K - NH 7414 GRAPPLE BUILD
The New Holland 9030 has an option for a grapple on the bucket. This grapple allows the tractor to pick up square and round bales. My tractor did not have the grapple option. I priced it out at the dealer and it was $7,000! I then priced it out used and the best I could find was $2000. I can build it for less than half of that.
The first stage is designing all of the parts. Here is my preliminary model of the grapple assembly positioned on the New Holland 9030 bucket. I have also modeled several sizes of round bales to see how the tines will grab the bale.
I wanted to make my grapple as close to stock as possible. Unfortunately, I don't have a sample grapple to measure from. So, I made the best estimates I could from pictures I found on the web. I think I have it pretty close.
Now that the design is done, I just need to laser the parts and weld it together. More to come....
Turn of events. When I was shipping my core axle back to the gentlemen at Salem Tractor Parts I asked if they had a grapple available. Sure enough John said he just got a bent up, slightly beat grapple in on a burnt tractor. He had a good price so I took him up on the deal. Here is a picture of the grapple on the burnt tractor. I am sure I can give it some love and make it new again. Although I was looking forward to making one from scratch, this one will be much cheaper, quicker, and it will be stock New Holland.
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Here is the 9030 with the grapple installed. (First installed 11/26/12). The hydraulic lines are new, and the retract cylinder line keeps blowing apart the quick disconnect. I will need to replace the female connection to solve the issue. I also need hydraulic lines that are much longer. When the boom is raised all the way and the bucket dumps, there is about 12 feet of distance there. Exciting it is finally on though.
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