Hay Unloading Attachment

[shaggyman]

We have an animal rescue that takes care of special needs horses, and we go through a lot of hay.
We'd be feeding now (drought has really borked the pastures) if it was available, but it seems we can only get delivery in large loads.
I need to engineer something to attach to my FEL trip bucket to push the 2nd tier of round bales off of a flatbed.
I bought a scissor lift but my rear hydraulics (old Ford 800) would not even pretend to lift an 800 lb bale with the spike out that far.
I'm thinking just a boom with a pushing head that would bolt to the bucket somehow - wouldn't need to lift, just push the bale off the bed.
3 1/2' sprinkler pipe? 3" x 1/4" steel?
Suggestions?

 

[zzvyb6]

Post a picture or a drawing of the situation. What kind of trailer ? Gooseneck, bumperr pull, 5th wheel, deckover, ...

 

[4570Man]

I built this attachment for a different use but I guess it would push hay bales.

 

[shaggyman]

Post a picture or a drawing of the situation. What kind of trailer ? Gooseneck, bumperr pull, 5th wheel, deckover, ...

A drawing would be too variable, as the type of trailer would depend on who is bringing the hay. I would LIKE to have someone deliver with a self-dumping trailer, but this drought has made hay in west central Missouri really hard to find AND expensive.
The problem is how to attach a boom to the trip bucket without welding on stuff that would make the bucket unusable. Since there would not be a lot of lifting force involved, it just needs to be rigid enough to push a bale in a straight line, and long enough to reach the bales without the tractor hitting the trailer. If the bales are double stacked on a semi flatbed they could be sitting over ten feet from the ground, and trip bucket has no curl - so the boom would need to be mounted on the bucket with a downward angle so it could be more or less level in the raised position.
I'm wondering whether to use a single boom or twin, but the main thing is attaching to the bucket in a manner that would be easy to take off and put on. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ddbackhoe]

We have an animal rescue that takes care of special needs horses, and we go through a lot of hay.
We'd be feeding now (drought has really borked the pastures) if it was available, but it seems we can only get delivery in large loads.
I need to engineer something to attach to my FEL trip bucket to push the 2nd tier of round bales off of a flatbed.
I bought a scissor lift but my rear hydraulics (old Ford 800) would not even pretend to lift an 800 lb bale with the spike out that far.
I'm thinking just a boom with a pushing head that would bolt to the bucket somehow - wouldn't need to lift, just push the bale off the bed.
3 1/2' sprinkler pipe? 3" x 1/4" steel?
Suggestions?

Why not slide out the bottom bales first and control crash the top ones down? Or get some bolt on pallet forks?

 

[Smokeydog]

Picture of your bucket would help. My old trip bucket had manure tines which would be easy to sleeve for a push bar. Most trip buckets have a series of holes for tines for a no-weld attachment.

Modifying a set of clamp-in pallet forks could make a pusher probably cheap.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Seems like it may be very dangerous pushing hard enough to move nested bales with the bucket up that high. I wonder if you just ran a chain or rope around and pulled it off? Not with your loader obviously. You could probably do that just as easy, or easier, with a truck than the tractor. Obviously that would take longer but in my mind it would be safer and it would get you through until you are back to normal deliveries.

No neighbors that would help?

 

[shaggyman]

Actually, if it would be possible to coordinate with the delivery, I could pay a neighbor with a front bale spear to unload. Never worked before, but...

 

[ddbackhoe]

Actually, if it would be possible to coordinate with the delivery, I could pay a neighbor with a front bale spear to unload. Never worked before, but...

Where abouts on the map are you? Might find a friendly TBner to help out, especially for a rescue group

 

[Vigo327]

I think I could build something like what you are asking for out of 3 or possibly 4 8-foot 4x4 posts.

First, tuck a 4x4 along each side wall of the bucket (should stick out maybe 6ft past the bucket) and raise the bucket until the boards naturally tilt and the ends of the boards are floating in the rear of the bucket. Once you get the angle about how you want it to achieve that downward angle you mentioned (to compensate for the ‘rollback’ of the bucket as loder lifts), then push the boards in until they’re hitting the back of the bucket. Then measure the distance vertically down from under the top lip of the bucket, down to the 4x4. Cut a 4x4 to that ‘height’ and attach it the 8ft stick so that the short vertical 4x4 piece is entirely ‘tucked’ under the top lip of the bucket (flushed to top edge but not protruding out past top edge), but definitely touching the side walls. This should make it ‘self centering’ in the bucket width wise. Make a mark on top of the bucket where the center of those 4x4s is under that top lip. You can now measure the width between your two 8ft sticks and cut a brace to fit between them and ‘set’ that width at the bucket end. Out at the front end you will attach a ‘push bar/bumper’ of 4x4 probably 3-4ft wide (make sure its a good bit narrower than the bale youre pushing so it wont snag any neighbors) and screw it to the front ends of those sticks, and at that point you should have a rigid assembly a bit like a capital H but with a bar across the top like a T.

Ok, so drill/torch/plasma a 1-1.5” hole where you marked the center of those vertical 4x4s on the top lip of the bucket. The idea is drive a big ol lag screw down into the tops of those 4x4s leaving them at least 1-1.5” ‘proud’ so that when you drive up under the end of this thing and lift the bucket while inching forwards, those big bolt heads will find and pop through those holes, retaining the thing from sliding out the front of the bucket until you drop it back down close to ground level. In my mind you should be able to pick it up and drop it from the tractor seat.. in theory! The only thing left to add is to brace between that short vertical 4x4 and the back end of the 4x4 which hits the back of the bucket and gives all the pushing force. The vertical 4x4 is just setting the ‘droop’ angle and keeping the thing from sliding out by hooking some big bolt heads on the edge of some big holes, but it should never be providing the pushing force which should come from the end of the 8ft sticks contacting the rear of the bucket. If the vertical 4x4s are short enough you might not need that bracing, or you might be able to lay a 4x4 piece down horizontally (4” tall..) on top of the 8ft sticks and leave the excess length hanging out the front where it wont touch anything, and put another lag bolt through it there so youve got 2 bolts in shear vs a tall ‘column’ in bending that would need shoring up with a brace.

