a 3" bore cylinder and if I find it not enough I have enough clearance for a 4" cylinder.

At 3" I should see about 5k pound of force at the rod end so I'm thinking it will be adequate. I dont particularly like double clamp units as i will use the grapple teeth to back drag brush off hillsides if I need to.

I move logs with pallet forks most of the time. It does not affect lift capacity nearly as much as a grapple assembly. This units primary job will be brush but it is plenty beefy for logs too.

 

[ropensaddle]

This clamp uses a 3" bore cylinder and if I find it not enough I have enough clearance for a 4" cylinder.

At 3" I should see about 5k pound of force at the rod end so I'm thinking it will be adequate. I dont particularly like double clamp units as i will use the grapple teeth to back drag brush off hillsides if I need to.

I move logs with pallet forks most of the time. It does not affect lift capacity nearly as much as a grapple assembly. This units primary job will be brush but it is plenty beefy for logs too.

:yourock: we want action pics

 

[treesquirrel]

:yourock: we want action pics

I'll see about getting a few action shots when I get it where I can use it at max capacity. The jaws open to a full 4 feet so I should be able to scoop up a nice sized pile.

 

[BlackenedTimber]

Nice Job!

Had a couple of Bobcat 250s w/ grapples doing Katrina work a few years ago. They were awesome for moving brush.

I sucked at operating them though...

Looks great, let us know how it works out.

T

 

[treesquirrel]

Nice Job!

Had a couple of Bobcat 250s w/ grapples doing Katrina work a few years ago. They were awesome for moving brush.

I sucked at operating them though...

Looks great, let us know how it works out.

T

Mine is a 250. Good all around machines. Light enough I can tow with my 3/4 ton and strong enough to handle heavy jobs.

If you are used to pilot controlled equipment the bobcats can be a pain to get used to. I suck at the other control setups.

 

[gr8scott72]

Mine is a 250. Good all around machines. Light enough I can tow with my 3/4 ton and strong enough to handle heavy jobs.

If you are used to pilot controlled equipment the bobcats can be a pain to get used to. I suck at the other control setups.

Stick controls can make a novice look like a master in a short amount of time.

Foot controls have a HUGE learning curve and for someone that uses just stick controls it's next to impossible to switch to foot controls.

Nice grapple btw.

 

[matt9923]

Stick controls can make a novice look like a master in a short amount of time.

Foot controls have a HUGE learning curve and for someone that uses just stick controls it's next to impossible to switch to foot controls.

Nice grapple btw.

Yep, those foot petals can get confusing.

 

[mattfr12]

not to get off topic but i have a bobcat s205 and am going to need tires soon what do you guys recomend for the best bang for your buck i been looking around. any of you guys have the stump grinder for your machines? i have a bobcat high flow model and it does pretty well, exspensive tho

 

[Magnum783]

Nice work man I like it lots. I am not too sure about the pice of chanel in between the teeth on the bottom but I guess it will keep the teeth well brace. I just thought it would tear up a lawn if you trying to the sneaky sneaky and wiggle right under a pile with out doing any more work than needed.



I agree about the foot pedal sucking and they do bad. But the learning curve is not totally un do able I have taught myself how to work both but it did take a lot of time. The thing I don't like about the foot pedals is all the junk that piles up there and then causes them to be hard to use.

 

[treesquirrel]

not to get off topic but i have a bobcat s205 and am going to need tires soon what do you guys recomend for the best bang for your buck i been looking around. any of you guys have the stump grinder for your machines? i have a bobcat high flow model and it does pretty well, exspensive tho

This company has lots to choose from the 770's are what I run. they are inexpensive but do wear quickly if you do a lot of work on pavement.

http://www.gpxtire.com/userTireSearch.do?reqCode=show&id=1

 

[treesquirrel]

Nice work man I like it lots. I am not too sure about the pice of chanel in between the teeth on the bottom but I guess it will keep the teeth well brace. I just thought it would tear up a lawn if you trying to the sneaky sneaky and wiggle right under a pile with out doing any more work than needed.



I agree about the foot pedal sucking and they do bad. But the learning curve is not totally un do able I have taught myself how to work both but it did take a lot of time. The thing I don't like about the foot pedals is all the junk that piles up there and then causes them to be hard to use.

I don't really use this on lawns. i hand rake and blow off lawns and always hand drag materials. If I am moving logs off the lawn with the bobcat I use pallet forks. If they are too short for forks I'll grab them from above with the grapple.

The cros brace is the flat bar I needede for the weld on tooth bases.

 

[Magnum783]

It makes great sense now bud. Just was asking so if I ever get the chance to build one I some ideas on how to build one. Did you use a mig welder to weld it all or are you stick man. I guess just being nosey but more curious as to what everyone uses.

 

[treesquirrel]

It makes great sense now bud. Just was asking so if I ever get the chance to build one I some ideas on how to build one. Did you use a mig welder to weld it all or are you stick man. I guess just being nosey but more curious as to what everyone uses.

I MIG welded this one. I only MIG or TIG weld anymore. I have not burned sticks in a long long time. I'd need to do some practicing for sure.

I did have to add a piece of square tubing to support the channel cross member to the outer ens of the grapple. During my practice run it slightly twisted when smashing into a dead tree to push it over. The tree was still pretty solid. I was confident 3 inch channel with 3/8 wall thickness was adequate but now it is backed up with some 2.5" square tube.

The way I set up the grapple it does well when pushing stuff around. The next generation will have a few changes, I'm doing the CAD drawings now.

 

[ropensaddle]

I MIG welded this one. I only MIG or TIG weld anymore. I have not burned sticks in a long long time. I'd need to do some practicing for sure.

I did have to add a piece of square tubing to support the channel cross member to the outer ens of the grapple. During my practice run it slightly twisted when smashing into a dead tree to push it over. The tree was still pretty solid. I was confident 3 inch channel with 3/8 wall thickness was adequate but now it is backed up with some 2.5" square tube.

The way I set up the grapple it does well when pushing stuff around. The next generation will have a few changes, I'm doing the CAD drawings now.

All I do is stick now it works well but is a little tricky to get the sticky lol

 

[pdqdl]

Stick is better for some things. There are WAY more options for welding materials in stick than there are for mig. You simply can't buy mig wire for cast iron, nor for the very high strength metals. MG600 is my favorite rod: 180,000 psi (when properly welded), but OMG expensive.

Mig is better for production and pretty welds. I usually use mig, unless welding heavy, broken, or heavily rusted steel.

TIG is in a class all by itself, usually reserved for non-ferrous welding. That is a toy I have never played with.