Truck Makes Great Self-Propelled Bale Grabber

Truck makes great self-propelled bale grabber HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 17-2-11 "It works great and saves a lot of labor," says Dale Gosselin, Hillsboro, Ore., who converted a 1953 Chevrolet 1 1/2-ton truck into a bi-directional rig equipped with a "grabber" fork that can lift up to 10 conventional bales at a time. Gosselin designed the "Goose Neck", as he calls it, to be compatible with his New Holland automatic bale wagon. The truck runs at speeds up to 55 mph. Bale-lift booms have a 20-ft. lift and are fitted with a 6 ft. 8 in. wide by 7 ft. 4 in. long grabber fork equipped with 32 curved teeth that can handle one layer of 10 conventional size bales at a time. "It lets me load and unload semi trailers without any hand labor," says Gosselin. Gosselin says he got the idea for the bale handler from Stan Steffen, Silverton, Ore., who designed a machine to handle 4-ft. sq. bales (featured in FARM SHOW Vol. 2, No. 3). The only similarity between the two machines is in their bidirectional capability, says Gosselin. "The bi-directional design provides great maneuverabilty, visibility, and traction." Power for the "Goose Neck" is provided by a Chevrolet 350 cu. in. gas engine salvaged from an old pickup. Gosselin removed the body of the truck and shortened the frame to a 9-ft. wheel-base. He made a new cab for the rig and added a second steering wheel to face the rear, installing boom control valves next to it. He also installed an extra accelerator and brake for "reverse" driving, as well as a 20 gpm crankshaft-driven hydraulic pump to power the boom. He added about 500 lbs. of ballast under the front bumper to balance the load. Gosselin installed an automatic trans-mission and 2-speed rear end. "I use low range to load or unload and high range for road travel, up to 55 mph," says Gosselin. The original steering and brake system was left in place and hydrostatic steering was added, as well as a second master cylinder for the brakes. The fork's curved teeth bite about 6 in. into each bale. Teeth are arranged in four rows and work in two sets that move toward each other. There are six hydraulic cylinders on the boom, including two for lifting the boom, two for lifting the arms, and two for working the teeth into the bale. A belt-driven orbit motor is used to rotate the fork. "The fork rotates up to 360? (limited only by hydraulic lines to the grapple cylinders) so I can approach a stack `kitty corner' with the machine and still pick up bales at a 90? angle," says Gosselin. Gosselin spent about $10,000 to build the rig. Contact FARM SHOW Followup, Dale Gosselin, 16000 S.W. McCormick Hill Rd., Hillsboro, Ore. 97123 (ph 503 628-1848).

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