Figure 1 About the New Design - For starters we have to be strong enough to handle the rollback power on 40 plus hp compact tractors. Picking up a load equal to the carrying capacity of these tractors is no trouble for anyone. The machine weight is relatively low and even ballasted in the rear the carry capacity is low enough that most grapple bottoms can pick it up if all you want to do is pick it up and put it down. We are aware that you need more than that from a grapple.
You can get pallet forks to pick it up and put it down. CAL has used fully integrated 3/8 tines with a heavy corner radius and optimized the spacing to maximize the rollout strength while keeping the weight down to increase capacity. There is plenty of meat in the corner on the bucket tines as shown above, tying the lower bucket tines to a 3x3 box tube at the top and bottom. The superior bucket body is finished off with the 1 5/8OD schedule 80 pipe tying the tines together at the ends with 3/8 tapered gussets/cutters on both sides of every tine. The spacing on the bucket tines is designed to allow grapple lids to strike evenly on 2 gussets per lid to be certain the lids will bottom out about 3/16 before the lid cylinder bottoms out thereby extending the cylinder packing life exponentially.
After creating the best full blown root grapple bucket for a compact tractor we packed the lids and hinges with features that open the gap between this grapple and the next best even further. Look at the shape of the grapple lid in the embedded drawing fig2. Old design root grapples give the illusion of increased grapple capacity by coming farther out along the top of the grapple and then turning in a tighter than 90 degree manner down to the bucket body. This creates a pocket of air that appears as extra space when the bucket is closed, but actually cannot be filled ever. You see, by maintaining an advantageous cylinder angle for clamping and getting the most grapple force you are limited by rollback angle on the grapple lid.
When you open the traditional style lid there is open space between the grapple lid tine and the interior opening of the tine. Driving straight in with your tractor, you cant fill that space. We have reshaped the tine making better use of the space and giving you a much stronger lid tine to boot. We are over 4 ½ thick in the tine radius where the grapple work is truly being done. Look at the drawing above and notice the 100% usable grapple opening of over 29. There is no trapped space. The lids are tied together with schedule 40 pipe and 2X2 boxed tubing all reinforced with 3/16 A572 steel covers configured in a complex brake pattern that makes this the toughest lid ever made for this application. We added the lid doubler plate to the bottom of the same material with an aggressive tooth design comparable to our larger skid steer grapples.
Our hinge mounts in the rear fully wrap over the 3x3 box tubing top section and are cut from heavy ½ steel plate. The lids hinges on 1 Ό zinc plated pivot pins, with 1 zinc pins on the cylinder pivots. All pins are stationary with bosses rotating on the pins and pins are stabilized using bolt tabs and 3/8 bolts. There are no locking collars to line up with the pins for bolts to drop through. A common pin tab is used throughout and care has been given to ensure bolts are easily accessible with a full range of motion for removing the nuts with a wrench. If you have ever removed a bolt where your wrench can only turn a couple of degrees at a time you are sure to appreciate this feature.
Figure 2
We put the same consideration for access in the hose protection. Bulkhead mount and hoses are protected with a bolt on cover. Cover removes with 4 easily accessible bolts and with cover removed bulkhead fitting nuts can be easily turned with full wrench strokes. Hoses are passed through the lid hinges for protection and passages have been lined up with fittings for hose protection and ease of assembly. The photo below shows bulkhead mount fully assembled with hoses. The unique angle of the bulkhead as shown allows perfect access to connections when cover is removed and excellent protection for your connections.
Figure 3 Lids are operated using 2 custom welded cylinders made for Cal with a 2 bore and 4 ½ stroke. Maximum grapple force at 2000psi is approximately 1500#s with forces even greater on loaders pushing 2800 to 2900psi. The standard hitch is universal skid steer. We have made the hinge plates into heavy gussets for the top rail and our compact lower hitch bracket is the heaviest you will find anywhere for compact attachments. We are aware of the tractor type universal hitches that have independent floating pads with a little extra movement in the latch pin. For that reason we left a 1/8 gap in the hitching area between the back of the bucket tines and the landing area at the back of the 3x3 tubes to account for any play you may develop in your latch pin spring assembly.
As with any CAL attachment, you get the benefit of our extensive hitch library and our willingness to match any hitch that we can match for an exact fit on you tractor loader. Keep this attachment in mind for mini skid steers as well. The 15 degree forward roll on the bucket back makes this a good fit for mini skid steers with their limited rollback capability and is a great match for the power and lift capabilities on these machines. | 
