He Built His Own Grapple Fork

He Built His Own Grapple Fork MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous After a tornado ripped through the Butler Ohio area almost 2 years ago George Angus decided to build a grapple fork from scratch to fit his John Deere 2440 tractor that would help him with the cleanup “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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