Cheap Ritchie Brother Skid attachments

[Handy]

Hi everyone,

I'm in the market for a power rake, grapple bucket and auger attachment. There is a ritchie brother yard in my city and they sell these knockoff chinese attachments. Based on past auctions, it seems I can get a power rake (harley rake) for about 2-3k, a grapple bucket for about 1.5-2.5k and an auger attachment with bits for about 2.5k.

Comparable prices from name brand are about 12k for the power rake from quick attach, 3.5k for grapple bucket and the auger I want with bits would be abour 4k plus shipping for all these.

What would you guys do in my position? These are mainly for personal use at my property but if opportunity arises, I'd like to use them for work as well. Any one out there can chime in with your personal experience on the chinese made ones?

 

[ianjoub]

I got a grapple rake and auger from Ritchie Bros. The auger was fine, worked well, did what it needed to. I am in FL and only have sand to deal with. The grapple rake was a POS. I bent, then tore it up in quick order. I welded it back together, sold it, and bought a real one from SkidPro.

https://skidpro.com/skid-steer-attachments/grapples/skeleton-grapple/

 

[Jimbo]

"Wolverine" or whatever they are calling them now are typical cheap Chinese imitations of good quality domestic made attachments: in other words, you get what you pay for.

 

[Handy]

That's what I was thinking. So tempting to buy those cheap chinese attachments...

 

[Jimbo]

You won't buy them but once....

 

[Tags]

It’s just pissing your money away afaic. Think about buying something that’s 3 to $4000 cheaper, the hydraulic motor blows and sends a bunch of shrapnel through you’re not so cheap skid steer/CTL, how much do you think that will cost to fix… I’m not saying it can’t happen with brand-name attachments, but it would be something I’d be thinking about every time I turned the auxiliaries on…there’s a reason it sooooo cheap.

 

[Handy]

Never thought about that scenario, I'll be skipping those cheap attachments at the auction. They sell HUNDREDS of them at every auction, brand new... I think they bring them in just to auction from overseas.

 

[ianjoub]

Everyone said Jap cars were cheap crap in the 70's too. They didn't turn out to be though.

 

[Jimbo]

True, but in the late 60's --early 70s, most Jap tools were crap....about 10 years or so, and they began improving , then comes Taiwan crap tools, another 10 years or so, they improve and we start getting Chinese crap; some has improved, most has not, next up is India and Vietnam. I suppose eventually the South American countries will get their chance.

 

[Tags]

Everyone said Jap cars were cheap crap in the 70's too. They didn't turn out to be though.

I’m not saying it is good or bad to buy them, I’m just providing my point of view on them. Have seen plenty of them bent and broken left in a heap but also have seen plenty being used out and about. My thought process leads to me to believe that its cheaper for a reason, what are those reasons…..

I think you see so many sold at auction because smaller attachment dealers buy them up and sell them on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or at their business.

 

[digger doug]

I wanted a 18" auger for a pole barn project last year.
The Amish crew brought a Bobcat auger, and I ran it on my JD240.

Never ran an auger before, they gave me some coaching, and it did well.

I hit shale 2' down, and had smoke coming from the hole, the impact
jarring loading was very bad. We took every hole to a full 4' deep.

I don't think the chinese auger drive I was wanting to buy could hold up to that
abuse.

 

[Kn1ghtWolf]

Most of those attachments all sell for close to the same price and they all end up on facebook marketplace and craigslist for 2-3x what they paid that hopefully nobody is actually buying. 'Diesel Creek' on YouTube got a brush mower from Ritchie Brothers and he has a few videos running it and fixing it after it breaks. Definitely getting what you pay for on those things. The grapple is probably the least risky out of all of them as you aren't risking grenading your hydraulics if the attachment fails. Perhaps if you are handy they could be up-suited to last longer?

 

[Handy]

yea i saw that video on diesel creek, reason I asked lol. I guess I will just pay the money and buy quality. I can't even find any used ones anywhere. I found a "quick attach" grapple and the one I want is almost 5k!

 

[KSSS]

I have 2 Quick Attach (Saber tooth, rock grapple bucket) and one Virnig scrape grapple buckets. Most except for a rock grapple bought years ago and were bought when things were relatively less expensive. I use them...very hard. The Quick Attach 84" rock grapple bought last year for just over 5K (I couldn't believe it was that expensive) loaded 30 side dumps off lava rock on its first job. The Virnig scrape grapple has been on countless demo jobs, always attached to large frame high hp track loaders or large frame high hp wheeled machines. The Saber tooth bucket I use for clearing trees, poles and so forth. None have failed, none were cheap, but the grab angles have been thought out, good grab power with the grab cylinders. They have heavy, quality steel, quality wields are what these two companies have in common. Buy once, cry once it really applies to SSL/CTL attachments. You cant just look at the price, but compare the steel quality and thickness with each other, even among well known names. However when you really compare these Chinese knock off attachments to NA quality attachment OEM's, you can see they are not worth the money in any application home or certainly not commercially.

 

[CM1995]

Wouldn't be surprised if RB is importing that crap just to auction here in NA. Iron Planet owned by RB owns quite a bit of the equipment they auction in addition to other owners.

As others have said you get what you pay for. I'll add - Buyer Beware.

 

[Handy]

Wouldn't be surprised if RB is importing that crap just to auction here in NA. Iron Planet owned by RB owns quite a bit of the equipment they auction in addition to other owners.

As others have said you get what you pay for. I'll add - Buyer Beware.

Considering volume of attachments they sell, they are probably the ones importing them. Who are buying these attachments anyway? I hardly see any reviews online about them.. Hey KSSS, between the saber grapple and the rock grapple, which one do you like best for clearing brush and such? Do you have the open back on the saber grapple to be a problem with branches poking thru and taking your head off? I was also looking into the quick attach power rake. I was looking for used but everybody wants an arm and a leg for them so I think I'll fork out a few extra thousand and buy new.

 

[KSSS]

I have been using the rock grapple for brush. The tines are closer together so brush doesn't slide between the tines like it can with the Saber bucket. I use the Saber bucket for trees and stumps, telephone poles and so forth. The bucket is much more rigid than the rock bucket. I have never had brush come all the way through that opening but I did once have it come through and shear a hyd line off my quick coupler. I have been meaning to put a section of HD expanded metal over it, just have not got around to it. I really like that bucket over all, the hole in the back should have been better thought out however. I had a job moving 300 telephone poles twice. They were 80' long and 4.5-5K per pole. The bucket grabbed the poles with minimal impact and was rigid enough not to flex with all that weight going side to side when moving the poles.

 

[Handy]

Nice, I was thinking the saber bucket too, i just wanted a solid back though. 4.5-5k lbs poles?. That's heavy!. What kind of a machine do you have that lifts that much weight?

 

[KSSS]

I moved them with a CASE SV340 with 17.5 tires. I will see if I have pictures of it. We thought we may need a wheel loader to move them but the SSL did it. Had to be careful as I had to lift them to full height and it easily could flip the machine over or turn the arms into spagetti, but the 17.5 tires provided more stability and counter weight and moving slowly and smoothly worked well. I was impressed. The ROC on the machine is 3400 but it can actually operate at just under 6K of weight.

 

[Jimbo]

I have no ties to this outfit other than a very happy customer.........
https://www.harlemanglobal.com/product-category/skid-steer-attachments/grapples/