2013 - Volume #37, Issue #2, Page #31
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Self-Loading Round Bale Hauler
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The machine is equipped with a pair of hydraulic-operated forks on front, as well as a push plate that moves bales back 2 at a time. Once all 8 bales are loaded, the operator tips the bales off the back.
“I pick up the first bale and as it reaches a 45 degree angle, a metal platform lifts up on the near side and rolls the bale to the far side,” explains Ranallo. “Then I pick up the second bale and it rolls against the first. The next step is to engage a hydraulic cylinder attached to the push plate, which moves both bales back just far enough to make room for the next bale. Once all 8 bales are loaded I activate a hydraulic cylinder to dump the load.”
He stripped the pea viner down to the frame and running gear, then bolted an 8 by 16-ft. “truck rack” on top of the frame to form a platform. He used 3-in. boiler tubing to build a pair of side-mounted forks that pick up the bale and flip it onto the machine. He added side rails to contain the bales, and a push plate on front. It rolls on a pair of 2-in. caster wheels and is pulled backward by a hydraulic cylinder.
“It works great, and I only spent about $200 to build it,” says Ranallo. “As the bale is being loaded I can keep driving to the next bale, which saves time.
“I got the machine and the boiler tubing from Stokely Van Kamp, where I worked for 38 years. I bought the stainless steel pipe that I used to make the side rails from a local creamery, and I salvaged one of the cylinders off an old high lift dump trailer. All I bought was a $100 lift cylinder and some welding wire and hydraulic hoses. Everything else I found in my junk yard.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bill Ranallo, 2087 Fifth St., Hwy. 63, Cumberland, Wis. 54829 (ph 715 822-8346).
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