pallet forks for round bales????

[tornadowatchranch]

Planning on a Bobcat ct335 soon. I know I want pallet forks for many uses but am wondering if they can safely be used for 900# round bales or do I really need the bale spear. This is only about 30 per year and flat ground loading a trailer with proper ballast on back of tractor (another bale). There is a huge cost difference for the pallet frames which will also handle a spear and then there is the spear itself. whew!

the wind

 

[kthompson]

As long as your forks are not so wide the bales will fall through you should be fine. Many around here used forks for round bales. Do have them wide enough the bale sits between them some and not roll off easy.

 

[Duffster]

Planning on a Bobcat ct335 soon. I know I want pallet forks for many uses but am wondering if they can safely be used for 900# round bales or do I really need the bale spear. This is only about 30 per year and flat ground loading a trailer with proper ballast on back of tractor (another bale). There is a huge cost difference for the pallet frames which will also handle a spear and then there is the spear itself. whew!

the wind

We use pallet forks for round bales.

Just be careful either way not to lift it straight up and tip it off the back of the forks and drop it on the operators platform

 

[LD1]

What is the lift capacity of the loader??

I took a quick look at bobcat's website and their specs page sucks. It doesnt have half the info that other manufactures have.

 

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

how far away from me are you?
might have a real easy way to find out if it'll work.

 

[GreenWannabe]

What is the lift capacity of the loader??

I took a quick look at bobcat's website and their specs page sucks. It doesnt have half the info that other manufactures have.

I downloaded literature on the tractors and the attachments from Bobcat's website. The attachments literature give the lift capacity for the 8TL loader as 1300 lbs 500mm forward of the pins and 1650 lbs at the pins. HTH.

 

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

supposedly White Star in Manhattan stocks the Bobcat tractors - but I heard yesterday about a couple that had been sold in Topeka in the past 6 months.

 

[burnetma]

I've used my pallet forks (4' long w/adjustable spacing and a 3' high back) to handle round bales. I found it to work perfectly. You will have to take a look at your forks and make sure that the bale can not flop back on you. Me personally, I think the spears are good for 3 point, but dangerous on a FEL.

FYI, my neighbor has taken an entire forklift boom and modified it for his 3 point for loading bales 2 and 3 tiers high on transport trailers. Of course the tractor is a IH 1066...

 

[Westendorf-RR]

NO - It is NOT recommended to use a Forklift attachment to handle bales. Almost ALL the FEL Mfgs. issue strict warnings against doing this. The bale is not "secured" to the attachment (as it is with a spear or bucket/grapple combination) and it can (as others have indicated) roll down the arms onto the operator's platform. Those loader arms make a perfect ramp in your direction when raised in the air. All it takes is one inexperienced operator or a distraction while raising those arms without adjusting the tilt and you have a very dangerous, life threatening situation. Is saving $700 or $1000 (cost of spear) worth risking your life or that of a child, hired hand or friend? Always safety first.

 

[chh]

Westendorf_RR is correct. I would not use anything but a spear(and I handle a lot of bales). If the tractor has the universal skid steer mount the spears can be had for a pretty reasonable price. The one for a MF FEL hook mount ran about $600 for the last one I priced, the universal skid steer mount for the one on my Montana (twin spears) was about $400. If the dealer is too high check out the prices for them on Ebay.

 

[J_J]

Planning on a Bobcat ct335 soon. I know I want pallet forks for many uses but am wondering if they can safely be used for 900# round bales or do I really need the bale spear. This is only about 30 per year and flat ground loading a trailer with proper ballast on back of tractor (another bale). There is a huge cost difference for the pallet frames which will also handle a spear and then there is the spear itself. whew!

the wind

There is no reason that you can't use pallet forks to pick up round bales. You can also add another modified fork for the center with a hay spike welded on at about the center of a regular bale. Then just take the center fork/spear off when not needed. I even made a digging bucket using one of the pallet forks.

You can also make fork extensions.

 

[burnetma]

Good point made.

In my case I have a mechanical self-leveling loader, a lifting capacity of nearly 3x the bale weight, a properly ballasted tractor and a backplate on my forks that is 3 feet tall. Furthermore, I am an experienced forklift and tractor operator, so I can see level on the forks and can see and feel instability of the load. In my set-up and with my experience, there is no risk what so ever of a bale flopping over the backplate or off the forks while working on reasonably level ground.

All that having been said and understanding the legal warnings that is required when dealing with equipment of any kind, the original poster will have to assess for himself the conditions under which he is using his equipment and his competence with the equipment to determine if he will be performing a safe act.

My comment about bale spears being dangerous on FEL is two fold: 1. If a bale is poorly formed or weathered, the bale may come apart or slip off the spear. The FEL just gets the bale that much higher in the air when it happens. 2. The operator is farther away from the tip of the spear on a FEL vs. 3 pt, thus he is more likely to make a depth perception error and pierce something besides the bale or not get the bale well seated on the spear or worse yet slip while seating the bale.

A rotational head bale squeeze is the best tool for the job, but for 30 bales a year and for the size of the unit he is using, it is impractical.