# 10 bale grapple



## Roverworks (Sep 25, 2009)

Hi everyone!

Just discovered this site. I will be here daily!

I currently stack my small bales with my 1033 stack wagon then hand bomb the bales on to the transport trucks via conveyer. This activity level is unlikely to be sustainable into old age and help doing this is nearly impossible to find&#8230;I like the looks of the 10 bale grapples but have never seen one other than pictures I have some questions;

Do these grapples work as they are intended?

Do they have any weaknesses? Anything to look for in the design?

How often do bales fall from the rack accidentally.

I have an MC100 McCormick (Case clone) with a Quickie quick change bucket I would use it on&#8230;any experience with necessary modifications?

Would a used one be asking for trouble?

Alan

Southern BC, Canada


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I just switched from a NH 1000 stacker wagon to a Hoelscher Accumulator and 10 bale grapple. I wish I had done it sooner. The grapple likes the same things the stacker wagon likes...tight bales and no bananas. I used mine for the first time last week and dropped very few bales while loading/unloading. I'm going to bale another field this weekend but this time I'm going to lengthen my bales by an inch or so. That will give me better engagement on the end hooks and should solve the issue. Other than that, I loaded in the field and unloaded at the hay shed and only needed my daughter to drive the truck/trailer. Age and the lack of reliable help was my issue as well.

I bought my accumulator used and the grapple new, but there isn't much to wear out on them. There is a lot more experience on this board so they can better answer the question on used grapples. If you're going to keep using the stacker wagon you'll need one that handles the bales flat. The Hoelscher only works on-end which was a change for me that I like. I looked at the Kuhn Mfg units (they do both flat and on-end) and would have gone with theirs until I stumbled on the Hoelscher. It was too good of a deal to pass up.

I know that both Hoelscher and Kuhn Mfg make adapters to fit most FELs so you shouldn't have a problem. The only other thing you need is the additional hydraulic remotes for the grapple. I had three at my midpoint so that wasn't an issue.

When I was looking for a new solution I saw a number of people made grapples specifically for the NH stacker wagons but I can't comment on them.


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## sedurbin (May 30, 2009)

I use a Haymaster 8 bale accum. and grapple. It took a while to learn the tricks to stacking but I've heard that a NH Bale Wagon takes some getting used to. I ran Hyd. to the FEL and use flat face connectors. I mainly use the grapple on my NH TC45D with SuperSteer and it works like a charm, after you get used to it. First year I had all my stacks fall over until I figured out that you have to build them like pyramids, It don't take much, but you have to have a little lean so they don't fall toward the outside. I am contemplating a 10 bale system for loading to transport, much better use of trailer space. As far as a used one, there is not much to wear out and if anything does wear, a little weld should fix it. Hope this helps.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

A 1033 wagon has how many bales per tier - 15? I know it's a 3 wide machine. I am not sure how you can eliminate much hand work with one if you want a 10 bale grapple. I assume that would be one to load trucks, so you'd need to convert the stacks into groups for the grapple. So far as things to wear out...... hooks get bent/broken, hydraulic cylinders leak, and welds/metal break. All are obvious, and all can be fixed. Most times a used grapple can't be found, but you never know. Most folks run them till they fall apart.

Rodney


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## Roverworks (Sep 25, 2009)

Thanks everyone&#8230;.I have called the equipment supplier to see what is available.

Alan


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

It will be a real challenge if you can not pick up 15 at a time and turn the grapple 90° if you are going to stack a truck using the grapple. 
There will be some hand setting of bales required if every thing is thought out and working. Or the alternative is to have someone on the truck stacking what you put up on the load with the grab. That helps the fellow who is now bucking the bales up on the truck but not the fellow up on the load.

I back a truck or trailer up to a row of stacks and load by hand mostly having gravity working for me. My object is to as much as possible leave a flat bulkhead to start leaning fresh stacks against. But than 99.982% of my hay goes out in the back of a PU truck or a 16 foot tandem utility trailer.

As for the fellow with the NH 1000 that is a classic. I still have my first stack wagon, a NH 1010. That one used pull off hooks and you had to be agile. For a while we had the 1010 & a 1002 with the wife using the 1002. Then I got a NH 1003 that hauls 83 bales three wide. I am able to put hay in the barn faster with the 1003 than the two of us could with two 55 bale machines.

Alan did you have anything to do with the AFGC conference that was held in BC?


