Sorting Grapple for Excavators – G Series

What is a Sorting Grapple and Why It Is Essential Today

A sorting grapple is a hydraulic attachment designed to precisely and efficiently grip, handle, and sort materials. It is used on excavators and backhoe loaders in all situations where simple bucket loading is not sufficient and where full control of the material is required at every stage of the operation.

Compared to other excavator attachments, the sorting grapple allows for more accurate work, reducing time waste and increasing operational safety. The ability to rotate the load, grip it from different angles, and position it precisely makes this attachment essential on modern job sites, where productivity and efficient workflow organization are key factors.

How a Sorting Grapple Works

The operation of a sorting grapple is based on a hydraulic system that controls the opening and closing of the jaws, ensuring a powerful yet fully controllable grip. The hydraulic rotator or slewing ring (depending on the model) allows continuous rotation of the attachment, giving the operator maximum freedom of movement.
Thanks to this combination, the sorting grapple can grip, lift, rotate, and accurately position a wide variety of materials, even in complex operating conditions or confined spaces.

CM G Series Sorting Grapple: Designed for Continuous Professional Use

The CM Srl G Series is the result of direct field experience and is designed to meet the needs of operators who use sorting grapples daily, often under demanding working conditions. The structure is built to withstand high stress levels, while the components are sized to ensure long service life.

The hydraulic system is engineered to provide an optimal balance between clamping force and smooth movement, allowing precise control even when handling irregular or difficult materials. This design approach enables the G Series sorting grapple to maintain consistent performance over time, reducing component wear and minimizing machine downtime.

A Complete Range for Different Excavator Classes

The CM G Series range includes several models to precisely match different excavator classes. It starts with compact models such as G90 and G120, designed for excavators from 1.5 to 5 tons, ideal for confined spaces and light-duty applications.

Mid-range models G140, G160, and G180 cover excavators from 6 to 15 tons, offering an excellent balance between load capacity, clamping force, and operational versatility.
For heavier applications, the range includes G200 and G250, suitable for excavators from 16 up to 35 tons, specifically developed for recycling yards, demolition sites, and intensive material handling operations.

This wide product range allows users to select the most suitable sorting grapple not only based on the operating machine’s weight, but also according to the type of work, frequency of use, and nature of the material being handled, ensuring a correct and efficient match between excavator and attachment.

Sorting Grapple vs Other Attachments: Operational Differences

The sorting grapple operates in a complementary manner alongside attachments such as crusher buckets and screening buckets, working synergistically within job site operations. Crusher buckets CBF and CBF-L are designed to crush hard materials such as concrete, bricks, and stones directly on site, reducing particle size and producing reusable material for sub-bases, backfilling, or immediate recycling. They are typically used on medium to large excavators and loaders, featuring dedicated crushing mouths and high-strength jaws.

Shaft screeners or screening buckets, on the other hand, are specifically designed to separate materials by size, using grids or rotating drums to extract homogeneous material fractions. This facilitates subsequent processing or reuse of screened products such as gravel or clean aggregates.

Within this workflow, the CM G Series sorting grapple stands out as a complementary yet essential attachment wherever precise gripping, controlled handling, and accurate material selection are required before or after crushing and screening stages. Unlike a crusher bucket, the sorting grapple does not crush material, but allows operators to grip, rotate, and position materials in an orderly manner, supporting manual or automated separation processes. Similarly, compared to a screening bucket, the sorting grapple provides direct mechanical control over the material grip, which is crucial in operations where specific components must be identified, selected, and moved within mixed material flows.

This complementarity makes the sorting grapple particularly effective in post-primary demolition phases, recycling processes, selective material management, and all activities where quality, operational precision, and load control are key factors for overall job site efficiency.

Where the Sorting Grapple Is Used

On demolition sites, the sorting grapple is mainly used during the material handling and selection phases of demolished materials such as concrete, metals, wood, plastics, and other components. It allows rapid separation of materials, facilitating subsequent recovery, disposal, or recycling operations.

On recycling sites, the sorting grapple becomes a key tool for managing material flows such as concrete, steel, wood, and plastics. Precise gripping reduces loading times and improves workflow organization, increasing overall job site efficiency. In the forestry sector and green maintenance, the sorting grapple is ideal for the controlled handling of logs, branches, and vegetal residues.

In construction and infrastructure works, the sorting grapple is used for the controlled handling of large elements such as stone boulders for riverbank construction or large concrete pipes. In underground utilities, tunnel works, and confined spaces, maneuverability and gripping precision are critical factors.

Operational Advantages of the CM G Series Sorting Grapple

• Clamping Force and Load Control: the CM sorting grapple is characterized by high clamping force, ensuring a stable grip even on difficult or irregular materials. This results in increased operator safety and a reduced risk of load loss during operations.

• Continuous 360° Hydraulic Rotation: continuous hydraulic rotation offers a tangible productivity advantage. It allows material orientation without repositioning the machine, speeding up operations and improving efficiency on job sites with limited maneuvering space.

• Simplified Maintenance and Reduced Operating Costs: the G Series sorting grapple is designed for quick and easy maintenance. Wear parts such as counter-blades are easily accessible and can be replaced directly on site, reducing downtime and operating costs.

Request Information on the CM G Series Sorting Grapple

CM Srl provides its expertise to support you in selecting the sorting grapple best suited to your operational needs. Contact us for technical consultation, detailed information on available models, and a customized quotation.