Pickup-Mounted Bale Spear Uses Snow Blade Lift Arm, Hydraulics

Pickup-Mounted Bale Spear Uses Snow Blade Lift Arm, Hydraulics HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 21-3-11 Noel Bablo, Corning, N.Y., made a low-cost bale hauler out of his 4-WD Chevrolet Blazer by mounting a 4-ft. long homemade spear on a hydraulically-operated lift arm that was originally designed to raise or lower a snow blade. Two bolts hold the bale spear in place. "It lets me haul bales weighing up to 750 lbs. at highway speeds," says Bablo. "I'm a small time farmer with 12 beef cows and I don't have a tractor. I use the spear to haul bales from my neighbor, who lives about a mile away, back to my pasture where I drop them and put a bale ring over them for feeding. It cost a lot less than buying a tractor and I always stay nice and warm inside the Blazer. The snow blade weighs more than 400 lbs. by itself so the bale isn't that much extra weight on the vehicle. I mounted an extra leaf spring on the vehicle when I in-stalled the snow blade which helps support the extra weight. "I used 1 1/2 in. sq., 3/16-in. thick sq. steel tubing to build the spear. I sharpened a length of 1-in. dia. steel pipe to a point and welded it onto the tubing in order to make the point. I'm looking for a manufacturer. I think it could be marketed for about $100." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Noel Bablo, 10485 Rogers Rd., Corning, N.Y. 14830 (ph 607 962-5132).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.