Modified Mack Truck Hauls 12 Big Bales

Modified Mack Truck Hauls 12 Big Bales HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 17-4-7 Loading large round bales of hay or straw is a quick and easy job for Arlen Stocking, Barrhead, Alberta, since he built his bale-hauling Mack truck. Stocking added a hydraulic-controlled big bale fork to the side of a 1975 Mack tandem axle truck that loads bales in two side-by-side rows and unloads them the same way with no need for the driver to ever get out of the cab. The pickup fork is on the driver's side of the truck. After lifting the bale onto the truck, a small hydraulic panel pushes it to the other side of the deck before the next bale is placed on the truck. Then both bales are pushed back to a headgate to make room for the next two bales. A truck hoist raises the deck to unload and the headgate pushes them off in neat, tight rows as the truck drives ahead. The headgate is driven by two sets of chains that run the full length of the deck. They're driven by an orbit motor. A 19 gpm hydraulic pump is driven off the front of the truck engine. Stocking says the truck itself is worth about $10,000 and he spent about an equal amount on materials to construct the hay loading system. He has loaded and unloaded as many as 720 big bales in a 10-hr. day with the bale truck. His wife ran it all last summer. He notes that the longer the haul, the more advantageous the truck hauler is since it still travels at highway speeds. For long distance hauling, another row of bales can be stacked on top with a front-end loader. Stocking, who runs a custom hay-hauling business, also uses the truck to haul machinery. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Arlen Stocking, RR, Barrhead, Alberta Canada (ph 403 674-3787).

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