boom pole hay spear

[mikebrewer1987]

hi. so i am new to the forum but ive got me an idear. we have a 1970 ford 2000 tractor. we live on 10 acres an have 4 horses. im always moving round bales of hay around. i had bought the carry all an have a bunch of pallets an it works great. but as for unloading ut of trailer an truck an trying to stack in barn it can be a pain. so im thinking about buying a boom pole an getting a hydo top link and attaching a bale spear to the end of it. any thoughts on this?

 

[urednecku]

First, welcome to the forum.
Second, the idea sounds do-able, but the hay will weigh too much to put that far from the tractor. You don't mention the size of the bales, but I think most rounds weight over 700 pounds, & some going over 1200. Compound that by putting the weight several feet behind the tractor, I doubt your tractor will lift it. If it does, the front tires will be off the ground.
If you have a FEL, one of these would work. The other one would be better for the 3ph, than trying to put a spear on the end of a pole. I have found some for better prices on Craigs-list or flea-bay. (I use search-tempest, & let it do most of the searching for me.)
Good luck, keep us informed!

 

[Red Beard]

I've got an old 360 Long tractor I have used for a few yrs to move round 6 to 800# round bales. I keep a 3pt spear on the rear and have a spike I made attached directly to the loader lift arms. I tried a bucket spear, but it put the weight uncomfortably farther foreward. Keeping the weight close to the tractor is important, both for safety and to not break your tractor. I always keep a bale on the rear for a counterweight to save the front end and spread the rear tires for stability (I stack 4x4 1/2ft bales four high). My Long is borderline for being big enough for the job, but has done it. I'd be very careful with a 2000 Fd.

 

[mikebrewer1987]

our bales are around 400 pounds. i wish i had a fel. but they are so expensive. im trying to come up with a cheap way to stack 2 high in my barn. i have had about 900 pounds of concrete on my carry all on a pallet and it lifted it fine. front wheels were definetly up some cause it was very easy to steer.

 

[al b]

The travel on the 3pt is about 2 feet, how would you get it to go high enough? How high are the bales? I know you can buy 3pt forklift attachments but they must be expensive but they sure look nice.

 

[mikebrewer1987]

it looks like the boom pole itself has a little height to it an im hoping that with the hydraulic top link ill be able to get it low enough to stab the bale an high enough to stack it the bales are around 4x4 i just want the bale to be able to lay on top. i can stand them up once they are on top.. this might not work the way im hoping but hey ya never know. i might get lucky.

 

[al b]

I suppose you could build a ramp to get the "little extra" you need and move them with the 3pt as you need it.