Like i said, i think i could build it out of 3x 8ft sticks and a bunch of large lag screws. At that size of lag screw i personally would pre-drill those holes so the screws are less likely to split the 4x4s.

Here’s a ****ty pic i did on a iphone 6 screenshot that shows the ROUGH angles of the bucket end of things. Good luck!

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

You can call a rendering plant and they'll come cut them horses up with chainsaws and save you having to bother with the hay business.

 

[ddbackhoe]

I think I could build something like what you are asking for out of 3 or possibly 4 8-foot 4x4 posts.
Ok, so drill/torch/plasma a 1-1.5” hole where you marked the center of those vertical 4x4s on the top lip of the bucket.

Like i said, i think i could build it out of 3x 8ft sticks and a bunch of large lag screws. At that size of lag screw i personally would pre-drill those holes so the screws are less likely to split the 4x4s.

Here’s a ****ty pic i did on a iphone 6 screenshot that shows the ROUGH angles of the bucket end of things. Good luck!

Yes, something like that should work. Could you run a cargo strap around th ebucket instead of drilling holes?

 

[ddbackhoe]

You can call a rendering plant and they'll come cut them horses up with chainsaws and save you having to bother with the hay business.

Too much time in the sun or just an insensitive jackass ?

 

[zzvyb6]

Even though your loader can not pick up the round bales, it probably can punch a pipe or rod, or chain thru the center of them. If you can hook a long chain to this pipe/rod,chain, I'll bet you can pull them off the trailer lengthwise and roll them up to your storage area.

I wouldn't worry too much about them rolling into you when you pull them off because they make lousy wheels, but they will roll. I've seen this method used to feed out the bales, too. Cut the wrapper and unroll it in the pasture.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Too much time in the sun or just an insensitive jackass ?

Just stating fact.

 

[5030]

My only comment on this thread is...

Break down an buy a real tractor with a real front end loader and and install a bale spear either to the bucket or a stand alone one. Lots of used ones on Tractor House. That antique tractor you have is an accident waiting to happen and pushing round bales off a trailer or whatever is an exercise in getting hurt. Upgrade to something (tractor-loader) that is actually suitable or quit volunteering.

 

[Vigo327]

I dont entirely agree but i agree that if you cant get it done with something as cheap and simple as what i suggested, you’re probably better off searching for your next (or second?!) tractor vs trying to adapt this one to task.

I think something you may run into that would be hard to work around is with the loader lifted nesr max height and pushing forward, you’ll probably be lifting your front wheels off the ground before you can push very hard. If you draw a line from the end of your push bar, through the pins your loader arms pivot on, and out the back of the tractor: If that line passes below the rear axle then pushing forward with push your front end down (good) , but jf that line passes above your rear axle you’ll be lifting your front tires (bad depending on to what extent).

 

[shaggyman]

I think I'll rig up something to push off a trailer with, but first tier only.
Messing with a second row is courting disaster.
Absolutely no chance of getting another tractor - I'm still driving a 1987 pickup and a 1999 car, still paying off the barn and not getting anywhere near the donations needed to fund Harley's Place Animal Rescue. Wife had to go back to work to feed all of them.
Thanks for all the input!

 

[Gee Ray]

I don’t believe there’s much of a problem of pushing the hay off of the trailer.

Most of the hay that I see being shipped is two bales on the bottom and a single bale in the middle of the top row. If you were to push the bottom, two bales off of the rear of the trailer, the top one would fall down to the deck, or all the way to the ground. This could be relatively easily done and with minimal chance of any harm.

An alternative would be to place a strap between the back, two bales across the trailer and pull the bottom. Two bales off the trailer at the same time. And again the top bale would fall to the trailer deck and easily rolled off.



I know the following statements will upset some but many people try to humanize horses instead of letting a horse be a horse.

If they were still wild, mother nature would thin the herd with predators. The old and the infirm would provide nourishment for the predators. Artificially prolonging the life of the old and infirm just prolongs the pain and discomfort of old age and terminal illnesses.

I personally don’t understand the desire to rescue horses. They should be treated well, and at the end of their usefulness, they should be terminated. A 25 year old horse standing around in the pasture year after year suffering with arthritis and every other old time disease is inhumane to me.

I delivered hay to a woman, and when I saw the horse, I was sure I was gonna to call the Humane Society. The animal was somewhere near 35 years old and in agony, but the woman couldn’t give up the horse that she has had since childhood. She was spending thousands of dollars for special feeds and veterinary care. There was no chance of improvement for the horse as she had no teeth and was nothing more than skin and bones. It was truly difficult to look at the horse. It had long lost its will to live.

There was nothing good to come from it other than prolonging the pain the horse was going through.

 

[4570Man]

I think I'll rig up something to push off a trailer with, but first tier only.
Messing with a second row is courting disaster.
Absolutely no chance of getting another tractor - I'm still driving a 1987 pickup and a 1999 car, still paying off the barn and not getting anywhere near the donations needed to fund Harley's Place Animal Rescue. Wife had to go back to work to feed all of them.
Thanks for all the input!

If 15-20 grand or so for the right tool is out of the question 6 or 7 figures in medical debt plus being laid up and can’t work will sure enough be a burden.