Building a bale spear.

[Doug in Illinois]

My old bale fork has had it, but the 3 point frame is straight and heavy built. The forks have been welded too many times B4 I bought it. My local welding shop and I decided the frame is a lot heavier than the new 3 point spears. I am going to have him cut off the forks and add a long spear at the top with two smalls at bottom. Will be moving 5x6 grass bales with it. Already decided on 15 inch for the bottom spikes. Top spike, I need to decide on 39 or 49. Considering 49 inch rated at 2200 lbs total, or 3600 lbs at 24 inches. I feel 39 just not long enuf for a 5x6 bale, even though that is how most of the new ones are set up. Any opinions? DOUG

 

[John e.c.MI]

I'd go with the 49".

 

[D.redgreen]

We built a set of bale forks for our skidloader. We used a quick attach plate that we purchased, in addition to that we used berlon spears. we purchased four tapers and three of the shorter spears. our frame looks like an inverted PI sign. we used large rectangle tubing that we already owned. Across the bottom are three equally spaced tapers with a spear in each one. About 20 inches above the center one is an additional taper that we can install another spear if needed for large round bales. The forks work great, they move several hundred bales each year. mostly big squares and with our tall uprights we can handle two at a time.

 

[Doug in Illinois]

Berlon spears? I just Googled them, see they are in WI. I want the best top spear I can get, don't want it to snap at a bad time and drop a bale like the forks did running down the road. DOUG

 

[Suffolk1]

I built one this past summer to go on the lip of my loader bucket and used a 49 inch. Mounting bracket takes up about 5 or 6 inches. It works well. Sometimes on the initial stab the bale does not get all the way on the spear, but slides down as it is raised and tilted back. I don't think you will regret the longer length and price is not much different.

 

[Lee in Iowa]

I can tell you from experience that the 39s are too short. I built a fork with two main spears and thought the 39s would be long enough with two, but the bales hang down a lot more than with one long spear. Lee

 

[IaRalph]

You will be much happier with the longer spear. Don't weld it into the frame. In time it will crystalize and break. Weld a pipe in the frame and put a bolt through the back to hold it.

 

[Ole Shovel]

I built one from 4x18 rectangular tubing with 3" hex for spear about 48" or longer, pointed pipe welded on end with stainless rod. Heavy plate welded around hex on back side of tubing. Short lower ones about 18" long. Heavy angle and shaft pins for loader quick hitch. Later cut a hole in the lower gusset iron for pin and slide on a pipe jib crane used for lifting heavy parts and engines never bent it yet.

 

[Ole Shovel]

One of my 5 bale trailers can haul 9 stacked 2 high. 6" pipe for the rails on extended chassis, sliding hitch tongue, rear hitch also to hook 2 or 3 trailers together.

 

[Anonymous-0]

i use 3/4 ton axles for main spear and pieces of drag link for the 2 lowers...weld a plate to your frame work and drill holes the same as bolt pattern on axle...i only use 4 lugs and aint ever bent or broke one yet.

 

[IaGary]

I would not build one with the long spear and 2 short one below.

I would build it with two long spears and no short ones.

It is much more useful with 2 long spears to haul other stuff besides hay.

You can hang gates on them. Lay logs across them. And so on.

It you build one for a loader and put the spears toward the bottom of the bracket you can use it like a fork lift to lift pallets and so on.

Dad bought a factory single prong back in 1988 and a year later I modified it to a double prong with the prongs down low. The single was good for hay only. The double was used all the time from lifting fence out of the ground to loading pallets of seed.

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[Anonymous-0]

The rest of these guys have miles of experience on me when it comes to handling these large bales, but so far, the scant few times I've been loading out hay, having a pair of spears on a quick-tach, sure made it real easy to handle the bales in the photos below, the round ones I could pick up on the fly, carry 2 at a time, and get em gathered up for loading out quickly, truck was going no more than 2 miles from the field and dumping off for the guy back at the barns to unload, so things were going quickly, I kept up the whole day. It does also allow other uses like regular forks, all depends on what you do, but gathering these small round bales was actually a lot of fun.

 

[Hay Dr]

Go with the 49" forged bale spear.