I have a 1998 Ford/New Holland 555E Loader Backhoe. It's paid for and only used on my land, so buying another one really isn't something that I want to do. I use it for digging dirt, loading dirt and taking out trees and saplings. My current method for trees and saplings is to dig them out with the backhoe, then drag them with a chain to my burn pile, unchain them and then push/lift them onto the burn pile with the loader bucket. I built a pair of forks that slide onto the bucket and that helped, but it's not ideal. Usually they fall off or catch on another tree and are pulled off. I've read dozens and dozens of threads over at TractorByNet of guys who have added grapples to their loader buckets on their compact tractors. Most of these are 1/3 or smaller sized buckets. Some make their own, others buy them from others and install them themselves. I can weld and fab up stuff, but really would rather just buy one already to install. Skid steers seem to have a large selection for this, but most of them are part of a bucket of some kind and are part of the quick attach system. I don't have a quick attach and don't really want to go that rought. What I really want to do if buy a grapple attachement for my one yard, front loader bucket. One that after the mounting bracket is welded on, that I can remove the hydraulic cylinder and grapple from it when I don't need it, but easily install when I do. I have two questions. Does anybody know of a source for just the grapple for a full sized, one yard loader bucket? The ones I see on ebay look kind of small to me. Can I put a T on the hydraulic lines to the backhoe to operate a hydraulic grapple? I'm thinking that the backhoe is not in use when driving around or using the loader, so the lines are not in use. The preasure should be there for this as I don't think it would require very much anyway. Then I would run pair of lines to a valve and end them with quick connects. Thank you, Eddie
Probably the easiest solution would be to get a 4 -n-1 bucket for the loader. You might be able to locate a used one at a backhoe graveyard.
I agree with Stumjumper as far as buying a grapple an old 4in1 should work. You might have a good fab shop around close that could make something to your specs but it will most likely cost a good bit more than a used 4in1. Haven't seen you kicking around lately Eddie, hows the lake and campground goin? open for business yet or still contracting on the side? Anyway hope the summer has been good to you and keep livin the dream.
If you want a grapple, maybe one from a 7' ag loader bucket would work. You might be able to find something used that didn't cost an arm & leg, you could weld on the mounting brackets & remove a couple pins on each side to take it off.
Bear, Still clearing trees and moving dirt. It's amazing how many trees that I have to remove for just one space, no to mention roads, drainage and building pads. It's a long term project that will take years of work. The grapple on the loader will sure help speed things up by allowing me to pick up thos small trees and burn them cleanly. I've seen a few 4in1 buckets on ebay for older 555's, but not my model. They all sold for $3,000 or so. I don't know of a place to buy used equipment other then getting lucky seeing something on a dealers lot or at an auction. I'm going to an auction this Saturday, the 6th, but consider it a longshot. When traveling on vacation, I've seen those ag grapples for moving round hay bails on tractors, but have never noticed one around here. Seems that everyone around here uses hay speers from what I've seen. Thank you, Eddie
might want to put the oild internet to work for you and call some used parts places. And with a new skid steer gp bucket close to $800 I wouldn't expect to find a 4n1 for free...
A used Case 4 in 1 from a salvage yard is $1000 to 2000, maybe more for something newer. They may be more common. Look on Ebay, heavy equipment, attachments, or maybe machinery trader would have something, here is a link to the heavy equipment attachment search, you might find something by searching in Ag as well: http://www.machinerytrader.com/listings/attachmentsearch.aspx?GUID=A0E37BD0A2C146C0839F498A32F533D3
You might want to check eBay. I just saw a John Deere 8 ft brush grapple. It had a starting price of $150.00. It was for a skid steer but should be easy enough to make it mount on a backhoe. Check it out. Item # 250290507043.
Here is some compact tractor grapple installation info. http://www.wikco.com/frgrapple.html http://ctocf.proboards54.com/index.cgi?board=fel&action=display&thread=291 http://ctocf.proboards54.com/index.cgi?board=fel&action=display&thread=290&page=1
How about putting a thumb on the hoe?
