Mini Excavator grapple

[Dustin4185]

Does anyone have any recommendations or experience with rotator grapples for mini excavators? Ours is a 6 ton machine and we are looking at doing some TSI work and it would be handy to load logs we thin that would make good firewood. We have a thumb already so we may just use it.

 

[Catbuster]

I don’t have any direct experience, but Robotech is kinda the standard for excavator grapples.

AMI manufactures a long list of excavator attachments but are mostly known for their XMOR buckets. I would not hesitate to purchase one.

I’ve never been let down by something Werk-Brau has manufactured either.

As with any other attachment purchase, I’d make sure it fits whatever the coupler is on your machine, wedge angle if that’s what you have or spin spread if you have a pin grabber.

And you have to make sure it’s going to pay off. Unless you’re regularly handling logs, it may not pay off for extra productivity, and it may weight a lot more and limit the stability of your machine.

 

[Sloughfoot]

I don’t have any direct experience, but Robotech is kinda the standard for excavator grapples.

AMI manufactures a long list of excavator attachments but are mostly known for their XMOR buckets. I would not hesitate to purchase one.

I’ve never been let down by something Werk-Brau has manufactured either.

As with any other attachment purchase, I’d make sure it fits whatever the coupler is on your machine, wedge angle if that’s what you have or spin spread if you have a pin grabber.

And you have to make sure it’s going to pay off. Unless you’re regularly handling logs, it may not pay off for extra productivity, and it may weight a lot more and limit the stability of your machine.

Googled Robotech grapple and got Rotobec. Same people?

 

[Dustin4185]

I don’t have any direct experience, but Robotech is kinda the standard for excavator grapples.

AMI manufactures a long list of excavator attachments but are mostly known for their XMOR buckets. I would not hesitate to purchase one.

I’ve never been let down by something Werk-Brau has manufactured either.

As with any other attachment purchase, I’d make sure it fits whatever the coupler is on your machine, wedge angle if that’s what you have or spin spread if you have a pin grabber.

And you have to make sure it’s going to pay off. Unless you’re regularly handling logs, it may not pay off for extra productivity, and it may weight a lot more and limit the stability of your machine.

I was looking at the weight of some of these….. I think we are just going to deal with it. Thanks for the info.

 

[Catbuster]

Googled Robotech grapple and got Rotobec. Same people?

It’s been a minute since I’ve looked at any of their literature, so it’s probably safe to say I misspelled it.

I was looking at the weight of some of these….. I think we are just going to deal with it. Thanks for the info.

Yeah, that’s kinda the rub with any excavator that’s either reduced tail swing or weighs less than 30,000 pounds. It doesn’t take too much to make it unbalanced enough to offset the productivity of whatever attachment is going on it, especially if it already has a thumb and a quick coupler as weight that doesn’t come off.

And it sucks. I mean, a lot of the time I have to choose between reach, attachments (thumb/bucket capacity) and stability/lift capacity.

 

[Dustin4185]

It’s been a minute since I’ve looked at any of their literature, so it’s probably safe to say I misspelled it.



Yeah, that’s kinda the rub with any excavator that’s either reduced tail swing or weighs less than 30,000 pounds. It doesn’t take too much to make it unbalanced enough to offset the productivity of whatever attachment is going on it, especially if it already has a thumb and a quick coupler as weight that doesn’t come off.

And it sucks. I mean, a lot of the time I have to choose between reach, attachments (thumb/bucket capacity) and stability/lift capacity.

We have a Cat 315 with a mulcher and bucket with the massive Cat thumb so it has a dual set wet lines. It’s a “regional” piece of equipment but when this project gets going, it will take priority. We will probably just deal with what we have though, lol. I tried to talk them into an old but nice JD 440B for this project but that was a no-go as well. Basically the plan is to release the oaks and cut most of the maple/poplar/sourwood and put in a permanent fire line so we can treat it like a savanna. I’ve got a winch on my 450P so I guess we will skid with it and stack/load anything we want to keep with the Bobcat or 315. Honestly I see us stacking and burning most of what we drag out. It just doesn’t need to be left in the woods to create a larger fuel load for when we do burn it. That’s how you kill the crap out of the oaks you leave!

 

[chiselbit]

I have 3 different Valby grapples, no complaints. I think lighter than the robotec? And on the 18,000 pound excavator I have a Intermercato. Spelling may be wrong on that. Here’s a pic of the Valby on th Kubota x040. Only thing I don’t like about it is it’s a 3 tine, makes it hard to pick up small pieces like a split piece of firewood

 

[chiselbit]

 

[Dustin4185]

I have 3 different Valby grapples, no complaints. I think lighter than the robotec? And on the 18,000 pound excavator I have a Intermercato. Spelling may be wrong on that. Here’s a pic of the Valby on th Kubota x040. Only thing I don’t like about it is it’s a 3 tine, makes it hard to pick up small pieces like a split piece of firewood

We have a 12,000 lb Bobcat. I can take the quick coupler off and just do a pin mount for something like this. I would probably drop the thumb as well. I’ll look into those. Thanks

 

[cus_deluxe]

the one on the wheel loader i use at work is made by ryans equipment, looks like they make a bunch of different stuff as well