Grapple advice needed

[B.B.]

Yeah yeah I know don't wrassle a guy twice my size...   Seriously though I'm in the market for a grapple for my T66 Bobcat to move brush etc.   In other words my kitty needs claws! 

There's a ton of options from who makes it to how its made.    I've priced Anbo, Quick Attach, Bobcat, and Kubota brands all similar in price but I also see some on marketplace a lot cheaper.  

Any advice I can glean would be appreciated 

[mader656]

My only advice is heaviest duty heaviest grapple you can find.

[vtfireman85]

I was/am pretty impressed with the design of Frost Bite grapples. The others seem like they are too wide. http://www.frostbitegrapple.com

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

The slat bottom ones work best for gathering roots and rocks. The ones with independent arms are best for bigger trees and also work well for brush. We have a CAT grapple bucket. It’s very heavy, but I can’t say if it’s better or worse than any other name brand. In general I would stay away from the cheap junk you see on Craigslist, Marketplace and consignment auctions. 

[EquipmentJunkie]

After being in the attachments industry for four decades, I think one is hard pressed to exceed the value from Bobcat attachments. (I used to have OEM relationships with three of the fours brands you mentioned.) It is easy to find better product and worse product than the Bobcat brand but Bobcat has always delivered an impressive value in their attachments line.

[bitty]

Some or many of the cheap ones are China built ones . We have a China built one from local consignment sale (they sell 20 or so each sale) and beefed the q-tach areas up before use . We did just have one hydraulic cylinder end split at the threads ......we use it for firewood 

[tractorholic]

My uneducated guess is cheap isn’t good and good isn’t cheap. 
 Everyone’s opinion may be different and it probably depends on what you’re doing with it as to how good of one you need. 
 

[7and8and1456]

https://cidattachments.com/skidsteer/grapples/

Many different models of units. Built in North Carolina about 50 miles from me. I have had one of their root grapple units for over 20  years now. Very stoutly built grapple .

[Pete1468]

I think mines a quick attach.  It was the heaviest one I could get at the time.  It's more of a root rake grapple but I use it for everything.  Grapple buckets take the most abuse of everything, get a good one.

[B.B.]

9 hours ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

The slat bottom ones work best for gathering roots and rocks. The ones with independent arms are best for bigger trees and also work well for brush. We have a CAT grapple bucket. It’s very heavy, but I can’t say if it’s better or worse than any other name brand. In general I would stay away from the cheap junk you see on Craigslist, Marketplace and consignment auctions. 

That's helpful thank you for explaining the difference!  

Chinese steel and I do not get along so I fully realize the cheap ones on market place would probably quickly get torn up 

[B.B.]

9 hours ago, EquipmentJunkie said:

After being in the attachments industry for four decades, I think one is hard pressed to exceed the value from Bobcat attachments. (I used to have OEM relationships with three of the fours brands you mentioned.) It is easy to find better product and worse product than the Bobcat brand but Bobcat has always delivered an impressive value in their attachments line.

Thank you and I tend to agree.  I also like the idea of it being a bobcat attachment for a bobcat loader but not enough if there's something better out there 

[B.B.]

1 hour ago, 7and8and1456 said:

https://cidattachments.com/skidsteer/grapples/

Many different models of units. Built in North Carolina about 50 miles from me. I have had one of their root grapple units for over 20  years now. Very stoutly built grapple .

I'll get a quote thanks for the info 

[Mudfly]

Virnig would be my suggestion, but I don’t know if they have a distributor in your area.

They have about any kind of grapple you could want and are well made.

https://www.virnigmfg.com/products/grapples/

[7and8and1456]

12 hours ago, 7and8and1456 said:

https://cidattachments.com/skidsteer/grapples/

Many different models of units. Built in North Carolina about 50 miles from me. I have had one of their root grapple units for over 20  years now. Very stoutly built grapple .

I was wrong about my grapple, it is not from CID attachments but rather Loflin Fabrication . Loflin is also located in Denton, North Carolina.https://www.loflinfabrication.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Loflin-Catalog.pdf     Loflin was inventor of root grapple. Mine is their standard duty grapple.

I do have some  attachment products from CID and they are all very well built items.

Pictures below of my grapple . It is 60 inches wide. 

