Grapple Repairs

This grapple has been racking up frequent flyer miles with quick "fixes" to keep it going, it was pretty rugged already when it was bought a couple years ago. Ultimately the support plates for the upper cylinder mounts were past their useful life span, and the design is somewhat lacking in my opinion.

I cut the old plates out, cleaned everything up and repaired any cracks in the main plate and lugs. I cut new plates, slightly thicker and with a bit of extra meat in a few spots. The bolts for the bearing are far to close to allow for a good weld so on the outside I used alan cap bolts to give a little more room. The original pin keeper system was also lacking, with a shallow tapped bolt hole very close to the top edge in the main plate taking all the force. I re used the pin but made a new keeper that uses a block for an rotational forces and a tapped block that is heavier, repairable and in a lower stress area. The new welds are arguably a significant improvement over the single pass production wire feed welds that it came with.

Do you need some Heavy Equipment repairs done by a mobile welder? Or a custom project fabricated? We are located in the Fraser Valley and willing to take our mobile service truck off the beaten path to get the job done. Contact us today at mike@burntbeardfab.ca or 604-997-0327