Branch Manager Grapple Hardox Steel vs. Regular?

[ClimberBusinessman]

I'm looking into purchasing a Branch Manager grapple, and am debating between getting one with hardox steel vs regular. From what I can tell, a power-rotate 56" grapple without hardox is about 299 pounds, and the upgraded one with hardox weighs about 350 pounds.
I had a few questions:

1. Do you find any durability problems with the standard grapple? Is the hardox grapple worth the extra cost and weight?
2. Do you find a power-rotating grapple less or more cumbersome than the knock-around grapple?
3. Is the 56" capacity enough, or is the 66" grapple better? For your information, I'd be using a Giant G1200/ 254 TELE small articulating wheel loader to attach the grapple to.
4. Do you like the Branch Manager Grapple overall, or do you think another brand such as TNA is better?

 

[ZinTrees]

the giant fits a 56" grapple perfect, no I wouldn't get a Hardox grapple, waste of money and weight

mine is a knock around and it works pretty good, great when turning to feed the chipper as it turns with the logs/brush with no resistance
if I had to buy another one it would be a Ryans, maybe a TNA, the BMG just feels like a toddler built it (although it works good) it doesn't close far enough, you cant carry limbs smaller than 4" or so without it sliding out of the grapple, the heeling rack doesn't do anything on small stuff and it bounces out a lot

that being said, a power rotate may be nice with a Giant as you cant jump off to turn it like you can with a mini skid

 

[CUCV]

I had a power rotate grapple for a full sized skid steer and much prefer the knock around BMG on my SK800. The Hardox unit looks pretty cool with several upgrades other than just the Hardox. How much extra is the Hardox unit? 56" grapple works well for me. In general I feel my grapple can handle more than my machine so I'd lean towards a lighter grapple to give more capacity to the payload.

 

[ClimberBusinessman]

the giant fits a 56" grapple perfect, no I wouldn't get a Hardox grapple, waste of money and weight

mine is a knock around and it works pretty good, great when turning to feed the chipper as it turns with the logs/brush with no resistance
if I had to buy another one it would be a Ryans, maybe a TNA, the BMG just feels like a toddler built it (although it works good) it doesn't close far enough, you cant carry limbs smaller than 4" or so without it sliding out of the grapple, the heeling rack doesn't do anything on small stuff and it bounces out a lot

that being said, a power rotate may be nice with a Giant as you cant jump off to turn it like you can with a mini skid

What about if feels like a toddler built it? Just curious, as this purchase is going to be a major investment. Did you have the bypass or the regular grapple? I'm looking into getting the bypass version. Does debris falling out happen enough to be frequently troublesome, or is just an occasional nuisance?
My main concern with the TNA grapple is that the broom/rake attachment that is to be used with it for debris cleanup is not yet available. I spoke with a dealer and he thought it would be inter-compatible generally with Branch Manager, but he said it sometimes doesn't fit perfectly.
My plan would be to load logs onto a dump trailer with it. Does the power-rotate offer an advantage in your opinion?

 

[ZinTrees]

the BMG has issues where the jaws hang up on the heeling plate, the saw holder is held together with wood screws, and one side hangs lower "to help turn the grapple" well it doesnt help any and causes lots of turf damage along with the hoses twisting the grapple around making it a PITA to be precise with it
mines the standard BMG, T1001 I think

power rotate will be a life saver if you are doing logs, no way to turn logs easily to fit in open spots in a trailer without it
the bollards are handy, the rake is probably nice (dont have one), the trailer hitch they supply with the BMG is hot garbage, grapple jaws hit the trailer causing damage, not much safe capacity and only a hook for one safety chain (which usually is so far away the chain doesnt reach)
also, depending on the machine you will have to shorten hoses, mine hang infront of the heeling plate and get pinched all the time

I actually took my grapple apart and made a mount to put it on a mini excavator, dangle log grapple type deal
debris falling out is all the time, only way to lift stuff smaller than 4" diameter is if it is long enough to have hundreds of pounds of force against the heeling plate, or to pinch it with more logs in the grapple, near impossible to move small stuff and good luck trying to pinch a little stub or something on the ground to move it without getting off the machine
id say if all you do is 12-30" diameter and as long as your machine will move its a great grapple, but anything smaller or larger and it sucks
"
now, im no expert but I do have hundreds of hours with mine, loading hundreds if not thousands of tons of debris into trucks and chippers with it

 

[ZinTrees]

it does work excellent for big piles of loose brush. long brush (silver maple or red oak for example) and long logs
short logs, short brush and skinny materials suck, for anything over 30-40" diameter I use pallet forks

 

[tree MDS]

I went with the hardox/powered rotator, have not looked back.

Would be nice if Ole Dave coulda coughed up a couple more teeth (width wise) on the grapple backing plate, is my only real complaint.

 

[ZinTrees]

I went with the hardox/powered rotator, have not looked back.

Would be nice if Ole Dave coulda coughed up a couple more teeth (width wise) on the grapple backing plate, is my only real complaint.

yeah, I wouldn't mind another 4-6" on each side, would make it easier to push logs into the back of the trailer or chip truck for sure

 

[ClimberBusinessman]

I went with the hardox/powered rotator, have not looked back.

Would be nice if Ole Dave coulda coughed up a couple more teeth (width wise) on the grapple backing plate, is my only real complaint.
View attachment 1123971

Looks to me like you got the bypass type. Are you able to move small branches smaller than 4" without them falling out?

 

[ZinTrees]

Looks to me like you got the bypass type. Are you able to move small branches smaller than 4" without them falling out?

all BMG's are bypass grapples
his grapple is as closed as it gets in the picture, 4" and smaller falls out of his just the same as it does mine
the grapple portion below the rotator is the exact same minus color and the steel is hardox instead of normal mild steel

 

[tree MDS]

Looks to me like you got the bypass type. Are you able to move small branches smaller than 4" without them falling out?

Yeah, isn’t really a big deal, smaller grabs can usually be rotated slightly whilst being stuffed into the chipper one way or another. Isn’t rocket science by any stretch of the imagination really. Lol

 

[ClimberBusinessman]

I got the 56" power rotate, non-hardox grapple and am very happy with it. Glad I went with the power-rotate, I wouldn't want to hop off the loader to rotate a stubborn branch. My only complaint is that the grapple is powder-coated and small pieces are coming off where anything touches. Might need to touch it up with Rustoleum from time to time.

 

[ZinTrees]

yeah the paint isn't the best, but even with the best it would still flake off pretty quick
how much height/weight does the rotator take up? mines manual rotate and havent had many issues although it has been an issue some days with smaller pieces
I need to find a picture, I took mine off the original skidsteer mount and fabbed up a mount for my excavator, its amazing how precise one can be with that combo, super expensive way to chip brush but for what I do it worked out great
may want to clean the paint off the bollards before you use them, a few of my ropes have black stripes going down them after rigging some fairly large pieces

 

[ClimberBusinessman]

299 pounds. I believe it's about the same size as the manual rotate, and about 99 pounds heavier. Branch manager.com has all the photos and specs.