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Pickup-Mounted Bale Mover
If you'd like to be able to load bales onto a trailer with your pickup, you'll like this new single-bale mover invented by Brady Brooks of Montgomery, Texas.
  "As far as I know it's the only pickup bale mover designed to raise and lower the bale straight up," says Brooks. "It can lift the bale 4 ft. off the ground, which is high enough to load the bale onto a trailer. And by pulling four pins, you can fold the lift mechanism forward onto a bed-mounted frame equipped with a ball hitch, allowing you to haul a gooseneck trailer. It doesn't tie up the pickup bed when not in use, and there's no need for a tractor or forklift to unload the trailer."
  The 10-ft. high lift mechanism is made from rectangular tubing and angle iron and has a steel frame that bolts onto the pickup bed. The lift mechanism is equipped with an electric winch that's powered by the pickup's battery and is operated by a toggle switch in the cab. The winch cable acts on a pulley attached to the lift carriage. A pair of pinned-on, angled steel rods provide stability. The bale spear is made from 2-in. dia. steel pipe and pins onto the lift mechanism. Both the lift mechanism and the rods can be unpinned from the frame to fold the lift mechanism forward into the pickup bed.
  "I use it with my 1-ton Ford pickup. It lets me haul a gooseneck trailer to the field and then load or unload bales without the need for a tractor," says Brooks. "The bale spear can be lowered to the bed's floor level, which is low enough to center it on the bale.
  "I came up with the idea eight years ago when I was sitting at a red light and a truck with a gooseneck trailer passed in front of me. There were three bales on front of the trailer, with a tractor squeezed onto the back end to unload the bales. I thought there had to be a better way."
  The invention is patent pending and Brooks is looking for a manufacturer. He says a model like his prototype could be manufactured for about $4,000, and a hydraulic-powered model for about $6,000.
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Brady Brooks, 2359 Virginia Ave., Montgomery, Texas 77316 (ph 713 206-4830; bradybbrooks@peoplepc.com).


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2007 - Volume #31, Issue #3