Leaving a grapple attached while on the safety pins

[Grit]

Does anyone know if leaving a grapple attached while the boom is on its safety pins is ok to do? How much stress is it putting on the boom and the attach plate itself? The grapple weighs a little over 1,000 lbs.

Thanks!

 

[heymccall]

It is standard practice to remove the attachment when propping the boom up. The safety prop isn't designed for the additional weight.
On a Takeuchi TL150, you can buckle (destroy) the safety prop by lowering the boom under power.

 

[Bumpsteer]

I always block the boom up with no attachment.

Ed

 

[Grit]

Thank you. I guess I'll just have to dettach it every day when I park it. I normally put it up on its safety pins so that I can keep a battery maintainer on it. Battery is in a really dumb spot and if boom is down, no way to get to it.

There is a positive post just inside the rear door, but not sure how well it works for jumping. Last time I tried it, I still could not get it started until I actually replaced the battery with a new one. It didn't inspire a lot of confidence.

Thanks again!

 

[seville009]

not sure if this would work on a skidsteer, but I had a battery problem one time with my whole house propane generator.

Battery is a pain to access to check the voltage quickly and easily, so I bought some three foot long battery cables, hooked them to the battery, and ran the other ends to the top of the generator panel and then covered the ends with plastic tubing. I can now check the battery voltage with my multimeter using the ends of the extended battery cables. works great.

Try that for your battery tender/jumping.

 

[Grit]

not sure if this would work on a skidsteer, but I had a battery problem one time with my whole house propane generator.

Battery is a pain to access to check the voltage quickly and easily, so I bought some three foot long battery cables, hooked them to the battery, and ran the other ends to the top of the generator panel and then covered the ends with plastic tubing. I can now check the battery voltage with my multimeter using the ends of the extended battery cables. works great.

Try that for your battery tender/jumping.

That's a good idea. Ideally, if I could find a maintainer with the ring mounts large enough to go onto the top posts, I could just run the plug to the rear and outside the door. Then just plug the adapter into the maintainer and plug into outlet. The only maintainers I see, though, are for small battery. Ironically, that's what I'm using, but with alligator clips. With the boom down, though, I can't get in there to hook them up. I can't get to it through the sides or the top, hence, the ring terminals.

 

[heymccall]

So, you're telling us that you cannot remove the nut on the battery cable terminal and slip a ring terminal under it, on each post?

 

[ThreeCW]

Noco has some good battery maintainers that you might want to consider. Their new line is an On-Board Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer, and Battery Desulfator with Temperature Compensation. They are available in 2 amps, 5 amps and 10 amps. I have a 2 amp version of the below charger on two of my cars that may be parked for a week or two between uses. I also have their previous 4 amp version on my diesel truck which can sit a few months between uses in the winter. The new version below has the latest charging technology. Great for vehicles / equipment that you want to top charge every night or for ones that you only use once a month.

 

[Grit]

So, you're telling us that you cannot remove the nut on the battery cable terminal and slip a ring terminal under it, on each post?
View attachment 229699

I can remove the nuts just fine, but the maintainer(s) I have, the rings are too small to fit over the post. I need to find a maintainer that has bigger ring terminals. Plenty of maintainers out there but they don't tell you what the ring terminal size is.

Thanks.

 

[Grit]

Noco has some good battery maintainers that you might want to consider. Their new line is an On-Board Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer, and Battery Desulfator with Temperature Compensation. They are available in 2 amps, 5 amps and 10 amps. I have a 2 amp version of the below charger on two of my cars that may be parked for a week or two between uses. I also have their previous 4 amp version on my diesel truck which can sit a few months between uses in the winter. The new version below has the latest charging technology. Great for vehicles / equipment that you want to top charge every night or for ones that you only use once a month.
View attachment 229715

Thank you, I'll check that out.

 

[heymccall]

A) Most top post battery terminal pinch bolts are 5/16". Some later ones are M6.

2) You can crimp any size ring to any wire coming from the maintainer.

iii) Regardless of the size ring on the maintainer wires, they can be changed.