Favorite grapple for logs?

[tc262]

I like the bmg on my tractor. But my machine is a lot smaller than yours.

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

View attachment 37407 I like the bmg on my tractor. But my machine is a lot smaller than yours.

Hydrostatic trams?

 

[tc262]

Yeah, hydro is the only way to go

 

[tc262]

I built the hanger taller so I would have a little better lifting height. Since that picture I've added some bars that come out and cradle the butt of the log like you would on the bottom of the factory build hangers for the minis.

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

Yeah, hydro is the only way to go

Yea, it is. I bought my shuttle shift 15 years ago, if I had only known

 

[tc262]

Yeah I had that tractor before I was serious about doing tree work. At the time I wanted hydro only so my wife could drive it.

 

[tomtrees58]

got this one 3 years ago 12.000 gvw $ 6200.00

 

[tomtrees58]

 

[Jeff]

Gareth, you're asking about the different styles of grapples. I think the thing you need to ask (yourself) is what do you plan to do with the grapple, because the different styles lend themselves to different types of work:

Are you running a short-handed crew and need your lone groundman to be able to drag brush from the back yard to the front and feed the chipper with it? If yes, then a dangle style.

Do you move a lot of wood, but are forced to slide it in the back of a chip truck butt end first? Also a dangle.

Are you doing primarily large removals (like us) where we either bring the chipper to the tree or crane the tree to the chipper, and the grapple is only for moving big heavy logs, which you can then top load into a dumpster/dump truck/dump trailer? Then a root rake style grapple is best.

We also do a lot of chip bulldozing, briar patch obliterating, and grabbing of brush piles and downed trees to carry to the chipper with our root grapple. Yes, we do feed the chipper some with the grapple, a steady hand and some practice, but it's definitely not as efficient at that as a dangle style.

We also put a receiver hitch on our grapple, for moving the chippers around with.

 

[tc262]

What Jeff said!

 

[Gareth's Tree]

Gareth, you're asking about the different styles of grapples. I think the thing you need to ask (yourself) is what do you plan to do with the grapple, because the different styles lend themselves to different types of work:

Are you running a short-handed crew and need your lone groundman to be able to drag brush from the back yard to the front and feed the chipper with it? If yes, then a dangle style.

Do you move a lot of wood, but are forced to slide it in the back of a chip truck butt end first? Also a dangle.

Are you doing primarily large removals (like us) where we either bring the chipper to the tree or crane the tree to the chipper, and the grapple is only for moving big heavy logs, which you can then top load into a dumpster/dump truck/dump trailer? Then a root rake style grapple is best.

We also do a lot of chip bulldozing, briar patch obliterating, and grabbing of brush piles and downed trees to carry to the chipper with our root grapple. Yes, we do feed the chipper some with the grapple, a steady hand and some practice, but it's definitely not as efficient at that as a dangle style.

We also put a receiver hitch on our grapple, for moving the chippers around with.

View attachment 37412

Thanks Jeff! This got me on the right track! I think the grapple rake is going to be the way to go. Now the question is: Do I pony up the extra for a Faver? (In my limited research they seem to be the benchmark) Or are there other ones that work just as well?

 

[DTS]

The Faver is the cream of the crop worth every penny you'll never look back and regret the purchase.

 

[tc262]

Thanks Jeff! This got me on the right track! I think the grapple rake is going to be the way to go. Now the question is: Do I pony up the extra for a Faver? (In my limited research they seem to be the benchmark) Or are there other ones that work just as well?

Depends how hard you are going to abuse it.

 

[Jeff]

We just bought whatever XYZ brand our local Bobcat dealer was selling, and it was like $23 or 2400, I think. It's fine, but nothing special. Yes, we have tweaked it some already. While I don't know anything about Faver personally, looking online there are several things about their design which are obviously better than ours, and their version that's similar to ours is $3250. So what's an extra $800? Support one of your northern Ohio neighbor's and get a better grapple out of it. If there are no dealers near you, they're only 2.5 hours away from you. Make a day trip of it and hit Cedar Point on your way home!