1990 - Volume #14, Issue #3, Page #07
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Grabber For Skid Steer Loaders
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Stoltzfus bolted the grapple fork to a commercial manure fork designed for his Bobcat 641. It consists of a pair of 4-ft. long vertical steel pipes bolted to the sides of the manure fork. A horizontal pipe connects the tops of the vertical pipes and supports a pair of 3-ft. long arms which pivot up and down hydraulically. The ends of the arms are equipped with 1-ft. long spears.
Stoltzfus built his first skidsteer round bale grabber 6 years ago and has since built 3 more for neighbors. "Moving round bales with a skid steer loader is more efficient than moving them with a front-end loader. I can turn on a dime which allows me to stack bales anywhere inside buildings because I can maneuver right around posts and machinery with no problem. Bales stacked on end cure better because air flows up through the center of the bale. They also keep their shape bet-ter. Bales can't fall off my grapple fork as easily as they can on a front-end loader spear because there are two holding points. It's also safer than a front-end loader because the grapple fork framework blocks the bale if it would ever roll back-ward. The rollover cage also offers protection from bales.
"My grapple fork is also a materials handling dream. I can use a 4-ft. long chain in front of the arms to haul 8 by 10-ft. sheets of steel. By mounting another steel frame on the fork I can use it as a light crane to lift materials such as 150-lb. rafters 18 ft. high."
Stoltzfus custom builds units for $450 F.O.B. (not including hydraulic cylinder) and also sells plans for do-it-yourselfers.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jonas Stoltzfus, RD 1, Box 196, Loysville, Penn. 17047 (ph 717 536-3618).
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