Given a choice, Which would you choose...

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Its good to hear all of you mention the same stuff I have beeen considering. Each has its own good points.

I've seen abunch of different grapples, of course the bypass as well as the root-rake and bucket grapples.

Our main purpose is to get stuff from point "a" to point "b" and take the stuff we cannot chip and drop it in the dumpbody pickup truck.

I can see most any grapple doing that but am leaning towards the rootrake type.

Any thoughts?

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Thoughts . . . A root grapple will excel at cleaning up slash from woods jobs, and a very experienced operator can even cruise it over a lawn without to much damage. Remember with a bucket type grapple every thing comes out wide. You will get very familiar with "cutting it bucket width" This does not lend itself to feeding the chipper very well. It is my strong opinion that a Skid grapple is much more efficient for forwarding tree brush and logs. I have run both type grapples on big and mini machines over my 25 years in the Tree Biz and I would say these things even if I didn't sell BM grapples. As far as slash and manicured lawn cleanups, I suggest you consider this it is totaly new to this industry, see posted pic and the thread "I hate Raking"
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I agree with sarumono. Grapple bucket all the way. We have a root rake grapple and never use it. With the grapple bucket you can haul your large material just as efficiently,but you can also move small debris with ease. It makes quick work of stump mulch and rake up trash.
 
Our mostly residential clients have kept lawns. It is mostly feet that get material out if the ground is even remotely soft.

We have had Kubota tractors for over 10 years. The turf tires and the standard situation steering have been awesome for us. We had a super small tractor that had limited usefulness because of the lifting capacity. Our solutions now is 5030 with forks or a bucket mostly. Good log carts. The upside of a tractor is that the implements are fairly inexpensive.

I have had umpteen calls about this company or that company that destroyed the lawn with a skid-steerer. I know that they can be operated carefully with minimal impact, but there are employees behind the controls...
 
Tractor, farmi winch, forks. From plowing snow to pulling over trees with 165ft of cable, to loading logs, pulling stump grinders and chippers. I don't lie, you will not be disappointed.
 
Only winch logs you can't reach. Once they are in reach, scoop them with the front forks. Then load them on either a truck or a trailer. If you cut the logs to length before you winch, then you never have to cut a winched log.
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I have never been a fan of tractors for residential Tree work forwarding. They have terrible maneuverability, that said if that is all I had I would use one for sure. Still think the mini skid would give any tractor a Run for its money on certain jobs.

All machines have there pros and cons, In my experience Articulating Machines are the most turf friendly, maneuverable forwarder you can own

This is an example of a top of the line tree guy forwarder loader
gehl140dualBmg2.jpg
 
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I agree with sarumono. Grapple bucket all the way. We have a root rake grapple and never use it. With the grapple bucket you can haul your large material just as efficiently,but you can also move small debris with ease. It makes quick work of stump mulch and rake up trash.

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Another down side to a bucket style grapple is you have to line the grapple up to the wood. This means extra driving on your clients lawn more wear and tear on your machine or you Doze your wood to line it up with the grapple again more wear and tear on turf and machine.
With a bypass grapple you can approach the load from the shortest access and turn the grapple to the load. Then back straight out, less traveling/turns on your clients lawn and less wear and tear on your machine. This advantage to me outweighed the picking up of rakings. We still tarped them out.
When I got my first bypass grapple I really thought the same thing, that I would miss dozing and picking up the rakings.
but we soon forgot all about doing it that way.

Now for stump chips the scoops work awesome - No dozing on the grass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXGOLqQP0Mo&lr=1&feature=mhum

BMGscoopBox1.jpg
 
Important note on mini skids. YES THERE AWESOME!!! I DON"T Know how I get by without mine. please... please ... get a diesel powered one!
 
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Its good to hear all of you mention the same stuff I have beeen considering. Each has its own good points.

I've seen abunch of different grapples, of course the bypass as well as the root-rake and bucket grapples.

Our main purpose is to get stuff from point "a" to point "b" and take the stuff we cannot chip and drop it in the dumpbody pickup truck.

I can see most any grapple doing that but am leaning towards the rootrake type.

Any thoughts?

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I would NOT go with a rootrake grapple!

Are you going through tight areas? Maybe 6 foot widths?

What spaces are you needing to get through? This would greatly influence my suggestion to you.

Why not a root-rake grapple? Because you have to carry stuff perpendicular to the machine, meaning you can't fit between anything. Plus, not maniverable, the machine would have to do a lot of turning to feed the chipper.

I'll give my 2 cents when you tell me what the job locations are usually like.

(sorry if i missed it, i skipped over stuff quickly).
 
I have a asv rc 30, I love it, its only 4ft wide only 2.5psi ground pressure it will go through any thing, and its fairly turf friendly if your a good operator, my trick is if we have a lot of wood or brush to move is any where you have to turn a lot just lay a sheet of 4x8 plywood and it can easily spin around on it I only do this if its a real tight back yard and I have to go through the gate and turn 90 degrees ill lay the plywood down so where I have to turn sharp, I like the mini loaders but I love being able to sit down and run it, I plow with it, I have no used the gehl type loaders but I am sure there great I just like how you can maneuver a skid loader, and the best part yet is asv has turf tracks witch are externally amazing, I don’t have a set but will in the future, and don’t buy any thing but a rotating bypass grapple, its ten times easier to move wood and chip brush being able to swing it around. With a root grapple your loader pretty much has to be perpendicular to the log or brush to grip it. Rotating grapple you can have logs and brush facing any way and you can pick it up and turn it to get through the gate or to pick up branches and stack them so all butts are facing the same way.
 
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