I'm looking to buy a grapple bucket for my Gehl AL340. I already have a dangle style grapple, what I need is a bucket style to pile and push up trees and brush into a burn pile and to tend the fire while it's burning. A tined bottom over a solid bottom seems better. I'm pretty sure I don't want a root grapple (short lower tines used for ripping) due to it's low volumetric capacity. The loader is 51"wide, so around 60" wide for the grapple I figure. Who has advice? Looking to buy one by Tuesday.
I have a Bobcat 66'' industrial tine grapple bucket and like very much it has large 2'' tines about 4'' apart. It works well for backdraging as the straight tines will rake backwards as well as forwards. It is very strong as I have not bent it after 3 years and a very busy hurricane cleanup. I am running it on a cat 257 with proportional controls witch makes it nice to gently close it and not break what you are picking up. I was also wondering what other kinds are good as I am in the market for a 84'' one for a takeuchi 240 I know the bobcat one is good but hate to deal with them on a new one.
i have been looking for one for my Mustang 2044. i need something low in weight also to maximize my lift capacity doing tree work. i really have my eye on the grapples made by WildKat Attachments in North Carolina.
That's the grapple I have as well and it is a very good grapple, built strong. I have had it 11 years and punished it severely during that time, it has held up well.:cool2 I like the tines instead of a solid bottom, you get less dirt in your loads and that equals less money in dump fees. This is the grapple - http://www.machinerytrader.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=8402253& It's not the right description though, it's a Bobcat brand.
I bought a Titan 60" tine grapple bucket from ATVExpress for a whopping $1275. They had it in stock and I got it two days later. It's paid for itself 4x on the first job and held up well. It's certainly cheaper than I wanted but I ran out of time waiting for the company I wanted to send me dealer info. I did have to weld 2 little pieces of quarter inch plate to tighten up the quick attach plate, took maybe ten minutes.
I also have the titan 60" bucket grapple. Had it for about a year. Also had to modify to get it to fit My JD 110. Had a leaky cylinder first off, replaced under warrantee. Then left jaw began sticking open and pinching hydo hoses causing leaks. Skid steer express distributor for titan gave me another cylinder and jaw, but didn't fix the sticking problem. I think it is a design defect or defective unit. Customer service at distributor is very slow to respond. Then finally tells me replacement hoses are on back order so it will take 6 weeks to get a new hydro hose. So I had to replace it myself. So far refusing to replace defective grapple. See my youtube videos showing problems. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-Lc_0zuOEY
Lumberjack, I hope you don't have the same problems I have had. It is a poor quality unit. here is my other video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBSAgmpF8uc&feature=channel&list=UL
You're problem is simple. There isn't a positive stop on the jaw's opening, and you have crammed it into something bending the flat plate under the cylinder. Now the jaw can over center on the hydraulic cylinder, causing it to stick. Add a stop to keep it from over centering and your problem will go away. I just rolled the bucket forward and jiggled it and the jaw would pop back over.
I have an Anbo grapple that I got from skid steer solutions. I am very satisfied with it. Very tough but heavy.