2023 - Volume #47, Issue #6, Page #25
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He Built His Own Grapple Fork
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“I’m not one to make drawings or design formal plans as I tend to change things too much on the go,” Angus says. “I looked online and at new grapples to figure out how to build mine.”
He decided to go with a straight bottom rather than curved like many manufactured grapples, to keep it simple and workable.
The long-time welder and part-time farmer bought stock metal for the project. He used 3/8-in. plate steel for the nine middle bottom teeth and 1/2-in. steel for the two outer teeth. For the main frame and cross braces, he chose 2 1/2-in. square tubing. To create the curved top grapple fingers, he ordered 1/2-in. replacement box scraper rippers and welded them in place. A hydraulic hose to the rear of the tractor operates the hydraulic cylinder for opening and closing the fork.
“It opens up almost vertically and gets a big bite,” Angus says. “I hauled out over 50 pine trees from the woods, some up to 1,000 lbs. The grapple fork also has a variety of other uses like picking up and moving brush piles or handling straw bales.”
Angus estimates he spent about $1,200 on the grapple fork materials, not counting the hydraulic ram which he already had.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, George Angus, 6362 Bunkerhill South Road, Butler, Ohio 44822 (ph 419-564-0524; peteangus9@aol.com).
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