I was at an auction on Saturday and looked at a few grapples there on the skid steers and farm tractors. I also tried out some 4 in 1 buckets on Case tractors. What really suprised me was that it was impossible to see what you are picking up with a 4 in 1 bucket. I've seen them on tractors, but never worked one until then. I'm sure with practice I could get the hang of it, but I really didn't like it. The root grapples really impressed me. I could see them and what they were doing very easily. I bid on a Markham Root Grapple that was brand new and still on the pallet, but quite at $3,000. It sold for $3,800. I think that was just way too much money and regretting going up to $3,000 when I did. Now I'm looking online and really like the Root Rake Grapples. They don't have the bottom tines on them that you have to slide under stuff to pick it up. The Rake Grapples seem more designed for picking up stuff where it lies. I like this. Most of them have a single grapple that goes the full width of the rake. This will probably work fine, but the ones with two grapples look like they will be better on uneven loads. Since most everything that I pick up will be uneven, this is what I'm looking at right now. The first link shows a good picture of what I like, but I'm not thrilled with the actual grapple. It looks kind of thin and light duty for what I want to do with it. I'm also worried that my hydraulics are too much for the farm tractor built stuff and I'll tear it up with regular usage. http://www.worksaver.com/product/splitgrapple.html The second link seems like it's more industrial and built stronger. It shows the single grapple, but says that they also make it with two independent grapples. http://www.cidattachments.com/xtreme_grapple_rake.htm Does anybody know anything about these companies or have one that they can recomend? My next delima will be finding a Universal Skid Steer attachement for my 555E loader. Any thoughts on where I can find one of these? Thank you, Eddie
Have you tried FFC? They make attachments for loaders & backhoes. I have their FFC quick attach mount system for my CASE and I really like it. I think your biggest challenge will be the hydraulic circuit you'll need to open/close the grapple. http://www.ffcattachments.com/products_details.asp?Product_Id=850
It would'nt be hard to make a top section like the one on my tractor and leave it on the bucket . All you would need is an electric servo and a micro switch on the control lever to divert the oil from the crowd function to the grapple rams .
Has anyone gotten a dealer installed price on a 3rd function price for the loader bucket? I think my Case dealer was talking $3,000. The strange thing is that I did my old Kubota for $700. I know a Case 580 is a bigger machine, but I had no idea it was that expensive. From what I understand, they're saying the whole valve body must be removed & replaced with a new one where the Kubota just has a piece added to the existing valve body. I'm going to try another dealer tomorrow. I really need a grapple bucket.
Buy a Quick Attach rock and tree grapple like mine , you will wonder how you ever got by without one .
I can try and stop by the local topsoil yard and take a peak at what they have. They have grapples for all their CAT 3 yard loaders for loading up brush material that customers bring in to dispose of. Not sure if it's their own fabrication or bought through CAT or what. I doubt they fabricated it themselves. You can always call these guys and see if they can make one for a backhoe.... http://www.cwsindustries.com/html/products/wheel_loaders/buckets/generaloverclamp.html# CWS is a great company, a lot of dealers use them for their attachments....A LOT of Deere/Hitachi excavators have their buckets and thumbs and their loaders have their attachments as well. Very solid products.
Here's a few pictures of the Grapple that I bought. I also bought a Universal Quick Attach for my loader that I will have to modify to fit properly. I've come up with a bracket that should work, but I'm still unsure of what type od steel to use. Any thoughts? Eddie
Here's a few more pics. The template for my bracket that I'm going to use is cut out of paper. Eddie
Let us know how it turns out with some finish pictures! Looks very nice Eddie.
Looks great. Who is the mfg?
