Bale spear advise

[Paul N]

I need to build a FEL bale spear. I was looking at hayspear.com, they have plenty of choices, and seem reasonably priced. There is a choice of two different weld on sleeves that the spear slips into. One is a tapered sleeve with a nut on the end, and the other is a straight sleeve with a cross bolt. They're the same price. Is one preferable over the other? Also, for a 4 foot bale, is 33" long enough, or should I go with 39" ? I'm thinking that a short spear would be easier penetration, and less stress from leverage on the spear when sliding the bale off into the feeder. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[Rustyiron]

I just put 1 on a tractor bucket (top). I like the spear with the nut on the back but there is really a meaningless difference between the 2. Mounted to the top of your bucket you'll need to reinforce it well as most buckets are not built for "loading" in this area, at least a 3x3x3/8 angle (full width) & even then keep your eye on it for much flex. Consider mounting the slieve at an angle that is "square" to the cutting edge & the top edge so that the cutting edge will hit the bale edge. (visualize a line from the cut. edge to the top & mount the slieve so that it is at a 90* angle to it) Another consideration is that if you have either a large bucket, or are working with smaller bales, you want to be able to position your "spear" flat or paralell to the ground in the center of a bale, without your cutting edge hitting the ground.

 

[catdozer]

Go with the 33in if its too long you will not be able to go completely through the bale.

 

[JimRB]

I have the sleeve version of a spear bolted on a frame I made of 3x3 square tubing. My spear is smaller in diameter compared to the neighbor's spear. That skinny spear penetrates easier than the thick spear. Not a big deal if you are sticking the bale from unwrapped side but it makes a difference if you are grabbing a bale from the wrapped side. If you lived where I do you are moving fescue, oat, rye or bermuda bales which generally weigh less than a thousand pounds. If you are moving heavy rounds then the thicker spear may have more value.

 

[Gary Fowler]

My brother in law bought on of the kind that mounted on the FEL bottom lip but it really flexed the bucket when lifting. He had one for the 3 PH that he didn't use, so I got him to order one of the QA plates from everything attachments. I cut off the 3 point hitch brackets and welded the QA plate on to it. He was really light on the rear when using the bolt on spear, but now, he just drops his FEL bucket and hooks up the spear and what with it being closer to the tractor AND not having the weight of the FEL bucket on also, he can now lift 1000# + bales with ease and stack them 2 high. Before it was really iffy with the bale up high as the rears wanted to come off the ground when you stopped lowering it a little to quick.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I forgot, the QA plate was less than $150.

 

[Paul N]

I'm in the process of upgrading my loader to a SS quick attach system, so the spear will be on a separate plate, not the bucket. It's on a 7,000+ pound tractor, so I'm hoping it should handle a 1200# bale.
Gary, how long is your spear?

 

[tessiers]

Have a 44" spear with the straight sleeve and pin through it. I run it on a skid steer on 1200 lb bales all the time and it works like a charm. Mine is on a quick attach plate. I never liked the bucket type ones. You lose the weight on the bucket plus the bale is 2' further away from the tractor. I do like the 3 point ones, I can get a bale front and back, cuts my trips down, depending on how far from the bales to the feed lot.

 

[hcf]

Have been looking at ssqa bale spears and have seen a couple that have two long spears at the bottom. Looks like they could be used as a forklift also.

Lucas Hay Spears Double Spear | Lucas Bale Spear Double Spear

Would having two spears make it hard to pick up a 4x5 bale? Would the bale just slide around instead of the spears going into the bale? Is there a reason other than expense that you hardly ever see one with two spears?

Thank you for your time,

HCF

 

[Paul N]

HCF

I have already talked to some people about that. As you well know, there are pros & cons to each design. A single spear takes all the stress, and if there are no short stabilizers, the bale can spin on you. A 2 spear setup will cut the load stress in half, and of course the bale can't spin, but when moving some very tight bales, the spears don't always come out so easy. My favorite idea was using pallet forks. Visibility would be great on a skid loader, but on a tractor, the forks are pretty much out of sight when close to the ground. A friend of mine has pallet forks. He tells me that the forks can cut the twine. I don't know how it would work on net wrap.

It seems everything is about trade offs.

Paul

 

[hcf]

Thanks Paul,

My main concern was getting the spikes in without pushing the bale around the barn three times. Hadn't though about getting them back out.

