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Home-Built Grapple Made Tough
John Betka figures he’ll get more years of use out of his $250 home-built grapple than he would from a $1,600 grapple. It’s already proven to be a useful piece of equipment for moving trees, lifting slash, and transporting boulders around his Walkerville, Montana, property.
“It’s strong, works great,
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Home-Built Grapple Made Tough MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous ohn Betka figures he’ll get more years of use out of his $250 home-built grapple than he would from a $1 600 grapple It’s already proven to be a useful piece of equipment for moving trees lifting slash and transporting boulders around his Walkerville Montana property
“It’s strong works great and it’s on a quick-tach adaptor ” Betka says
He started with a set of forks and built the grapple out of 1018 mild 1/2-in steel with 3/8-in steel tubing on the top bar
“The front and rear arms for the hydraulic cylinder are 1 by 2 1/2-in steel with 1-in dia holes drilled to accommodate the rear cylinder pivot point and the front pivot points which are adjustable for height and pull ” he explains adding that he reinforced the front and rear of the arms with 90-degree 1 by 2-in steel The grapple opens up to 6 ft vertically to grab a lot of material at a time
“The hardest part was the hydraulics - getting the cylinder in the right position to lift and drop without too much force and to set the pressure right ” Betka says
He used a 24-in long double-acting cylinder with a 3 by 12-in throw and 3 200 psi
He estimates that the grapple weighs between 400 and 500 lbs and it works well on his medium-size tractor
Betka says he will offer advice to anyone interested in making a grapple and he emphasizes the importance of good welding skills
“It uses a lot of torque and therefore it must be welded well and well-reinforced Otherwise the operation of the cylinder will pull the front and rear arms right off the cross braces the cylinder is attached to ” he says
With planning and attention to detail Betka has been pleased with how well it works “I made it myself because I like things that work ” he says
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup John Betka Walkerville Mont 59701 ph 406 490-2980; upskyranch@crbart com
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