3-Point Bale Spear

[Rancher Ed]

This is a bale spear I built for our blue tractor last fall so it could be used to feed since we have cows two places and the orange tractor can only be one place at once.

The spear started as a slip over the bucket spear but the loader on the blue tractor will not lift a round bale. What I did was cut off the big spear and two little spears and then welded them to the frame I made. This was my first welding project and some of the welds are very ugly but I am happy how it turned out and it worked fine feeding every three days all winter.

Ed

 

[Bird]

Looks like you did a good job with that.

 

[Rancher Ed]

Thanks Bird. It was a fun first welding project and is usefull also. Right now I am working of a 3-point trailer mover that I should finish soon.

 

[Grayson Klassen]

Wow I byuilt one almost identical to it, I will add a picture of it tonight so you can see. Looks good

originally I made mine to short so I had to add to the vertical to make it work better

Mine was on a Ford 3000 and it made the front end so light I had to add weights to be able to steer without using the brakes.

 

[SandburRanch]

By golly Rancher Ed can get those cows fed now. Good job.:thumbsup:

I see you ask yourself to make a difficult weld (pic #8 round to flat). As time passes you'll figure out a way in design to relieve yourself of that stress. As an amateur welder I could never do those.

 

[Soundguy]

just curious what tractor you have that will lift the bale on the rear but not the laoder.

how do you have the loader plumbed.. tractor hyds or a front pump?

what relief do you have the loader set at.

soundguy

 

[Rancher Ed]

Wow I byuilt one almost identical to it, I will add a picture of it tonight so you can see. Looks good

originally I made mine to short so I had to add to the vertical to make it work better

Mine was on a Ford 3000 and it made the front end so light I had to add weights to be able to steer without using the brakes.

Cool. Seeing what other people build gives me ideas on how to make mine better. Our tractor has a loader so we are able to steer which is a good thing.

By golly Rancher Ed can get those cows fed now. Good job.:thumbsup:

I see you ask yourself to make a difficult weld (pic #8 round to flat). As time passes you'll figure out a way in design to relieve yourself of that stress. As an amateur welder I could never do those.

Thanks. I ground a flat spot on the bottom of the round spears about an 1" wide so it wasn't that bad. What I was having trouble with was getting a nice weld around the corners of the end plates (pic 6) because I had to stop and turn the whole thing. Have any ideas?

just curious what tractor you have that will lift the bale on the rear but not the laoder.

how do you have the loader plumbed.. tractor hyds or a front pump?

what relief do you have the loader set at.

soundguy

It is a early 80s 30hp Mitsubishi D2600. We have the back tires flipped all the way out (73" outside to outside) but is is not a large tractor by any means (53" on the front and it has a 60" loader bucket). The loader is plumbed into the tractors hyds and I have no idea what the relief is set at. I don't have any good pics but here are a couple I have.

 

[Grayson Klassen]

Here is a pic of what I built

as you can see the main spear is 2.25 solid round stock. I had to raise it up because bales would rollover in the first position. I did my lower mounts a little different but very close in design to yours.

 

[Rancher Ed]

Very nice! We already had the spear so that is what I used but that round stock looks like it works very well.

 

[Grayson Klassen]

It did and when ever we blow a shaft at work the old one goes home with me LOL

I made a cultivatir as well that I finished just before I sold the ford and bought the JD..silly me I didn't take any photos of it.

 

[Soundguy]

funny.. I did the opposite.. I took a 3pt bale spear that was almost useless to me and made a loader bucket spear. Since I really need to be able to dump bales over fences to save time with gates and animals getting out.. the pt spear was a useless implement to me.

I welded a chain and hook to the top of my bucket to hold the spear post in, then welded lil angle iron feet for the spear lower tines to seat against the bucket edge, then welded in a retainer chain on a hook in the bucket to retain the spear when backing out of the bale.

works great on an old ford 850 I have.

I'm quite surprised your machine will not lift one using onboard hyds. most of my old fords use the weak 2.85-4gpm 1500-1700 psi pump to lift round bales on the loader.. even my older 33hp 50's era antiques.. similar to the one shown in my pic. a 1955 model.. etc..

soundguy

 

[Grayson Klassen]

Nice job looks good:thumbsup:, In my case I had no choice no loader on the old ford, the JD in turn has no 3 pt just a loader, so I live with what I have and use it to the limits:licking:. With my bale fork on the 4020 I an pick up 2 1200# bales its awkward and I wouldn't drive far but I can :thumbsup:

 

[Rancher Ed]

Looks like what you did works well. We are able to stack the round bales with the 7040 and the hay barn is in the cow pasture so I just stab a bale, drive out into the pasture, and then use the loader to tip it up on end and then put the feeder over it.

It would be nice if the loader would pick it up but even a new kubota L2800, which is almost exactly the same size, only lifts 1142 pounds at the pivot pins so I am not too surprised that it will not lift ~900 pounds sitting out infront of the bucket.

I took a better picture of it and I also took a couple pictures of the trailer mover I just welded up.

 

[mjncad]

RE:

Did you MIG or stick weld it together? If MIG, then I suggest cleaning the metal up good with a wire brush on a 4-1/2" grinder to get better welds.

 

[Rancher Ed]

RE:

Did you MIG or stick weld it together? If MIG, then I suggest cleaning the metal up good with a wire brush on a 4-1/2" grinder to get better welds.

I stick welded it. You can't really tell but I used the grinding wheel to take the rust off everywhere I welded. I am hoping once it gets a little warmer to wire brush the whole thing and paint it.