need help for a hay bale lifter

[BD1]

hi, as far as picking them up I use the same bale spears as for round bales. If I am only moving one or two, I built a set of slide on spears. they each fit over the bucket cutting edge and extend to the back inside edge of bucket. My bucket has factory drilled holes there which are for manure tines to be bolted to. Instead I bolted the spear bracket to them. There is one spear on left and one on right side of bucket, both the same type. The center spear is mounted the same way but the spear is elevated about 12" above the other two for stability. Works really slick. Will try to get pictures if you are interested. The loader attachment is much heavier with more spears. I built it so i could lift multiple bales .

[Fred J]

I welded a 2" X 48" used pump shaft on a plate and attached to the top side of my bucket, It is held in with a pin into the pipe holding the shaft.So I can take the shaft off when hay season is over

[DSW]

Fred J: Hello and welcome to the forum.

[m.k.swelding]

My Father had a pice of 2 1/2 in solid shafting with tow pices of 2x2x1/4 in by 12in long welded on both sides of the shafting. Then from there he mounted the fork on the bucket of the tractor to move round bales around the farm. inthe case of square bales just mount two of them spaces 3 ft apart.

[MR.57]

Make a 4 spear attachment for your bucket? Here's a source for spears. http://www.stingerltd.com/products/spears/spears.htm. Their recommended spear sizes are on the bottom and the weld on collars are only $15 apiece.

Can't link to the site but this quote comes from a hay handling article:

Large square balers produce very dense bales ranging from 3x3x6 feet to 4x4x8 feet. The most common is the 3x3x6 foot long, which may be referred to as an intermediate bale in some publications. Operating the balers that make this size bales and handling these bales is very similar to operating the round baler and handling the round bales . Large square balers usually have pre-compression chambers that allow them to produce the denser bales, therefore the suggested hay moisture content for hay that will be large square baled is 15% 9 . Even so, large square bales can weigh up to 1800 pounds. Perhaps the only downside to large bales at present is the high initial equipment cost.

Whatever you end up making, it's going to have to be strong to handle one ton (literally) of weight with a considerable safety factor, because farm implements tend to get overloaded and abused. You're going to need more than a Handler 140 for this job. If you can't get access to a 250 class MIG or a stick welder, I would hold off on this project until you have something that can handle 3/8" plate. Don't exceed your limits and be safe.