Free Shipping on Branch Manager Grapples

And if you're using plywood, you can put it up on the boom and loader arms, staying off the hydraulics, and you can pack out a ton of stuff to the tree. I just keep stacking it on the plywood--saws, ropes, handled tools, saddle, spurs, etc.

I have a short rope from one handle to the other handle, I hang this over the cleat/ pin.
 
Interesting, I'll try that. I grapple the base so I can tip the boom down and push with the bollard sometimes. Actually thinking about a 340 soon...
 
Ahh I get yah Sean, on the garbage can you mean. Right?

I find hanging a handle on works fine and I often do it while taking a grapple full of brush at the same time and the bucket hanging off one handle keeps it kind of to the side, out of the way.
 
No. I've got a bmg, but it's got close to a couple thousand hard hrs on it. I've been thinking about replacing it. Still works fine but I've tweaked the ends of the grapple a few times now. Road hard and put away wet. Carl can correct me if I'm wrong but I thought I recall the newer ones are beefier.

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I bumped a thread that I put up fixing the issue bent grapple fingers.
 
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  • #33
Holy moly at the traffic!

No. I've got a bmg, but it's got close to a couple thousand hard hrs on it. I've been thinking about replacing it. Still works fine but I've tweaked the ends of the grapple a few times now. Road hard and put away wet. Carl can correct me if I'm wrong but I thought I recall the newer ones are beefier.

View attachment 58716


Correct. The current generation BMG opens ~53" and has more reinforcement inside the grapple as well as fish plates on the outside of the large tine. The small tine (the one you have bent) has the tips of the tine angled in to help distribute force better in the grapple, with more plating inside the grapple.


We sell replacement tines, but that won't change the opening of the grapple.



I see squish's head is a dangle, what about the new ones, dangle or rotator? Ive never run one, I can imaging the advantages of each, but just wondering.

The BMG is just a dangle. We will be making a hydraulic rotator based grapple (which I've said shouldn't be called a BMG since we've said for a decade minis don't need a rotator) in the near future. For a mini skid or wheel loader, most applications don't require a rotator. On a track loader, excavator, or telahandler, a rotator can be an asset.

Bmg will stuff a chipper way more efficiently I bet.

I'm really having a hard time envisioning a bucket grapple stuffing a chip. The bmg can drag whatever the capacity of the machine it's on will handle. I drag backwards to the tray, turn the machine 90-180 as I'm near the tray and if you've grabbed the butts long enough you just jam them into the feed wheels. One man chipping never get off the machine.

Absolutely. You can feed with a bucket grapple, but you are limited in the length of pieces you can carry if the job site has an obstruction (like a gate you can't lift over). Also the loader has to pivot rather precisely to get the material in the chipper's infeed, vs with a dangle grapple. Both grapples have niches, but feeding a traditional chipper has always gone to a dangle grapple.



We can ship the scoops on the grapple, for free shipping (or ~$105 to you, Squish). Are there any fees/tariffs on shipments to Canada, Squish?
 
I believe there are Carl, despite 'free trade'. I honestly wouldn't make a move until early next year. Winter is survival mode up here.
 
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No problem, I plan on being in business for a while!


I feel you on "survival mode" though. I plan my year not working from November until March. Hopefully work and weather allows some money making, but I don't count on it so I have a "winter fund." November skated through without requiring any subsidy, and December is looking hopeful thanks to selling the trade in mini skid... ironically I would have used it Monday on a little job.
 
I'm really having a hard time envisioning a bucket grapple stuffing a chip. The bmg can drag whatever the capacity of the machine it's on will handle. I drag backwards to the tray, turn the machine 90-180 as I'm near the tray and if you've grabbed the butts long enough you just jam them into the feed wheels. One man chipping never get off the machine.

We always have a man at the chipper to raise the upper feed wheel and do whatever needs doing near the chipper.

