in my opinion any thing you add to the end of the stick changes the balance of the machine. If you have a hydraulic thumb, a tiltrotator, and a full bucket of dirt, any machine is gonna feel different then if you had only a bare stick and a bucket of dirt. I have run a tilt rotator for several yrs, We went to a shorter stick to compensate for the extra weight and length added by the tiltrotator. Buy a grapple for your tiltrotator and you'll never say thumb again! We also have that 3 way valve setup on a smaller machine, What a pain in the wazzue!