Grapple truck questions

[chiselbit]

I have a much smaller grapple truck but have had some of the same questions. Dica pads are nice but pricey IMO. I don’t worry about front to rear level as much as left right level. I worry about the potential to twist the frame. I have grappled both jobox and my Kanga loader into bed. I just climbed down to hook and unhook. I like your idea about a ball you can grapple. Weld two steel rings opposite for a globe? Maybe cylinder shaped? I’ve never seen rated device for that lifting but may exist

You could try something like the logtrucks have on their trailers. I’ll try to post a linkhttps://youtu.be/KWL1ysluTy8

 

[chiselbit]

 

[evo]

That's an option that I've considered and I haven't completely ruled out. It might be laziness or that I prefer to spend my time doing other things, but should I decide to take my other truck to the job, I prefer not to have to move all of the tools by hand from one truck to the other. I have no employees so its only one truck to the job.

Should I go with underbody toolboxes, I can move the 4' box to the drivers side and mount two 6' boxes on the passenger side.

My preference at this time is using a job box and either transferring it from one truck to the other, or putting it on a trailer that can be towed by either the grapple truck or F350.

Might be a pain, more so for the other truck. But what about moveable tool boxes for the gear. You have a boom.. just pluck the tool box off one truck and put in on the other?

 

[Jehinten]

Might be a pain, more so for the other truck. But what about moveable tool boxes for the gear. You have a boom.. just pluck the tool box off one truck and put in on the other?

That's what I was thinking with the job box. Maybe weld a horizontal bar lengthwise above the box to grab with the grapple. Something similar to this, easy to grab and manuever.

 

[Jehinten]

They are expensive, but the Dica pads seem to be the best of the best. https://dicausa.com/

I ended up going with the DICA pads. 24x24x2

1" thick would have been sufficient for my needs, but my pad storage requires a hole drilled in the middle of the pad and DICA voids the warranty on holes drilled in anything under 1.5" figured if I had to go with 1.5, I might as well go with 2" thick for better load dispersment and what should equate to better longevity.

I will say, drilling the hole was no easy task. The hole saw kept getting hot and melting the pad material causing it to no longer be able to cut through the pad. I ended up drilling through both sides and being about 1/4" from making it all the way through. Then I used a router and a freehand bit to remove some of the material that was inside of the hole that I was cutting. Removing the material reduced the friction, which allowed the holesaw to drill through the rest of the way without building up too much heat. To finish up I took a round over bit to each side of the hole to soften the edge.

 

[Rooted.Tree.Solutions]

I’m pretty sure if you ask DICA they will drill holes for you.

Also, my understanding is that your truck has “stabilizers” not “outriggers.” The difference being your truck is intended to keep all the weight on its axels and the “stabilizer’s” keep the truck stable. On a crane, you have “outriggers” which are intended to take the full weight of the load. Those tires should be off the ground, or at least not be under pressure.

When leveling our truck with stabilizers we will drive it up onto cribbing to keep the weight on the axles.

Please correct me if I’m wrong but that’s my best understanding.

 

[Jehinten]

I’m pretty sure if you ask DICA they will drill holes for you.

Also, my understanding is that your truck has “stabilizers” not “outriggers.” The difference being your truck is intended to keep all the weight on its axels and the “stabilizer’s” keep the truck stable. On a crane, you have “outriggers” which are intended to take the full weight of the load. Those tires should be off the ground, or at least not be under pressure.

When leveling our truck with stabilizers we will drive it up onto cribbing to keep the weight on the axles.

Please correct me if I’m wrong but that’s my best understanding.

To my understanding, your correct in the definition of the two, however I don't actually know what they call mine. The problem with buying a used truck is that you only get told "how they did it" and not necessarily the correct way. Since starting this thread, I've been leaving the tires on the ground, as you would with stabilizers and only loading the outriggers/stabilizers heavier if I'm reaching farther to the side and can feel the opposite side lifting off the ground.


As for DICA they never mentioned that service when I spoke with them. Only that it would void the warranty to drill into a 1" pad or if I used too big of a hole in the 1.5 or 2 inch pads. I'm happy with how it turned out, I was just surprised at how long it took to get thise holes in it. I think it took about an hour to get both pads done.



What kind of cribbing are you using there? I'd really like to get some instead of running off level. Any issues with the stacked boards kicking out when you drive up onto them?

 

[Rooted.Tree.Solutions]

As for DICA they never mentioned that service when I spoke with them.

I only mentioned the hole drilling for others who may want that. We just ordered new pads for our Merlo and were going to have them drill holes for us but then we decided on a different plan, but I know they offer that service.

What kind of cribbing are you using there? I'd really like to get some instead of running off level. Any issues with the stacked boards kicking out when you drive up onto them?

I keep some short 3/4” plywood scraps on my truck for cribbing it up. I work in Northern Indiana and rarely find a hill, but there are a couple and I have these boards just in case.

 

[Jehinten]

I only mentioned the hole drilling for others who may want that. We just ordered new pads for our Merlo and were going to have them drill holes for us but then we decided on a different plan, but I know they offer that service.


I keep some short 3/4” plywood scraps on my truck for cribbing it up. I work in Northern Indiana and rarely find a hill, but there are a couple and I have these boards just in case.

Southern Indiana here. Not many hills where I work, but lots on the other side of town.

I'll give that a shot. Thanks.

 

[cody willard]

Thanks to everyone who had a part in steering me towards this grapple truck purchase. I've had it about 1.5 months now and it's going great, I haven't chipped a piece of brush since purchasing it.

I do have a couple of questions however and I may have a few more in the future.

1) any good options for heavy duty outrigger pads? This truck came with two homemade ones 24"X24" doubled up 3/4 plywood. I used the exact same design for my bucket truck, but they just don't hold up to this heavier truck.

2) just how level should this truck be? I eye ball level side to side, and I get it pretty close, but front to back can get off by quite a bit. In a couple of cases I have backed up a slight incline, then set my outriggers, raising the rear tires making the back of the truck that much higher than the front. I found the loader is much smoother with the tires off the ground, so I don't want to ease off if the outriggers if I don't have to. Should the front tires go up on cribbing to level the truck?


3) I keep imagining storing tools in the bed of the truck and unloading them with the loader. To accomplish this I'd preferably leave a sling on the item (jobox or similar), grapple the sling and raise.

In my mind there should be an item, similar to a load rated beach ball, that can be attached to the sling. Grapple the ball and lift, so that no personnel is needed to attach a sling to the grapple. Is there such an item?

Thanks in advance,
Justin

use a 2 foot section of I-beam with a chain attached to it.

 

[OasisTree]

You will never be sorry that you set up another truck with tool boxes and gear. One, that will give you spares, and two, the time saved moving tools can make your day go smoother.

 

[Fivepoints]

You will never be sorry that you set up another truck with tool boxes and gear. One, that will give you spares, and two, the time saved moving tools can make your day go smoother.

It never fails, I always forget to grab that one thing out of the other truck that would make the job easier.