Grapple questions

[mmccaig]

I'm not a contractor. I work for a sales development, marketing and research firm in the U.S. that works with construction, demolition and recycle equipment manufacturers. Right now, I'm trying to do some research on excavator grapples. If anyone would be willing to answer a few questions, I'd appreciate the insight!

• In North America, for demolition, do you prefer working with a rotating or fixed grapple?
• When purchasing attachments, is price or quality more important?
• Are you more inclined to purchase if an attachment is in stock, or are you willing to order one (based on your price/quality choice)?
• How important is support from the manufacturer or distributor?
• Are you typically loyal to one brand, or do you choose attachments based on the best one for the application (that also will fit your machine, of course)?

Again - thanks in advance for any insight on this topic!

 

[Wolf]

It's mainly fixed grapples in America. The rotating ones show up in Europe, mostly.
Quality is more important that price. Nobody wants to throw away money on junk that isn't going to last.
Would order and wait for what I really wanted.
Support is key. God help ya if anything goes wrong.
Not so loyal to any brand. Willing to try other attachment manufacturers as long as it fits the track hoe.

 

[John C.]

A bucket and thumb are the attachment of choice in this area. Once in awhile you will see a clamshell and all those will be fulling rotating.

Price is involved on the people getting into the business because they don't have enough money to make quality an issue. People in the business might have a brand they prefer because it fills their need at some point in time. Nobody is strictly loyal to any brand anymore. We have local builders that service almost the entire Northwestern United States. Support only matters if there is a warranty involved. It there is no warranty most companies will only rely on the supplier for the special parts, rotate bearing and motor, cylinder packing and any specialized hydraulic valves. If and end user has to wait for one of those types of parts, they usually are more inclined to try something else next time.

 

[CM1995]

• In North America, for demolition, do you prefer working with a rotating or fixed grapple?
• When purchasing attachments, is price or quality more important?
• Are you more inclined to purchase if an attachment is in stock, or are you willing to order one (based on your price/quality choice)?
• How important is support from the manufacturer or distributor?
• Are you typically loyal to one brand, or do you choose attachments based on the best one for the application (that also will fit your machine, of course)?

Welcome to the Forums mmccaig!:drinkup

I do some demolition and I prefer just a bucket and stiff link thumb. Easy, cheap and effective. Pin the thumb up when it's not needed as it only takes 5-10 mins to do and no extra hydraulics to deal with.

Depending on the attachment and what I needed it for, I would wait to get the tool I needed to do the job. Price and quality cannot be separated in my opinion as it's a dynamic situation that also depends on what I am going to be using the attachment for. If it's something I am going to be using on a regular basis, for instance a bucket, I will spend the money to get a quality product. On the other hand say it's a trencher attachment for a skid steer that we use intermittently to install silt fence, then I might go with a cheaper model as it doesn't see much use and there is no sense in having the best when it sits most of the time.

Support is paramount in anything one sells, without it you have a disgruntled customer that has a product you sold down and a pissed off previous customer that used their hard earned money to buy your product that they can't use to earn money - that is the reason we buy iron in the first place.:cool2

I am loyal to certain brands since through experience and usage the brand has proven it's durability. However, I am not adverse to trying new brands if the quality is up to par.

 

[mmccaig]

Thank you all for these insights! Not being an operator or owner, it is difficult to get a good picture of the attachment market, including the various application segments. I really appreciate your thoughts on the topic. :notworthy

 

[Turbo21835]

A lot depends on company size. One outfit I worked for had 100+ grapples in their fleet. 99% of the fleet was from one major manufacturer. The rest came from buying used or at auctions. Those grapples were usually then placed on the backup list. When you reach an outfit of that size, it makes sense to stick with one or two brands. Your welder/fabricator has gained working knowledge and it makes his repairs/maintenance quicker. It also comes with a manufacturer relationship. The particular manufacturer also provided the companies shears, and would regularly visit our sites. They provided technical field help on anything that was giving us trouble.

As far as rotating grapples. While they look handy, dont look like they would hold up to the US demo market. I cant imagine grabbing on a heavy steel structure, and bending folding tearing it apart. After many hours sitting behind shears and grapples, I can say that in 90% of applications, a good operator does not need a rotating attachment. The excavator rotates and moves. In some applications rotation would increase productivity. In other applications, there is no getting around needing rotation. In my opinion, the only one would be front line demolition. By front line I mean the machine that is doing the actual demolition of the structure. Other machines processing it can get away with non rotating attachments.

As far as stock or order. In the heavy industrial demolition market, you generally have plenty of lead time, and have a demanding environment for attachments, so waiting for the right one is not a huge issue. Joe contractor who wrecks the occasional building would be more inclined to settle for an off the shelf option.

As stated earlier, product support is major on hydraulic attachments such as shears and hammers. For grapples and thumbs, lets be honest, a good fab guy can keep most of that iron running.