Now that this is 99% done, I am not 100% sure buying one would have been a bad idea, though I have learned a lot on the way, too. The grapple part is only half the battle; right now I am fighting with how to route the hoses for when the bucket tips forward. RC has a nice set up for his Bobcat, but I just don't have room for that on my JD. After 3 days of tinkering, I think I have arrived, however. These grapples are not as easy as I thought, nor as my neighbor implied. There is a lot of geometry that needs to be considered; a few things rotate, so hose needs to extend and contract, or flex/twist. RC's set up avoids a lot of the bucket-tip problem; sure wish I had the room for it. Alignment in a couple of planes is critical, as the grapples have to rotate about one line that is parallel to the back and bottom on the bucket, etc. Just be careful and look at everything twice from three different directions if you make one. Oh; and have a good drill press. Anyway, here the mutha is, all hand build, all designed from a few pics on the Net and looking at one commercial grapple at an auction briefly; there are none available at any dealers, and I don't know anyone who owns one. So, a little wing-and-a-prayer here and there, and her she is. Nothing special, but if I can lift some stuff, then all is cool. Click on View All and you should be taken to the album in PhotoBucket. john <embed width="480" height="360" src="http://static.pbsrc.com/flash/rss_slideshow.swf" flashvars="rssFeed=http%3A%2F%2Ffeed862.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fab184%2Fjohnny10k%2FGrapples%2Ffeed.rss" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" />