Adding expanded metal to grapple.

[Nicfin36]

I did a bunch of grapple work the other day, the most I have done so far. I was mostly removing cedar trees that the wind blew down from storms a while back.

I was aware of the hazards of poking a stick through the grill and radiator. I was being extra careful. Even then, I had nervous moments. Why Kubota doesn't sell a true protective grill, I don't know.

I plan to add expanded metal to the grill, but haven't yet. I also want to bolt expanded metal on the grapple, at least the back side. That should help I think. I have the Everything Attachments 55" wicked grapple. It looks like it would take expanded metal easily. Anyone done this?

 

[St8 e]

Not sure if this matters to you, but expanded metal would add weight to the grapple...if you don’t have a good loader capacity.

I did the expanded metal to the backside of my bumper and never had an issue with a stick braking anything on my grille or headlights...


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[Nicfin36]

Yeah, the bit of extra weight would be a downside, but it would be a good compromise perhaps. The grapple is just over 200 lbs. I wouldn't think the extra weight of the expanded metal would add much. A 4X8 heavier sheet is about 50 lbs from looking at specs online. Less for others and I wouldn't need to use the whole sheet.

I need to bite the bullet and fabricate a grill guard. My welding skills are minimal, but I can figure something out I suppose.

 

[NHSleddog]

I did a bunch of grapple work the other day, the most I have done so far. I was mostly removing cedar trees that the wind blew down from storms a while back.

I was aware of the hazards of poking a stick through the grill and radiator. I was being extra careful. Even then, I had nervous moments. Why Kubota doesn't sell a true protective grill, I don't know.

I plan to add expanded metal to the grill, but haven't yet. I also want to bolt expanded metal on the grapple, at least the back side. That should help I think. I have the Everything Attachments 55" wicked grapple. It looks like it would take expanded metal easily. Anyone done this?

I will be adding some to mine. The 10 pounds will be well worth it to keep everything forward of the grapple. It really isn't that much needed.

 

[Palmettokat]

No idea who at EA I talked to on this and they said Ted does not like expanded metal on the grapple itself as trash would be getting caught in it blocking your view. Think have all that correct.

I have the 60 inch wicked grapple and I used flat metal for the frame and 1/8 inch metal to cover from the bottom of the headlights down and expanded metal over the lights. Have a piece of angle iron on it so it will site on the bottom front of the grill mount and use to "J" bolts to bolt it to the grill. Split a 1/2 inch water hose on the tractor bumper to protect it from being worn by the grill guard.

Sadly I did this after I ripped the grill a little ways and that got me looking, I really don't think the grapple itself is where the main problem is, I think it was my driving into a trash pile to drop the load. My guard is simple and large enough to cover the front end very well.

Will post some pictures of it as soon as I get them and then figure out the process.

Back to the expanded metal on the Kubota guard, it is stronger mounted or welded to the front than then rear.

 

[BigG]

The idea of adding expanded metal to the back of the grapple is an interesting idea. The problem is getting the correct expanded metal. The metal would need to be heavy or strong enough to withstand the force of the tractor as you push into a pile and there is a post sized stick aimed straight back at the tractor. Or when you pick up a pile and there is a good sized log with most of the weight hanging out the side which will act like a leaver and put a great deal of stress on the metal. Otherwise the metal will just rip and allow the stick to go through.

I have a grapple that is attached to my bucket and with in the first few hours of using it the stick went over the top of the bucket and got the plastic grill. That occurred with a solid bucket. So the grill guard metal would need to be added also.

 

[D2Cat]

I made a grill guard out of punched metal that were drops from another project. Made an angle frame and attached the frame to the Kubota frame with a couple of J bolts. Made the guard a bit taller for added protection. Can remove it any time by removing the two nuts in front.

 

[Nicfin36]

I made a grill guard out of punched metal that were drops from another project. Made an angle frame and attached the frame to the Kubota frame with a couple of J bolts. Made the guard a bit taller for added protection. Can remove it any time by removing the two nuts in front.

Nice. That's a good idea. I thought about doing something like that.

I have a friend of a friend that has a metal working shop. My friend said they had some expanded metal they would sell me at a good price. Gonna check on that tomorrow and proceed from there.

 

[ayak]

For a very last-minute project with lots of brush, I took one piece of this (for $10 from Lowe’s) and did a double wrap with some zip ties—-and it held up surprisingly well. I have the Wicked Grapple with the guard strips they are now putting at the back, but stuff still can make it thru.

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[NHSleddog]

I did this to my grill,



It is great added protection when using the bucket, forks etc.

I will still be adding mesh to the back of the grapple.
I only have about 20 hours use on my grapple and have already stopped a few times to extricate branches that got through and threatened the hoses etc.

 

[old and tired]

...and fabricate a grill guard. My welding skills are minimal...

