Fold-Up Bucket-Mounted Bale Arms

Fold-Up Bucket-Mounted Bale Arms HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 19-6-9 Home-built bale arms mounted on a loader tractor bucket let Alfred Thooft load round bales fast. When not in use, the retract-able arms fold out of the way on top of the bucket. "They stick up only about 4 in. above the bucket so I hardly even know they're there," says Thooft, of Tyler, Minn. "Works better than conventional grapple forks, which are always in the way." The bale arms are made from 2 by 4, 1/4-in. thick steel tubing equipped with 8-in. long spears on the ends. The arms pivot on 1 1/2-in. dia. steel shafts that are welded to steel plates that bolt to the loader frame. A 2-in. dia. hydraulic cylinder mounts on each arm. The cylinders are operated by an extra hydraulic valve that Thooft added to the tractor. To load a bale, he opens the arms then drives ahead and closes the arms to spear both sides of the bale. "It grabs the bale without poking big holes in it," says Thooft. "I used the tapered ends of a car axle to make the bale spears. I cut I ft. off each end of the axle and bolted them to the arms so they stick out about 8 in." Thooft uses the bale arms to load a home-built 30-ft. bale trailer that holds 12 round bales - six on each side. He made the trailer by mounting an old school bus frame on a truck axle equipped with 8.25 by 20 dual tires. The bales rest on a pair of steel cradles that are tipped to the side by pulling back on a pair of 4-ft. long levers at the front of the trailer. The levers are latched to a pair of long steel rods that run down the center of the trailer. "I bought the bus frame for $40 and spent a total of about $500 to build the trailer," says Thooft. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Alfred Thooft, Box 54, Strong St., Tyler, Minn. 56178 (ph 507 247-3911).

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