Loader Lifting Capacity Bobcat CT 235

[Fred Barbour]

I asked other Bobcat CT 235 owners about the lifting capacity of this tractor but never really nailed a weight down. I wanted to know before investing in Bale Spears for large square bales.

In any event, I finally decided the only way to determine this is purchase bale spears and find out for myself. I bought HLA triple bale spears and after arrival went out and brought home two 4x3x8ft square grass bales weighing around 1,000 lbs.

My neighbour gave me an old ballast he had on his property that he wasn't using (weighs about 950 lbs) and presto, I'm ready to go!

The tractor picked them off a flatdeck one ton truck without problems and I stacked them on top of each other. I'm guessing, but I think I may have had another 100-200 lbs lifting capacity left.

I would include pictures if I could get my computer working right and will do so when I have solved that problem.

Just thought I would let CT 235 owner know what mine did.

Fred

 

[milkman636]

Nice, its always good when your tractor does what you want it to. Maybe the pics could show what your cat is feeding as well.

 

[abatis]

This thread may have some info on the capacity http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...bcat-ct-235-loader-lifting-4.html#post3055211

I lift 1000lb bales with my CT235 and bale speer. Once I got a quick attach for my 3-pt bale speer everything worked fine using the loader. I have the rear tires juiced and add some weight on back. Your 950 lb ballast sounds great and I bet makes a real difference. I just run slow and try to not make any big moves when I am handling the bales.

 

[tcartwri]

Impressive. I know mine wouldn't pick a 1200lb skid up when it was new. I was able to roll it back slightly and drag it around.

 

[Fred Barbour]

These are my pics of the tractor placing the bales.

Fred

 

[abatis]

Fred nice setup. TCAR did you have your bucket off and the bale spear attached at the quik attach? The key is getting the lift point as close to the pivot point as possible. Also depends on how heavy your bale spear setup is and the ballast. I would guess Freds set up would go 1200. Fred could test by laying a few hundred pounds on the top of a square bale.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Bobcat says the lifting capacity of the 7TL FEL is 1108 lbs to Max. Height At 500 mm forward of pins.
Breakout force is 1644 lbs. If you have the Bobtac attachment system, the weight limits are about 100 lbs less for each.

I've moved a lot of boulders recently by flipping with the bucket even though I couldn't pick them up. Amazing what that 500 lbs difference makes.

I think the 8TL was only for the CT335 and bigger models and it takes 300 and 500 lbs greater weight respectively.

 

[tcartwri]

Fred nice setup. TCAR did you have your bucket off and the bale spear attached at the quik attach? The key is getting the lift point as close to the pivot point as possible. Also depends on how heavy your bale spear setup is and the ballast. I would guess Freds set up would go 1200. Fred could test by laying a few hundred pounds on the top of a square bale.

I had pallet forks on the quick attach, and the center of mass on the skid was about 30" out. So I was not really surprised that it wouldn't lift it, but I was miffed when it wouldn't pick up a full bucket of dark earth. I have since increased the pressure on the main cylinders, although I haven't measured it with a gauge. It will pick up it's rated capacity now.

 

[Fred Barbour]

Abatis;

Yes, I have a quick attach and picked up the bale spears last week ($850.00) HLA say they weigh 240 lbs but I'm not sure about that, I lifted them out of my truck myself and yes they were heavy but not 240 lb heavy. Mind you, the spears got attached after the frame was on the ground.

I actually made the decision after getting the ballast from my neighbour. My calculations on it's weight was 950 lbs. So, I hooked up my 3 pt hitch lawn mower (550 lbs), added 3 small bales of hay for more weight, put on my pallet forks and I picked up the concrete ballast to full height. That's when I figured it could handle 1,000 lb bales.

Fred