Avant grapple (hydraulic swivel vs free turning)

[Anonymity]

I’m looking into purchasing a grapple for my 400 series avant loader, and I was wondering what people would recommend, because there’s two to choose from it seems… One has a hydraulically operated swivel, and the other one is just free turning. Does anybody have some input?

Thanks!

 

[chiselbit]

I’d recommend the power. I know a lot of guys don’t feel the need and have gotten good at bumping loads into the right position but why limit yourself? With a powered rotation you can make brush piles dance into the chipper. Sort through a knee deep pile of pine limbs at the base of the tree and leave with everything pointing perfectly in the right direction.

 

[DRBetz]

We have two different brands of grapple for our two Avants, both are powered. When they work they are great, but we've had electrical issues with both so far.

One is brand new this week on a new machine we've only had for a month, and it has never rotated under power(still trying to figure out what's going on). The older one has issues with the joystick switch to toggle between rotate and open/close, and also issues on the connections on the grapple itself.

Sometimes it would be a lot easier to just have a free spinning grapple, it's hard to spin the things by hand or be tricky enough to pivot it with the ground.

 

[chiselbit]

Guess I should clarify: I have zero experience with Avant, my recommendation was based off my experience with other machines and aimed at just power vs no power. Good info @DRBetz

 

[Anonymity]

We have two different brands of grapple for our two Avants, both are powered. When they work they are great, but we've had electrical issues with both so far.

One is brand new this week on a new machine we've only had for a month, and it has never rotated under power(still trying to figure out what's going on). The older one has issues with the joystick switch to toggle between rotate and open/close, and also issues on the connections on the grapple itself.

Sometimes it would be a lot easier to just have a free spinning grapple, it's hard to spin the things by hand or be tricky enough to pivot it with the ground.

Are your different brands “avant ones” that’s lame that you’ve had trouble with that

 

[Anonymity]

Guess I should clarify: I have zero experience with Avant, my recommendation was based off my experience with other machines and aimed at just power vs no power. Good info @DRBetz

It’s all good! Very much appreciated and I completely see your point!

 

[Treetopflyer]

I’ve always had bmg on stand on minis
But since owning Avant with power rotation I didn’t know what I was missing. It’s almost like a knock around in that you can have it rotate using technique and physics to your advantage but just being able to rotate is awesome when you want to
I’ve had my Avant grapple go haywire and start spinning on it own and some silly other weird shit I can’t remember what happened totally I guess just that and one time lost functions in the joystick functions, but with some shade tree fix it man tunes playing we got it going again onsite to act right and in the 600 hours of run time that was a mere glimpse of time compared to all the hours of hard work it’s accomplished. I’ll take it

 

[96coal449]

Friend of mine runs the free spinning BM on a Lil Giant. He's fast at it. Real fast......because he's got hours and hours in the seat. The company that subs me for crane rides has the Avant with power rotate. It's a great feature. It's able to rotate mid air, which is great. Keeps divots out of the grass when turning wood. You don't have to land an end on the ground, to free spin it where ya need it.

Avant had a couple hiccups with he controls for power rotate but, the Giant had some to with controls for other functions. Electronics can be a bitch.

All in all, I'd opt for power rotation ...... on the GIANT. I like it better but, that's for another thread.

 

[Anonymity]

I’ve always had bmg on stand on minis
But since owning Avant with power rotation I didn’t know what I was missing. It’s almost like a knock around in that you can have it rotate using technique and physics to your advantage but just being able to rotate is awesome when you want to
I’ve had my Avant grapple go haywire and start spinning on it own and some silly other weird shit I can’t remember what happened totally I guess just that and one time lost functions in the joystick functions, but with some shade tree fix it man tunes playing we got it going again onsite to act right and in the 600 hours of run time that was a mere glimpse of time compared to all the hours of hard work it’s accomplished. I’ll take it

Super info! Thanks man

 

[Anonymity]

Friend of mine runs the free spinning BM on a Lil Giant. He's fast at it. Real fast......because he's got hours and hours in the seat. The company that subs me for crane rides has the Avant with power rotate. It's a great feature. It's able to rotate mid air, which is great. Keeps divots out of the grass when turning wood. You don't have to land an end on the ground, to free spin it where ya need it.

Avant had a couple hiccups with he controls for power rotate but, the Giant had some to with controls for other functions. Electronics can be a bitch.

All in all, I'd opt for power rotation ...... on the GIANT. I like it better but, that's for another thread.

Very interesting, sounds like people overall are saying the power rotation! I have a self modified grapple bucket and my 2 electronic buttons have always worked flawlessly, so it’s interesting to hear these other electric glitches

 

[RyanCafferky]

I have a 528 with the power rotate grapple. I absolutely love it. Like others have said, it is great for stacking brush, loading wood, and feeding the chipper. That machine with that attachment has been a game changer for large jobs with a small crew.

