The lovely Mrs_B and I will be celebrating our 21st anniversary in the spring of 2006 and since I broke down and bought her a diamond for our 20th, I figure I need to get her something more practical for our 21st. I'm considering a grapple.
The primary use will be hauling tree prunings and other lightweight (but very thorny) limbs. I do not expect heavy duty use since I'm getting too old, too lazy and am too much of a weenie to do to hard labor. But with 1000+ thorn trees on the property and many of them need to be pruned back yearly, when I'm done hauling the branches to the burn pile I ususally look like I just had a fight with 9 angry cats and I was the scratching post.
Now here is my problem. New Holland bucket = 54" wide. Kubota bucket = 60" wide. I'd like a grapple that would work with either machine, which by my logic means I need to have both machines plumbed with electric diverter valves and quick connect fittings. But it also means that the grapple mount must be attached to the top of the bucket rather than the sides since the buckets are different widths.
The primary use will be hauling tree prunings and other lightweight (but very thorny) limbs. I do not expect heavy duty use since I'm getting too old, too lazy and am too much of a weenie to do to hard labor. But with 1000+ thorn trees on the property and many of them need to be pruned back yearly, when I'm done hauling the branches to the burn pile I ususally look like I just had a fight with 9 angry cats and I was the scratching post.
Now here is my problem. New Holland bucket = 54" wide. Kubota bucket = 60" wide. I'd like a grapple that would work with either machine, which by my logic means I need to have both machines plumbed with electric diverter valves and quick connect fittings. But it also means that the grapple mount must be attached to the top of the bucket rather than the sides since the buckets are different widths.
- Does anyone have experience with American Products grapple designed for the Kubota BX tractors? It looks like it would easily do what I need done and I'm thinking I could adapt the mount to a top mount instead of a side mount?
- Also, with a top mount, how would I stabilize the grapple so it is held tight and doesn't twist/torque the top lip of the bucket when it clamps down?