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"Made-It-Myself" Brush Grapple
Picking up logs, brush and downed tree limbs is an easy job for Joseph Baril since he built a brush grapple for the front-end loader on his Kubota 24 tractor.
    He used flat steel to build the grapple and bolted it to the 4-ft. 2-in. wide bucket on the tractor.
    “I saved a lot of money and it’s built heavy to stand up to a lot of tough use,” says Baril. “It’s big enough to pick up large quantities of brush and wood, yet is lightweight enough for my 24-hp. tractor.”
    The grapple fork has nine 2-ft. long curved shanks spaced about 6 in. apart. Each shank measures 2-in. wide by 1/4-in. thick. The grapple fork swivels up and down on a long shaft that’s connected to 1-in. thick bolts, which go through heavy steel brackets that bolt onto both sides of the bucket. A pair of hydraulic cylinders are used to raise and lower the entire unit.
    The grapples are made from 2-in. wide by 1/4-in. thick flat steel, cut and welded together at an angle. They’re welded to a rectangular frame made of 4-in. high steel for reinforcement. “The frame gives the grapple forks strength so they won’t bend under pressure,” says Baril.
    A pair of old truck springs cut down to about 2 ft. serve as forks, and are bolted to the bucket’s floor. The forks extend forward about 12 in.
    “I use it to handle everything from brush to big logs that I remove from my woods. I’m amazed at how well it works,” says Baril. “I never have to get off the tractor at all. I just scoop the branches with the forks to line them up, clamp down on them and move them wherever I want to. The shanks open up about 7 ft. high so I can pick up really big loads.”
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Joseph Baril, P.O. Box 292, Marlow, N.H. 03456 (ph 603 446-2292; joe@barils.com).


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2014 - Volume #38, Issue #3