Join the club, minimal welding skills but you can do it. (I did!) So for me, flat welding was a must so I unbolted the guard so that I can lay it flat. I used straps while I unbolted - it also helped to line it back up with the loader help and the straps. I welding mesh on the bottom, couple layers would not hurt either...

The expanded mesh comes in different gauges, make sure it's good and thick and not flimsily.

 

[D2Cat]

Since this is a grapple conversation I will add a couple of other ideas to possibly save the tractor.

It's easy to get sticks under the quick attach lock down levers. I drilled 1/4" holes at the end of each one and attach a heavy bungee cord. If you get one side unlocked and don't notice it you can quickly twist the alignment bar. Then you will not be able to connect equipment until it's aligned again.

Also, need to keep your hyd. hoses clear of getting pinched or pulled on. After trying several ideas, and refusing to pay $60 for a factory solution, I came up with one that works very well. Most hose brackets I found attached to the grapple and therefore stayed with the grapple, but they seemed to not hold the hoses where I wanted them.

Used an old Pioneer 3/8" hose quick coupler. Cut a piece of steel pipe to fit over the OD of the loader alignment bar. Welded 1/2 of the coupling to the outside of the semicircular pipe, and left enough room to use a radiator clamp to hold it onto the tubing. You can experiment to rotate the bracket to a preferred angle. I also attached the hoses at the grapple with hyd. hose clamps for stability and keep the hoses going the direction I choose.

 

[D2Cat]

Here's a better picture of the bungee hold down idea.

 

[Palmettokat]

Issue with expanded metal or punched metal that a sheet of metal has it many edges to give place for the wood to catch and broken wood often has many points that will catch is sliding across such material. That is reason I used solid sheet metal below my headlights for rather have the material shed off than be caught and forced into the mesh. There is plenty of room for air flow there.

 

[Nicfin36]

Many good ideas.

D2Cat,

I thought about doing something just like that for the lock down levers. I figured drilling a hole in each one would be the way to go, but was not sure about securing them. That looks rather simple. I shall do that soon. A lever coming up was also a big concern for me as well.

 

[bird dogger]

Thanks for the idea and pics, D2Cat! That'll be on the to do list this afternoon.

 

[D2Cat]

On the "J" bolts, I pushed some hose on the curved end up around the curve to insulate the pretty orange Kubota paint! Spray steel with something WD40 for lube and work the hose around the bend. Draw the nuts up tight and never had a problem with them.

Someone mention not using punch plate because it will let debris catch and cause problems. Might be with what he's familiar with, but what I used has holes about 3/16" dia. It's smooth and nothing is going to snag on it. I'm grabbing brush and bull dozing.

 

[D2Cat]

Thanks for the idea and pics, D2Cat! That'll be on the to do list this afternoon.

You're welcome. The rod I used was some 1/4" stuff I had laying around. I bent it around a 2"IPS coupling with the coupling clamped in a vice. The height is something I experimented with a couple of times. I think the actual rod length ended up about 10" long, and then welded to the quick connect fitting. I left the curl on the rod wide enough to easily get the hose and fitting through it, but with enough curl to keep it all contained.

If you look at the picture showing the hyd hose clamp, right below the clamp is the rod welded to it that is mounted on the grapple. That is where I started mounting the hose holder, but didn't like what happened to the hose. Since I didn't need the clamp with the final design, I used it to stabilize the hose coming out of the fittings. (probably not needed, but I already had it.)

 

[Nicfin36]

I drilled holes in the ends of the locking levers this evening. Perhaps one of the easiest and most effective modifications one can do. Thanks D2Cat.

I picked up a sheet of expanded metal today. The diamonds are 1 1/2 long and 3/4" width. I would have liked smaller and may wait until I can get smaller size and save what I have for other projects.

 

[Tornado]

I fabricated a front grill guard for my L2501 not long after buying it, and after having 2 small punctures through the plastic grill. I had never welded in my life. I went out and bought the welder, just a cheap 100amp welder and a basic helmet. I practiced for a few minutes on some scrap metal just to get the feel for how it worked and how the wire fed etc, then I jumped straight into the project completely blind. This is the end result. This is an easy modification. Take an angle grinder and grind away the orange paint on the very edges ofthe grill guard so you can weld to it, get the expanded metal cut right, clamp it down all the way around before you weld anything and make sure it looks all in proportion and level and such. When you weld it, do not juice it too hard - even with a small 100 amp welder I had to turn it down to nearly 50% power as it was just melting the expanded metal so fast.

I initially felt 13 gauge expanded metal was too small/weak. Once I got it all finished, it is super hard, tight, and strong. You would have to take a sledge hammer to it to really damage it. It has more than held as ive continued my land clearing (which is what punctured the plastic in the first place) Im pushing lots of piles and tree tops and branches into big burn piles. The guard has held up very well. Once I painted it, if you stand back at distance it looks factory folks tell me. Under close inspection you can tell it was welded by a noobie. I lapped my welds with the angle grinder to smooth them all out and make them look a little nicer.