Feeding with a bucket grapple and artic wheel loader is very effective. The most obvious way is to bite the brush/leaders/logs sideways (as in perpendicular to their long axis) and drive them to the chipper and feed them with the loader roughly perpendicular to the chipper. When space constraints prevent sideways feeding or carrying, all brushy tree parts can be grabbed in the middle and carried and fed with the butt ends quartering away from or quartering towards the loader, rather than the material being perpendicular to the loader. So the machine approaches and feeds the chipper being nearly in line with it. Typically, brushy leaders are carried with the butts out front and tips behind, and fed while driving forward. In your scenario above, if you wanted to feed the chipper while traveling backwards, you grab the material so it is quartering to the machine, with the butts sticking well rear of the bucket and tips sticking forward and drive backwards by the chipper as the butt ends go into the feed wheels, no turning 180 needed. Logs are carried and fed sideways, lengthwise, or quartering.

Rakings piles were mentioned above; the bucket is excellent for removing multiple large piles at a time, leaving a barrel to handle occasional small piles that crop up.

Occasionally, we will grab or choke smaller trees that are just inside a pool fence for example, or where there is no room to fall the tree, cut them and lift/ carry them vertically, feller-buncher style.

With a grapple, can long brushy leaders be carried and fed butt-first while driving forward to the chipper? If the tips are brushy and flimsy as is normal, what does the heel bar push on to get the butts up in the air?
 
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Granted this was right after I got my first wheel loader and first time feeding the chipper, but it gives you an idea. The first tree should have been grabbed further up the stem, then I could have put the butt straight in the feed wheels.

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1P9vXtotCdY?list=UUGDWFAKthwjjMw3TEJvKcNQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Cory, a two piece grapple feeds a chipper and moved brush in tight quarters far better then a standard grapple bucket style set up. I've used both. If you are considering a two piece swivel grapple, I'd highly recommend moving forward with it. Of course, only if you can see an advantage in real dollars at the days end. Manipulating brush is far easier with two piece dangling grapples but I can't say one way or another if its something that you'll notice financially. Making the job easier, yes, it's better then fixed grapple buckets.
 
I hear what you're saying Cory. I'll defer to those that've run both as I've only used a BMG, never a grapple bucket. I find he bmg very slick, well worth the money. Mines on a ramrod 950, a mini skid, and with it and my 250xp I can process some tree.
 
Tried to sell my used big on tree buzz for 800...., shipping to New Hampshire was 700... Damn. Dude bailed. Ow can I get cheaper shipping......?
 
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  • #43
Send me some pictures of the grapple, if it's still for sale. If that was to Johnathan, he bought one last night on my store.
 
Cory, a two piece grapple feeds a chipper and moved brush in tight quarters far better then a standard grapple bucket style set up. I've used both. If you are considering a two piece swivel grapple, I'd highly recommend moving forward with it. Of course, only if you can see an advantage in real dollars at the days end. Manipulating brush is far easier with two piece dangling grapples but I can't say one way or another if its something that you'll notice financially. Making the job easier, yes, it's better then fixed grapple buckets.

I appreciate your perspective and input, not sure if you are correct re the bold print.
 
Including shipping?

You should give me a price for a bmg, rake, and scoops, shipped. Pm me if you'd rather. Tempt me.
 
Nice, Justin, garbage can with each brush load in the grapple. I love efficiency, and the reduced foot print from reduced trips.
 
Cory when I rated making jobs easier in my mind I went with BMG because I felt that after you pickup the learning curve, its easier to work in narrow areas because of how you can spin the brush any which way. It done by moving the machine certain ways while letting a certain portion of the load touch the ground and act as a pivot. Brain surgery for a day and then it becomes child's play. So when I weighed out which makes the job easier, I gave the slightest advantage to the BMG because of maneuvering brush in tight areas
 
work in narrow areas because of how you can spin the brush any which way. Its done by moving the machine certain ways while letting a certain portion of the load touch the ground and act as a pivot. Brain surgery for a day and then it becomes child's play.


Wow that is a concise description of exactly how it works with the bucket grapple too.

You are a good writer, you should probably start an essay thread of your own, ala August.
 
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