# Prefiert hay dolly



## bluefarmer (Oct 10, 2010)

Does anyone know if they work good, can't get a picture to load


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## bluefarmer (Oct 10, 2010)

Here it is


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Is that for moving a round bale when you don't have a tractor?


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

We have a tumblebug... it uses electric brakes that are wired to run off the
headlight switch of the pickup... just back up to a round bale til the rear bar
touches, flip the headlights on in the pickup to lock the trailer brakes solid,
which then folds the cradle up against the bale as you continue to back up, at which
point a grabber flips over the bale and stabs into the side of it, then you drop
the pickup in drive and pull forward, the trailer tires hit the ground and since the
brakes are locked solid from the headlights still being on, it then rolls the cradle
back down and picks the bale up off the ground until the bale cradle is locked
in over the axle, which then flips the bale grabber points forward to the "rest" position.

Then you just flip the headlights off and drive wherever you want to go.

To dump the bale, you back up to the spot you want to drop it, just before you get
to that spot, you flip the headlights on, the trailer brakes lock, and the cradle
tips back-- keep backing up til the bale rolls out of the cradle (but before the
grabber flips back over) and once the bale rolls off, pull forward til the cradle
is locked in over the axle again, and flip the lights off, and you're ready to
go for the next one.

If I don't have TOO many bales to move but it's too far to really do it quickly
with the tractor, say a meadow a few miles away, I'll just hook the tumblebug on
the pickup and go bring them back one at a time. Course, the mileage adds up, so
if it's more than 10-15 bales, it's usually better to just run a tractor over there
and use the trailer/wagons to bring them back. Also pretty handy for feeding a
single round at remote patches or delivering just one to a customer or something, which
I have done in the past...

This one is apparently the same idea, but instead of using electric trailer brakes,
it uses "scrub plates" that drop down against the tires when one pulls the rope
to do the work of lowering the cradle or forks when backing up, and raising the bale
to the "locked" position when pulling forward. The only problem I see with that is
that if the tires are wet or muddy it might be prone to slipping, unless they have some
"traction bars" or something welded to the scrub plates where they contact the tires.
This mover, like the tumblebug, might be hard to get to work in muddy or wet ground
conditions, since they rely on the wheels locking up against the ground and not sliding
to lift/rotate the bale via leverage to raise it off the ground-- hence, if the wheels
slip, you end up just dragging the thing around in the mud. Getting it to dump in a wet
spot or slick ground can be another issue. Still, for most conditions, they work great,
but you just have to keep in mind the limitations. Usually if it's THAT wet or muddy
this wouldn't be the tool you'd want to use anyway...

I've also seen some of these single bale movers that use either a hand-operated winch
(or sometimes guys substitute an electric winch for "truck seat operation") where
one has to back up close to the bale, manually (or electrically) unspool the winch
to lower the forks to the ground, back up to push the forks under the bale (or some even
use a spear), then manually (or electrically) spool up the winch to lift the bale off
the ground by tilting it forward over the axle, usually install a trailer pin or other
"safety pin" so the winch cable isn't holding the entire load of the bale during
transport (which can be pretty rough since these things don't have suspension beyond
the air in the tires), and then reverse the process when they go to unload-- winch up and
unpin the "safety pin", winch down to lower the bale to the ground, pull forward
to get the forks out from under the bale, winch up the forks off the ground, and hit
the road.

The electric or rope pull/scrub brakes ones are at least 10 times faster...  But,
OTOH, the total lack of brakes/tires in the raising of the bale means that the winch
type would work better on wet/muddy ground.

Still, I'll take my tumblebug all day long... 

Later! OL JR


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Here ya go...






That's the tumblebug (okay, a clone of the original)... Here's the
"winch type ones" below...















Later! OL JR


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