Hey guys, question for those of you in clearing and grubbing. What brand/kind of rake bucket do you all prefer? Looking for something that works well cleaning up behind the hoe. All of my tree work is removing the trees and piling. This usually involves tipping them over, then either carrying or pushing to a pile, and I want to minimize dirt in the pile. I'm looking for what works best to slide along ground and gather up the branches and bigger chunks that break off. The designs I'm considering are as follows:
Hey Shimmy, I do the same kind of work. I use a wheel loader style root rake, it is shaped like a big C. That I can pin on the front of my JD650H. I used to use a skidsteer with a bucket like you posted. The rake is way faster and does a nicer job. The only advise I can give if you are getting on of those buckets is get one with wide spaces. the one I have were to close, 4" maybe. Always plugged with dirt. I like 10-12" spaces. That may seam too wide but when you get a branch or two pushing it acts like smaller spaces. A friend of mine has a Balderson root rake with top grapple on a cat 938 loader. that works good also. Is a little clumsy on uneven ground like ruts and stumpholes. Mine is like middle bucket, don't like The bottom one looks best.
Yair . . . Shimmy1 I have no knowledge of those buckets or how to run them but I do have a long and very intimate relationship with handling timber. To me those buckets/rakes look to be an extremely useful concept and like farmerlund I believe the bottom unit looks best in-as-much as there are no cross ties on the teeth. Roots and sticks go out of their way to be awkward and hang up in the teeth and that design gives them a bit less to grab onto . . . the middle unit with the side plates I think would be a less optimum design. Cheers.
What ever you get, make shore the grab arms are independent, they are a PIA if they aren't.
The top and bottom buckets have about the same spacing. About 8-9". Is there any opinion on the top one where the ends of the tines tip up? I think that one might be useful whereas you could ride on the heel out close to the end and just tip up or down slightly if you want it to be more or less aggressive. Thoughts?
I have a root grapple from bobcat that I use with my T770 works great with trees, roots and rocks.. not so good with firewood as it falls through the big gaps. http://www.bobcat.com/attachments/grapple_root
For carrying log id pick the bottom 2. Just try it once and see if you like it. Its probably in your stash already. The grading bar is amazing. I welded a cutting edge to the front so it slices roots off or pulls em out. All the sticks and what ball together in the bars and the dirt falls out. You would be surprised at the ground you can clean up in a very short time and the amount of brush you can push with it also.
I have one like the top picture, and it is good for a lot of things. It does not do a good job digging roots out, as it has a hard time penetrating. For cleaning loose material it is good because you can use the crossbar to push with at the right angle. I have also bought one different from any of the pictures, curved tines about 5 to 6" apart, with small teeth on the end. It is fragile and bends easy, but has potential to be upgraded into a useful state. I like how it digs in easier, and it picks small pieces, but plugs easy. It is a mixed bag. Another feature is a one piece full width top clamp. There is some good to it, but I would rather have independent split clamps like the other one I have. If I was choosing from the above, I would go with the bottom one. It will dig in, has dual clamps, and the long tines will dig. Make sure they are good quality steel, or they will bend. If you need to clean up, you can build a smooth edge on the heel, if it doesn't have one already. I like the little "V" shape cuts as they will grab branches and small growth to help pull them up.
I run one that is more of a C shape. I bought it off a dealer on EBay from N Carolina bout 5 years ago. The teeth are 3/4" thick top and bottom, and it has two independent grapples, it's 72" wide and weighs about 960 lbs. Its great for pushing trees and brush, handling logs, rocks, scrap and loose things like that. I wish it were more like the third one you posted though to handle split firewood too. You can pick up 2-3 small logs (4-6") or one big one. I've handled some 30" post oaks with it a few times. When it comes to actually clearing little stuff with a skid steer though I go back to a tooth bucket. My 8875 nor my TL130 have enough lead in their tail to run it as a true root rake. If I get into clearing stuff more than about 4" I go back to a 953 for efficiency. John
This setup will only be used for cleaning up loose branches, chunks of dead trees, etc. The hoe does all the hard work.
The bottom pic is exactly what I have been looking for, no brace at the end to trap dirt, a lot of the soil here is like peat and will load up the other style buckets.
I got one like Fergies, only I got it a foot wider than the machine., If your pushing with a narrow one those sticks easily work around the ends... One must protect those tracks at all costs...lol.
Where do you get these and how much $$?
No way would I buy one of the tine type grapples with an open back. Branches have a way of poking through and coming back at the machine / operator. I used a grapple friend had "adapted" to fit his ctl, worked pretty good, but the large gap between the clamp & solid lower portion was a pita! For me, the Bobcat industrial grapple has worked best for cleaning up dead Ash trees that literally explode when they hit the ground. The wide tines would let to much debris fall through. I've added teeth to the bucket since the pic was taken, makes "raking up" much easier. Ed
Who makes the bottom one anyway? That is the kind of design im looking for.
The pic of the one on the 743 is made by bobcat.
Welcome to the Forums joeykunz!:drinkup As cdm said that's a Bobcat brand grapple. I have both the flat solid bottom and the tyne style - http://www.bobcat.com/publicadmin/viewArticle.html?id=33696 I like the tyne style better as it doesn't collect dirt and is great at cleaning up demo debris but it depends on what you are doing.
I believe he was asking about this one. http://www.faverinc.com/X grapple series.htm
Here's a link to one made in this neck of the woods Shimmy.... http://virnigmfg.com/
http://www.mdtruckequipment.com/FetchImage.aspx?ID=\ProductImages\157630\IMG_7522_width_640x480.jpg That's what I run on my Gehl ctl70. I like it, it does a good job. Its tough, and can handle some big wood. I haven't had the problem of it plugging up and in general my soils have a high clay content. Some of your plugging problems might be coming from trying to rake ground that is too wet, you want it dry enough to run a rockhound on idealy. I bought it to do a little storm chasing after sandy and it worked like a charm cleaning up trees and even finishing off some rather large oak blow downs.
It's one I make Made so the bucket will fitt inside for easy loading Normally do make a touch wider than shown But as we do all custom stuff the owner gets a say in what he gets Fergy
This is my Blue Diamond Extreme Duty https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq487flTHaA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vd4yTxhhYeA
Thanks Shimmy, correct..
Bradco makes a very well designed root grapple and grapple rake also but they are spendy. I found someone else who made a very similar design for a lot less but can't remember the name of the folks right now. I think theirs was in the $3500 range rather than Bradco's $5k plus price tag. I will post when I remember.
I have a Bradco Rake Grapple, who's price is in the mid 3k's for their extreme duty as best I remember.
I have the Faver grapple as seen in the bottom two pics and the one Shimmy refers to above. I absolutely love it!! I am out here in Northeast Nevada and deal with a lot of rock, sagebrush, and aspen. This grapple is a beast to say the least! One inch bottom tines that are spaced nicely and don't need that stupid cross/brace bar just behind the teeth so you don't gather soil. The grapple arms are amazing but do take some getting used to because you will absolutely crush a fork full of aspen or cottonwood if you don't go easy on the hydraulics I've dug out willow trees, huge sagebrush, rocks, roots, etc. It acts like a toothed bucket for really hard digging and is great for backraking. Can't say enough about Faver and the product they put out there. They are built to last and that is obvious as soon as you put your hands on it. Actually just unloading it from the delivery truck was a chore considering it weighs 2K alone! I run it on a TL150 which is a beast of a tank itself, so the combination of the two is quite fun on the ranch! It is a little pricey at 4K or so, but you get what you pay for and this grapple is no exception.
Thanks man, I think I'm going with the faver as well. Post some pictures or youtube it, would be nice.