Recent content by Joe Batt

We used honey locust for firewood when I was a kid. It burn really hot and doesn't rot sitting in the wood pile. Of course, now I have a geothermal well.

That looks a lot nicer than my barrel for not that much more money. Sure, the barrel is $10, but the nozzle, filter, pump, pallet, DIY headache, add up.

Just a sheet metal screw into the thicker plastic at the bottom.

My problem is normally a loose or dirty ground to the battery (because most things work, but cranking doesn't). It's hard to believe the first 20-30 times, but it's the first thing I check now.

Mine has a something of a fifth wheel that dump mechanism rides on. I watch that to see which way the wagon is going to break. Everything else is too loose and wobbly to watch. If it's going the wrong way, I stop and try again. Backing into the barn takes about 6 attempts. Backing up to the burn...

My MF1250 often will not start when I'm under the sheet metal, because of a bad ground that loosens up over time and must get knocked loose when I take the side panels off. It can be very confusing to have wo problems. I had a leak when the engine warmed up. I thought it was a leak in the...

It looks like 5 PSI is a good goal for ground pressure. So, very roughly 4,000 lbs / 5PSI = is 800 square inches. So a minimum of a 67" track 6" wide on each side.. though I'd want the skids in the corners, so 4 36" skids each 6" wide (or shorter and wider). Is that what you are imagining?

Assuming the bale didn't slide off of the sled first and that the sled will not slide sideways, wouldn't 6' wide track allow you to pull 1G in the turn before rolling over? My tractor doesn't go that fast. Why is a sled with a 4' track that puts the CG at 3' less stable than a hay wagon with...

This is one of my concerns. I'll report back with pictures after my next few uses. The first time I used it, it was less destructive than the tractor tires. It pushed the plants down, but did not tear them up and they stood up quicker where only the sled was than where the tractor tires were...

Yah. As Junior year engineering students, they should be able to address these sorts of static and dynamic design issues. My tv tower based sled did not fail when only supported at the ends, but I didn't bounce it through a gully. I have a couple of ideas of things for them to consider: Who...

I use the 3 point to move heavy bales at home. I can't load a trailer with the 3 point. The sled is much less expensive than a wagon, is easier to load, does less damage to the field, is safer (I had assumed, since it can't roll away on it's own and the bales are closer to the ground, but...

I'm confused how a sled (skids laying on the ground) is less stable than a wagon. That wagon in your picture is huge. Around here we mostly use smaller wooden bed wagons for squares and 5th wheel trailers for rounds. I'm using rounds, but not taking them on the road (just moving them across...

But my tractor can not lift the bales and I can't roll bales onto that wagon.

I built a prototype hay sled to move round bales that are too heavy for my MF1250. I'm having a 3rd year engineering class engineer something that should hold up much better. There is a local student run high school fabrication business that I plan on talking to about listing them as a...

Thanks for the pictures. It helps those of us who need to do this sort of thing for the first time.