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## Roverworks (Sep 25, 2009)

Thanks hay wilson,

I will be using it to load B train trucks. The deal is the hay maker must deliver the bales to the bed of the truck then the driver must complete the load by arranging the load. Right now we use the conveyer which involves pulling the stack down and placing the bales on the conveyer. Takes a few hours and a lot of sweat to load 850 bales by this method!

I think you are thinking of another Alan who is a pal of mine; he was involved with the AFGC.


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## OneManShow (Mar 17, 2009)

Steffen systems makes really good hay handling equipment their webiste: Hands Free Haying | Steffen Systems

A close friend picks up with a NH 1048 bale wagon, then restacks with a ten bale grapple. He does all his loading for deliveries with the grapple as well. I think he can reach to about 14 feet vertical and rotate almost 180 degrees. His grapple is mounted on a JD tractor don't know the model. The grapple works well for him-he has loaded our trailer and it does work pretty slick.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

Either you all are talking about 2 different things orthere is some sort of gizmo that I need to get. What are the dimensions of a 10 bale grapple? I could be wrong, but I sorta recall that the 1033 handles 2 sting bales, it stacks them on edge 3 wide and 5 deep. That would be 15, and I suppose that tie rows would be 14 bales. We do what Alan wants to do all the time - we bring bales off the stack, tier by tier, set them on the truck, and hand arrange them to haul them. Ours is a SP balewagon, so it has 18 bales per tier, and I see no way that a 10 bale grapple (Like I am thinking of) would be able to pull tiers off the stacks without making a huge mess. By my way of thinking, Alan would need a gapple designed to handle 15 bales off the balewagon.

Rodney


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## Roverworks (Sep 25, 2009)

Rodney,

I have apparently made an error in my description of the equipment. It is actually a 1032 stack wagon (69 bale) I run rather than a 1033&#8230;not sure what I was thinking&#8230;.The 1032 has ten bales per tier. I understand, from what I am told, that the grapples can lift 10 bales at a time from the stack or in the case of the tie tier 9 bales.

Still waiting to hear back with pricing from the equipment sales people.

Sorry for the confusion.

Alan


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## Roverworks (Sep 25, 2009)

One Man Show or anyone....

I am looking at the Steffen grapple....has anyone seen it with the rotating ability, I understand you can rotate the ten bales either way 90 degrees to assist in placement. I wonder if it is worthwhile for the extra cost?


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Not sure what the neighbor had, but Shoemaker Welding here in town added a swivel to it.


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## jeff outwest (Sep 13, 2009)

I have a Lewco 10 bale 3 twine head. It is mounted on a John Deere 4030 with a 265 loader. I think it is pretty much ideal for handling stacks built by a New Holland balewagon. Your McCormick tractor with loader should be a awesome setup too.
Rotating baleforks have there purpose. I just never liked using them compared to the straight ones. A straight for fork it alot more rugged then a rotator.


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## coyote (Sep 19, 2009)

About a month ago I purchased a Kuhns accumulator and grapple. I have the ten bale setup with the bales on sides not the strings. The grapple is awesome. Me and another guy to drive, baled, loaded, transported 30 miles, and unloaded 800 bales in 8 hours. I have a 37 foot goosneck trailer, 8.5 wide and I put 250 squares on the trailer in stacks of 40 because of loader high limits. My bales were about 3.5 to 4ft long but if I went with 3 ft bales I could grab a half a grab and just put 5 bales next to the ten to go three wide on the trailer.

The only problem I found with the grapple is I was on another field where the hay was thin grass and a little damp and the bales tended to drop out on me. But on the 800 bale filed I was moving good dry clover/fescue and good dry bermuda/alphalpha and I didnt have any problems.

The stack in the barn is as pretty and OCD neat as you can get. I strongly recomend a grapple even if you dont have an accumulator. I was cleaning out a barn the other day of some last years hay. Just pulled it out of the mess that gets left in the barn and stacked it in groups of ten and then used the grapple to take it where I wanted to. Way easier. Even stacking it by hand somewhere like a small barn or in a loft is alot easier when you dont have to do all the work. I can put ten bales at a time up in a loft and then hand move them and not be near as tired at the end of the day.

As for stack stability, My ten bale grabber is basically 6 by 6 feet. So I when I stack in the barn I go 6 grabs high and the 4th grab I place 90degrees cross ways which keeps everything stable and nice and square.

Aaron.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

jeff outwest said:


> Rotating baleforks have there purpose. I just never liked using them compared to the straight ones. A straight for fork it alot more rugged then a rotator.


The one build by Shoemaker has no rotater issues I'm aware of. Course I'm sure he did a better job of it than a company looking to squeeze every penny of profit out of something they can.


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