I just bought a 315L and it has 2 tooth buckets, a ditching bucket, and also a Mann grapple. Unfortunately these are all pin on. This is my first hoe purchase and it really sucks not having a quick coupler..so can my grapple work with a quick coupler? Is there certain ones that will/won't work with this grapple? If so, how can I tell? I greatly appreciate anyone's help on this matter. Pinning on buckets and this grapple suck!
I have a Cat coupler on my 315CL. It has performed flawlessly for over 5,000 hours so far. A close friend of mine also uses them on his 330s and his 345. He specializes in attachments, such as hammers, grinder heads, bucket crushers, etc, and he swears by these couplers. If it will pin on to a 315 I can't see why the coupler would not work with any of the items you have listed. Not that I would know any better anyway (I don't have any grapple, let alone the kind that you have) but you have not even said which grapple, or buckets, that you have so I doubt anyone could say with absolute certainty if the coupler would work or not.
The grapple is made by Mann (which I think is now asc or acs??) it's a two piece, I'm assuming I could use the back part as a thumb on the other buckets? 30" cat bucket 38" cat bucket 62" ditching bucket - cant remember the brand right now
if its like a regular demolition grapple or brush grapple the 2 pins are attached to the back side of the grapple on one half and the 2 halves are pinned together where they meet and the half closest to the machine has a straight arm on it that pins to the stick. a grapple will work but you will have to either move the piece that is welded to the stick down some or maybe just move your grapple pin down a hole if its a 3 hole adjustable bracket on the stick. because the grapple will now be lets say a foot further away from the stick so the grapple wont close all the way if you leave it attached to the stick how it is now. but the quick attach shouldn't make a difference.
Good call! Never thought about that..that will give me a reason to change the grapple pin on the arm to a 3 hole instead of the one hole it is now
The coupler will make difference in a couple of ways: 1) Since it moves the teeth farther from the center of rotation it will reduce the break out forces. 2) The teeth being moved farther out will also affect where the teeth, and an attachment (thumb, or grapple) will work together. If you were to order the machine with a thumb, you must determine if you will have a coupler on it also. If you do, the MFR will install a thumb that is designed to have the same rotation as the teeth do, when the bucket is mounted via a coupler. The rotation is different if no coupler is used. I have used machines that are not set up correctly and they do not work nearly as well as ones that are.