Front Suitcase Weights Replaced With Front-Mounted Bale Spear
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Until last winter, we carried one or two 4 by 5-ft. bales on back of our Deere 4430. That's when I came up with the idea of replacing the front suitcase weights with a front-mounted bale spear that allows us to carry one extra bale to counterbalance the weight on the back.
We simply removed two of the four existing bolts from the weight bracket and made a bolt-on lip for the top of the bracket. We made a pair of 4-ft. side rails out of H-beam and attached an 18-in. hydraulic cylinder to the lip and fitted it with a bar on top to raise and lower the bale spike we used. The H-beams are fitted with "ramps" at the top and bottom so the bale tips slightly backward and up as it's raised and slightly downward and forward as the spike is lowered to make loading and unloading easier, and to keep the bale from falling off in transport.
Since we built it, we seldom feed cattle without hauling three bales at a time. (Clair McNutt,. 286 Pine Valley Road, Homer City, Pa. 15948; ph 724 499-2288)
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Front Suitcase Weights Replaced With Front-Mounted Bale Spear BALE HANDLING Bale Handling (31B) 23-3-33 Until last winter, we carried one or two 4 by 5-ft. bales on back of our Deere 4430. That's when I came up with the idea of replacing the front suitcase weights with a front-mounted bale spear that allows us to carry one extra bale to counterbalance the weight on the back.
We simply removed two of the four existing bolts from the weight bracket and made a bolt-on lip for the top of the bracket. We made a pair of 4-ft. side rails out of H-beam and attached an 18-in. hydraulic cylinder to the lip and fitted it with a bar on top to raise and lower the bale spike we used. The H-beams are fitted with "ramps" at the top and bottom so the bale tips slightly backward and up as it's raised and slightly downward and forward as the spike is lowered to make loading and unloading easier, and to keep the bale from falling off in transport.
Since we built it, we seldom feed cattle without hauling three bales at a time. (Clair McNutt,. 286 Pine Valley Road, Homer City, Pa. 15948; ph 724 499-2288)
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