How should I build a brush grapple?

[TimHeide]

Hi guys, I'm new here so this is my first thread. I'm wanting to build a brush grapple for my compact tractor. It's a John Deere 3039R with an H165 loader. The bucket is 6 feet wide, should I build the grapple to the same width or abit narrower? Also what should the tine spacing be? I was thinking I would build it out of 1/2" steel, would that be thick enough?
Thanks!

[dmcarroll2000]

I looked at my friends and came up with this off the internet


Click on the brush grapple words below. Good drawings with it.

Bucket mounted hydraulic brush grapple

[bartl]

I guess it depends on how you want to mount it...whether you want to weld it directly to the bucket or make brackets to mount it to an existing point on the bucket-to-frame attachment. Being the inventor-ous kind I'd probably design some kind of mechanism that would use the tilt of the bucket to close the grapple so that when the bucket is in the drop position the grapple is open, but closes as the bucket is rotated back and fully closed when the bucket is level... I hate having to add additional hydraulics!