 

[Mick Dempsey]

If money is no option, sure, get a powered rotator, but they’re not cheap!

However a good operator on a knockabout is like a wizard, chipper feeding is fine if there’s enough room.
Plus they’re lighter (and cheaper!)

But if I had to pick one grab for tree work it’d be a fixed grab

 

[DRBetz]

Are your different brands “avant ones” that’s lame that you’ve had trouble with that

Our new one is a branch manager, and I suspect it will be an easy fix once we actually get a chance to look into it. I believe our older one is from Ryan's equipment, and we've just had bad luck with the wiring on it.

 

[RyanCafferky]

I think because you have a 400 series loader I would consider NOT going with rotate because of the limited capacity of those models. But when you decide it is time for an upgrade to a larger machine, also get the rotating grapple.

 

[Anonymity]

I think because you have a 400 series loader I would consider NOT going with rotate because of the limited capacity of those models. But when you decide it is time for an upgrade to a larger machine, also get the rotating grapple.

Does the hydraulic portion add a lot of weight? As I might have mentioned, I have a hydraulic grapple bucket and that certainly has significant crushing power/force…that’s interesting that capacity would change things so much? Is there any other 400 series machine owners that have had problems using the power option on the 400 series? Picture (1000lb+ maple grappled and picked and loaded)

And question: are there different sizes or is it one size fits all

 

[tnttree]

the rotator and additional parts will add 60 to 80 #s

Highly recommend you jump up to the Avant 528
I sold over 130 of them to tree guys so dependable
420 is great model but you will save cuts on the logs with a 528
and if your not 100% sold on Avant ( a great brand)
demo the Giant G1200 against the 528
when spending that kind of money demo a couple brands their are big differences

Either brand or model will serve you well
Please give Branch Manger power rotating grapples a shot at your business
we are the original developers of mini bypass grapples - for all the mini loader brands out there
celebrating our 23 year of making tree work simple

 

[Anonymity]

the rotator and additional parts will add 60 to 80 #s

Highly recommend you jump up to the Avant 528
I sold over 130 of them to tree guys so dependable
420 is great model but you will save cuts on the logs with a 528
and if your not 100% sold on Avant ( a great brand)
demo the Giant G1200 against the 528
when spending that kind of money demo a couple brands their are big differences

Either brand or model will serve you well
Please give Branch Manger power rotating grapples a shot at your business
we are the original developers of mini bypass grapples - for all the mini loader brands out there
celebrating our 23 year of making tree work simple

Can you send me a link to find out more ? The 528 doesn’t work for me, size does matter lol…we like it because it fits through lots of gates! But much more importantly we can put the 400 series loader and our 83 foot spider lift on the same 20 foot 14,000 pound trailer and we’re still road legal! That means 2 guys and to vehicle and I have everything on a job to complete some large removals, it’s fantastic (the 528 would be too heavy

 

[tnttree]

Are your different brands “avant ones” that’s lame that you’ve had trouble with that

The power rotation works on a very simple on/off 12volt circuit. so many Avant dealers do not understand the fancy "Faster" integrated electric with the Hyd coupler - its a sweet system and no that complicated really. That said we have struggled with a lot of dealers splaining how it works

 

[tnttree]

Our new one is a branch manager, and I suspect it will be an easy fix once we actually get a chance to look into it. I believe our older one is from Ryan's equipment, and we've just had bad luck with the wiring on it.

If you have not figured it out yet, give us a call my service tech Mike will be happy to get you up and running 612-221-2043

 

[tnttree]

Can you send me a link to find out more ? The 528 doesn’t work for me, size does matter lol…we like it because it fits through lots of gates! But much more importantly we can put the 400 series loader and our 83 foot spider lift on the same 20 foot 14,000 pound trailer and we’re still road legal! That means 2 guys and to vehicle and I have everything on a job to complete some large removals, it’s fantastic (the 528 would be too heavy

one really nice thing about the 420 is you can put it sideways on a trailer with out taking a BMG grapple off.
most all other machines with an attachment exceed 102" long so you have the hassle of taking your grapple off, if you want to side load the machine

This is all you need for an Avant 420 comes with the Faster Hyd coupler with electric or not (call me about that)

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The 56" T1010 BMGR Bypass Mini Tree Grapple was made with commercial tree service companies in mind. It mounts onto any mini loader.

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The BMG Clamshells Grapple Attachment easily attaches to your BMA Grapple with "pins" for easy cleanup of dirt, brush, sticks, and more.

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