HCF

 

[Hogleg]

I built my own bale spear. I have a fairly light JD 48 loader and it work very well. I used a axle from a diesel semi, and welded it thru a 2.5 in angle that goes along the bottom of the bucket. The axle goes thru the angle and has another 1 ft angle welded opposite for strength. The back of the axle has a plate that rides under the bucket at the rear. The whole thing is held on with a length of chain and a load binder. I regularly lift 5x5 bales with this and have never had a problem. Only thing I would like to do is add some short spikes on either end of the angle to stop rotation. Rotation is not that bad if you stick the bale a bit above center, but sometimes you miss and it spins. The real thing I like is that it goes on and off in 2 min.

I will take some pics this morning and post them.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I'm in the process of upgrading my loader to a SS quick attach system, so the spear will be on a separate plate, not the bucket. It's on a 7,000+ pound tractor, so I'm hoping it should handle a 1200# bale.
Gary, how long is your spear?

I haven't really measured it but I would say 3.5-4 feet in length for the main spear and 12"-16" on the two bottom stabilizer spears

 

[Gary Fowler]

Have been looking at ssqa bale spears and have seen a couple that have two long spears at the bottom. Looks like they could be used as a forklift also.

Lucas Hay Spears Double Spear | Lucas Bale Spear Double Spear


Would having two spears make it hard to pick up a 4x5 bale? Would the bale just slide around instead of the spears going into the bale? Is there a reason other than expense that you hardly ever see one with two spears?

Thank you for your time,

HCF

I think what you are looking at with the double spears is so you can move 2 bales at a time (not something a CUT owner would use). Bought some hay a few days ago and the seller had a double spear loader on his 95HP tractor and brought 2 bales at a time. They were spaced so that each spear centered the bales and he stuck them just a bit to the topside to keep them from rolling. That one looked wider than the posted picture but that has to be the same thing as there is no reason to put 2 spears side by side like that. You want your spear to be somewhat centered and not off to one side as it is likely to tear up the bale. To stop rotation of the bale, just put a couple small spears at the bottom of the QA plate and they don't have to be high strength steel just cold rolled round bar stock is sufficient.

 

[hcf]

Hi Gary,

Hadn't thought about using it for two bales, and as you pointed out, not a good idea for my tractor. What caught my eye was thinking I could stick one bale with both spears and also use it as a non-adjustable set of forklift tines for the same money.

Do you still have travel plans?

HCF

 

[DT86]

Hadn't thought about using it for two bales, and as you pointed out, not a good idea for my tractor. What caught my eye was thinking I could stick one bale with both spears and also use it as a non-adjustable set of forklift tines for the same money.

I bought a Blue Diamond spear with two long bottom tines. The only disadvantage I see is small diameter bales, as mentioned earlier, can tear out when the tines are too close to the outside. The way around that is to spear them low, like right at the ground, that way you are more or less cradling the bale instead of spearing it.

They do work good for pallet forks too. I'm sure they aren't as strong as the real deal but I don't need pallet forks often and can't justify the price.


Here I'm unloading some nice net wrapped hay.




Here I'm hauling some year old hay, just showing off because some one said I couldn't.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Hi Gary,

Hadn't thought about using it for two bales, and as you pointed out, not a good idea for my tractor. What caught my eye was thinking I could stick one bale with both spears and also use it as a non-adjustable set of forklift tines for the same money.

Do you still have travel plans?

HCF

I am waiting on KBR HR group to ask for more info. They sent me some forms to fill out, provided me with an estimated compensation package but have not asked for me to got take a physical or submit my passport for visa application. They proposed job offer was mobilize on April 10th so time is getting short. I expect to find an email Monday sometime assuming that all the client approvals are garnered.

 

[Hogleg]

Here are the pics for the bale spear I built, described in a reply a few posts back...

John

 

[Bison]

I build this 4 prong fork for my 3 point hitch. That way i can pick up 2 round bales at once on the rear, i have a similar 2 prong fork on the front end loader.
It enables me to move 3 or 4 bales at a crack when feeding.
Having the tines at the bottom enables a guy to pick up a damaged bale or a tightly baled one from underneath.
The tines or prongs are made from 2" x 5/16" wall sq tubing and 44" long with a fairly point that penetrates easy in most bales but tightly baled short grass bales,.but even a single sharp solid spike has trouble with those i found.

 

[tessiers]

I use my pallet forks as much as not. They tear the plastic on wrapped bales but if you are feeding them right out no problem. They break the twine if you are not careful but you will learn quick how not to do that. They are too far apart for small bales, and if I slide them in they spread themselves usually while I am on the road. And if the bales are too loose they are hard to get under if the flat part is too wide. After all the complaints they must work pretty well because I use them all the time, usually for just 1 or 2 bales, if I need to move more I use the bale spear.