Round Bale Spear on JD790/419FEL

[Timer]

I made this last summer as an experiment. It worked great. Stacked 35 rounds in barn with know problems.

 

[Timer]

Here is a view without a bale. As you probably noticed I didn't have anything for ballast. The first picture was my first attempt at lifting a bale. I was so excited that everything held together I didn't move the tractor that night. When I started moving bales I had my #7BH attached.

 

[texredneck]

very nice /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[pekabu]

Nice job.

 

[Timer]

texredneck, Thank you for your praise. I noticed you are a welder/fabricator so I have found some more pics which may be of interest. Making this was a last minute decision. My square baler had a chunk of tree limb go through it which did more damage than I had time to fix so my neighbour round baled my hay for me. I added a receiver at the bottom of the centre brace and have used that as a boom pole connection point. I put that at the bottom so the load would be in tension and not compression. The pictures don't show it but I later added connections on the top corners to attach bracing for the boom pole.

 

[Timer]

Another pic

 

[tomh]

Here is a picture of a 790 lifting with the 3 pt. I have always wanted to make one for the front too. Now I know it is possible.

 

[Timer]

tomh, Yes it can be done but must be used sensibly. I don't drive with the bale up high. Once I remove from the wagon and I back away I lower to near the ground. For one thing it makes it easier to see where you are going. As you know not all bales are the same size or weight. Some are wound loose others are tight. I had control of the size of my bales. The last one was the only one which let me know I was near my limit. Instead of having one tiny bale I got one monster.

 

[rockyridgefarm]

Wow looks great! How big are your bales? I never would have guessed the 790/419 would handle that!

 

[tomh]

I would guess the bales I have picked up with the 3point were no more than 800#s.

Timer, did you shim the hydraulics to get that to work? I was going to make a spear for the front of mine, for stacking, but according to the specs it won't handle it. My research showed that if the system is shimmed it will just handle it.

I realize you made the bales yourself but how heavy did you make them?

 

[Timer]

tomh, Sorry for the delay in replying. Luckily I still have a few bales left so I had them measured. They average between 52 and 56" in Diameter by 48" deep. They are a hard core bale wrapped with netting. It was a hot dry summer so not much moisture left in the hay. That monster bale was probably closer to 60" in diameter. All this lifting was done without modifing the hydraulic pressure. I happened to read the JD spec on a new JD2520 model, same engine,and 240 pounds lighter than the 790 and they have the hydraulic pressure set at 2418# compared to 2050# for 790, so I picked up a shim kit and will install soon.