"Poor Man's" Bale Loader

"Poor Man's" Bale Loader TRACTORS Loaders 31-3-25 "I built what I call a æpoor man's hay spear' using a Tommy-Lift tailgate lift off an old 2-ton truck. It mounts on front of my Allis Chalmers 170 tractor. Works great for loading and hauling round bales," says Jay Bernauer, Florence, Alabama. The bale spear is equipped with two hydraulic cylinders that operate off the tractor's auxiliary hydraulics. One cylinder is used to raise and lower the spear, and the other to tilt it up and down. Bernauer bought the lift mechanism at a junkyard for $200. It was originally operated by a 12-volt hydraulic pump and was used to load cargo into the back of the truck. Bernauer used just the unit's lift arms, using 4-in. sq. tubing to build a frame. The frame bolts onto the front and sides of the tractor. "I do all my bale handling with it. It'll lift a 6 by 5 bale weighing 1,300 lbs. with no problem," says Bernauer. "I have a 3-pt. mounted bale spear on back of the tractor so I can haul two bales at a time. The front lifts high enough to stack bales two high. "The spear is built from 2-in. cold rolled steel that slides inside a short length of 2-in. dia. pipe and is held on by a pin. Two shorter spears also mount the same way and can be replaced with a pair of forks that I built to handle 55-gal. barrels of shelled corn. "I also use the forks to handle lumber and small logs while operating my Woodmizer bandsaw mill." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jay Bernauer, 4801 County Road 47, Rt. 13, Box 54, Florence, Alabama 35630 (ph 256 766-6885).

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