Round hay bale carrier

[burninbriar]

Im actually surprised that your spears are long enough to lift the bale. Some of those bales are pretty loose and soft in the middle.

This was one of my dilemmas I was struggling with, I didn't want them longer than needed making them unnecessarily difficult to push in, but then again they have to be long enough to do the job. So far they are working good, but we have only lifted a few bales.
The unit is designed for 4' bales but the arms will spread wide enough for a 5'er. The spikes have 16" of usable length, so thats a total of 32"s in the bale and that leaves 16"s unspiked. In other words, 2/3s of the bale are spiked and 1/3 unspiked.
Being that the bale is spiked from both ends helps a lot. Time will tell, I hope I got it right. If not, they are easy to change.

One other thing I would like to point out If anyone didn't pick it up from the pictures, no matter what the diameter of the bale is, as long as the axle is touching the bale and the top rail is touching the bale, the spikes will always land in the center of the bale. Sort of works like a center finder you would see in a machine shop.

[c wagner]

Looks good, awesome job.
I guess that's what you call making them earn their keep!!!

[fun4now]

that is really cool.
32" should be fine. my neighbor has a single spike in front of his tractor thats not that long, so getting it from both sides should be even better. it also looks like it rests on the frame once up, or is that just a look but not happening??
very nice work, some one is going to get a lot of use out of that.

[burninbriar]

that is really cool.
32" should be fine. my neighbor has a single spike in front of his tractor thats not that long, so getting it from both sides should be even better. it also looks like it rests on the frame once up, or is that just a look but not happening??
very nice work, some one is going to get a lot of use out of that.

Your exactly right, the bale does rest on the running gear so there is none to little pressure on the spikes once the bale is in the full raised position.
The spikes can slide freely on the lifting arms so even if the running gear is not fully in contact with the bale when you start lifting, it will be when you finish.

One other aspect of this design that I failed to mention on this thread (I did mention it back when I started this project) is that when the bale is lowered to the ground, you can cut the strings and unroll it by pulling forward with the spikes still in the bale. This will help prevent the cattle from creating a mud hole around the bale and also allow the smaller animals to get a chance to eat without being chased away. I haven't had a chance to try unrolling one yet though.

[fun4now]

you can cut the strings and unroll it by pulling forward with the spikes still in the bale.
that is really neat. bet the lil fellas like that idea.

[nfinch86]

Some of you may remember some of my questions concerning this project, like the one about torsional strength of tubing. Well, I finally finished it.
I knew with my health the way it is that it would take a long time and a thread following the progress would be tough to do so I decided to weight until I finished it to post. Unfortunately though, I missed a lot of pictures doing it like this since I wasn't thinking of the thread when I would go out to work on it.

These are some pictures of getting some of the larger pieces welded up square and some close ups of the slide pieces.
These will make more sence in the pictures yet to come.

burninbriar; Great Job !!!!...... Norm :