I bought it from USA Attachments. http://www.excavatorthumb.com/ They have been very good on the phone, but their website doesn't have the grapple that I bought on there. I saw it on other sites, but didn't find any other sites that build it like these guys did. Things like AR400 steel, zerk fittings everywhere, and the assesories that I wanted. In fact, finding a grapple rake with duel grapples was actually fairly dificult. Most have a grapple bucket with duel grapples, or a grapple rake with a single grapple that goes across the full width. I also bought a fork lift from them, which to the best of my ability, looks very well built. I took the template and QA attachment to the welder today. Now it's a waiting game until the call. Then after I get over the shock of what it will cost, I'll update with new pictures. These guys are very good and I know that they will get it done. I've tried others, but it's always a gamble if and when they ever get to it. Sad, but it's worth spending top dollar on some things. Eddie
You are going to wonder how you ever got by without it. Mine is not as fancy, but was done on the "cheap". I had acres of tree tops to cleanup and burn. I tried using the bucket and pallet forks to move the stuff, but always ended up pushing dirt into the brush pile, and that made it harder to burn. Now, I can do things in minutes that it took me days to do before.
hbarski, I'm hoping for the same results. Right now, I'm draging everything with a chain, and that's got to be the slowest way to do anything. Just wraping the chain around anything is a challenge. Allot of the time, I'll have a bunch of saplings on the ground that are in the 2 to 4 inch range. They are too big to pick up by hand, so trying to get as many at a time is always disapointing. Then getting the chain off at the burn pile may mean unhooking the chain, climbing on the tractor, pulling the chain off, hanging the chain and then sliding, pushing the trees onto the burn pile with as little dirt as possible. A day of this, and I'm wore out. Great pictures and a beautiful place. Eddie
It's all together and working. The brackets from the template worked out perfectly. The welder did a n awesome job with that part, but sort of forget to keep the bushings lined up. They are a good shop and took care of it right away, so no biggy. Eddie
The control valve is an Electric Parker that switches from the dump cylce of my loader bucket to opening and closing the grapple. This turned out to be very simple to install and operate. Before starting this, I had allot of misgivings about how to get the hydraulics to work. I was really just making it more complicated then it needed to be. To protect it from the elements, I got lucky and found that an empty welding rod container was a perfect fit. I just notched it a little for the hoses, but otherwise I didn't have to do very much to it. The hoses for the grapple with the disconnects were run inside of the loader arm. I created a bracket from angle iron and some bolts to hold them in place. I messed up the first time and didn't take into account how close the tie down bracket for that front corner of the backoe was to my bracket. It touched when all the way down, so I had to raise the bottom hose and create a new bar to hold the hoses in place. Not a big deal, just something that had to be changed. Eddie
Here's a few pics of it in it's open position. It sure looks mean!!! My Dad and Son were the first ones to try it out. Eddie
This is my dad have about the most fun he's ever had on the backhoe. The speed and efficiency of clearing up the land is just AMAZING!!!!! Having two grapples really seems to make allot of sense. Most of the time, one will close more then the other because of the different thickness of what's being picked up. One time there was a small stump in there, other times, it the root ball of the trees or just the way they were piled up. You can see in one of the pictures how much differnence there is between them when closed. Eddie
Awsume rig Eddie I have been watching your activities over on Tractor by net. This is the best yet. I just joined here because I have some problems with my diesel in a ** hoe. But it has to wait untill I post 2 more times so I can start a thread.
Thread very helpful I've added a grapple to my Case 580K using a beefed up skid loader quick attach system. Now doing the hydraulics. Planning to use a solenoid double selector valve and was wondering which model Parker valve you used. Now that you've used it some, are you satisfied with flow rate, etc? Read elsewhere where someone had to replace their valve because the flow rate was too low.
reply to fdr326 I got your question , robhaas1028, but you have to send it to Eddie Walker, not me. I have no clue
Glad to see you got it working Eddie. What's the property looking like nowadays? Other than not as much brush.
Still learning how message board works. Hopefully this time Eddie Walker will get msg: Thread very helpful I've added a grapple to my Case 580K using a beefed up skid loader quick attach system. Now doing the hydraulics. Planning to use a solenoid double selector valve and was wondering which model Parker valve you used. Now that you've used it some, are you satisfied with flow rate, etc? Read elsewhere where someone had to replace their valve because the flow rate was too low.
Google Markham Welding. They have some great looking grapple attachments. I will be picking up one for my John Deere 2010, $1400.00