"Before we came out with our single-bale mover, skeptics said we couldn't load a big bale with a pickup. Now, we've figured out how to handle two," says Randall Cox about his new Traps-Unroll bale mover that lets the driver load and unload two bales right from the driver's seat.

Cox's new two-bale system is interchangeable with his single "stabber" system that lifts and moves one big bale with a single hydraulic cylinder. The Traps-Unroll system will fit onto the stabbler base, which is bolted to the truck bed, and lifts with the single cylinder. With Cox's new patented design, no squeeze cylinder is needed for the bale handling arms, as with most other systems.

The arms are rigid, being set at the width of whatever size bales are being moved. They are lowered down the sides of the bale and are equipped with two carry spikes. The spikes grab the bale in the center and lift it onto the pickup. It takes about 15 seconds to engage and load a bale.

"The hydraulic unit, which runs off the battery, uses very little power," points out Cox. "We can load and unload bales with the air conditioner on."

The first bale is lifted and dropped all the way forward into the Traps-Unroll's bale basket, a sloping rectangle made of square tubing, that holds the bale while a second is picked up.

The second bale is held upright during transport. Loading time for each bale is about 15 seconds. Switches for operating the hydraulic unit, and the release for the carrying pins, run up to the pickup's cab.

When unloading, the bale already in the handling arms is unrolled first. Then, the arms are raised until the arms of the bale basket are engaged in the arm sockets and a latch tripped to attach them. When the arms are raised again the bale basket will raise also, dumping the second bale on the ground, where it can be unrolled.

The bale handling arms and basket are separate items and can be removed from the lifting base. Cox built it that way so people who bought his single stabber unit do not have to buy a whole new machine. The 12-volt hydraulic unit, and the 3 1/2 by 16-in. lifting cylinder, are mounted on a frame that bolts to the truck bed. Cox also offers a two-wheel trailer specially built to haul two bales with the Traps-Unroll.

The hydraulic switches can be mounted in the truck cab, run into the cab temporarily, or left on the truck bed near the unit. You can load and unload both bales without leaving the pickup cab, according to Cox.

The Traps-Unroll's lifting capacity is 2,000 lbs. The two-bale unit itself weighs 550 lbs.