This grapple is used on an excavator at a transfer station. Vito Trucking out of Modesto uses it to load a green waste grinder. They called because it was cracked. It was critical that their excavator be up and running soon. Two of us were able to work on it and it took about 12 man hours to complete. We were able to get them back on track and they were using the excavator that evening.
I gouged out the crack and in so doing the two pieces of the pivot pin boss seperated, they were only held together by about 1/4″ of material. It was very important that the two be put back together tightly so there were no gaps between the two pieces of material and so there would not be any added stress from the two arms being different lengths.
This is a picture of the grapple from the inside and you can see quite extensive cracking.
Cracks welded up from the inside.
Pivot pin boss welded up.
eagleweld.com 