[yellowrosefarm]

1 hour ago, 7and8and1456 said:

I was wrong about my grapple, it is not from CID attachments but rather Loflin Fabrication . Loflin is also located in Denton, North Carolina.https://www.loflinfabrication.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Loflin-Catalog.pdf     Loflin was inventor of root grapple. Mine is their standard duty grapple.

I do have some  attachment products from CID and they are all very well built items.

Pictures below of my grapple . It is 60 inches wide. 

We have an older Loflin grapple at work also. Had to repack one of the cylinders last year and was no problem getting a packing kit from them.  

[searcyfarms]

loflin makes good stuff, remember the heavier built one you lose some capacity when picking things up due to the weight of it, its a hard one to calculate - my best suggestion would be buy once cry once and get the heaviest one you can afford - i also second the split type so you can handle things with different sized ends 

i do recommend the jenkins iron and steel products from minnesota they make good stuff with a lot of thought on cylinder placement/protection and hoses/fittings 

https://jenkinsironandsteel.com/products/Brush-Grapple-Super-Duty-Split/4/

if you tear that up with a t66 your t66 will also be damaged 

[db1486]

4 hours ago, 7and8and1456 said:

I was wrong about my grapple, it is not from CID attachments but rather Loflin Fabrication . Loflin is also located in Denton, North Carolina.https://www.loflinfabrication.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Loflin-Catalog.pdf     Loflin was inventor of root grapple. Mine is their standard duty grapple.

I do have some  attachment products from CID and they are all very well built items.

Pictures below of my grapple . It is 60 inches wide. 

That looks identical to the bobcat brand grapples I have seen. I always wondered who was building them for them. Very good units

 

We have a Bobcat tine grapple at work. It is a very heavy duty unit, very well built. It works great with trees and brush but can break a tine in frozen ground or stumps. I myself have HLA and Jenkins grapples, zero complaints with either, but I will say the HLA is a bit heavier built. Have Deere brush grapple at work with the flat plate on edge style of teeth, too light of a grapple in my opinion. It's been abused and fixed lots of times. We also had one of the Chinese brush/root grapple on a rental unit at work, I would stay far away unless you feel like beefing up the complete unit. 

[db1486]

16 hours ago, Mudfly said:

Virnig would be my suggestion, but I don’t know if they have a distributor in your area.

They have about any kind of grapple you could want and are well made.

https://www.virnigmfg.com/products/grapples/

I also agree on the Virnig. Very well built attachments from my experience with then. They were definitely higher priced when I was looking for another one, but they are for a reason in my opinion

[dads706]

I have no experience but I'll add a comment. As has been said grapples are probably the most abused attachment. I have seen some that have individual forks bolted on with U bolts holding them to the tube frame. I always thought that was a good idea if you ever bent or broke one they could be replaced easily. Also it allowed you to make it suit your need. For example probably 4 teeth are all you need for a hay bale. But you could easily add additional spaced closer together if you were loading loose material (cleaning feedlot or moving brush for example). 

 

[nate]

If you can break this your loader is probably worse off.  Dad bought this used.  It is a beast

[nate]

We also have one like this.   It has held up well.   Grabs monster piles of brush. 

[B.B.]

Better pics to come, but I finally found one slightly used.   It's been used on a new Kubota.   Would you worry about getting the Kubota oil out of it (as much as I can anyway) or just put it to use on my Bobcat?   

[CIHTECH]

4 minutes ago, B.B. said:

Would you worry about getting the Kubota oil out of it (as much as I can anyway) or just put it to use on my Bobcat?   

To my knowledge both machines recommend using ISO 46 hydraulic oil. 

[Shell1066]

I wouldn't worry about it. We had two of those at the excavating company I worked at we used on bobcats but they got rented and we never worried with it.. Good grapple but the clamps are subject to twisting easily. They need a brace down closer to the end. That's how we fixed ours.

[vtfireman85]

11 hours ago, B.B. said:

Better pics to come, but I finally found one slightly used.   It's been used on a new Kubota.   Would you worry about getting the Kubota oil out of it (as much as I can anyway) or just put it to use on my Bobcat?   

Looks nice. Me personally I would try to purge any used attachment because you never know what someone has put in their machine, doesn’t take that much effort and then you know.