Hay bed vs hay spear

[saltbranch]

My father in his 70's is wanting a hay spear to mount in bed of our 04' dodge dually. I want it to be remote control and easy for him to operate. I just do not have time to fabricate anything with everything i have going at this time.
The truck does have B&W turnover ball G/N hitch to attach too.
So for hay spear that mounts to G/N ball and bed, I am seeing pricing anywhere from 1600.00- 3k for bed mounted unit. The bed,bumper and tailgate are beat to heck on this truck, so I was thinking bed replacement might be a viable option.
A real quick search for a complete bed replacement like dew eze, appears I am looking at 10k range? Is this correct? Are there other brands to consider with more options?
Any other ideas ?
He does have a Kabota 26hp that might work, I need to check the 3point lift capacity on it. The bigger tractors are too difficult for him to access.
Thx

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Look for used stuff on craigslist.

 

[callmefence]

10,000 for the dewezz about, 3000 for a under bed mounted spear. I just priced both. Really wanted the dewezz but just couldnt justify it.
You can make a rig outta 3 point spear and a electric winch
For a few hundred bucks.and a little welding, It'll look like a rig , but will work.

The little Kubota might lift a roll , until it rears straight up in the air.

 

[D2Cat]

Maybe one of these would work for him. https://hayspear.com/gooseneck-pickup-truck-12-volt-hydraulic-hay-bale-mover/

When you're done using it you back into a bale, the release the hitch on the ball, power the cyl a little and the hitch will rise, unplug the power cord and drive off. Easy way to store it.

 

[Farm Fence Solutions]

I built mine like Fence is talking about. All the "gurus" around here told me that my el cheapo Harbor Freight winch wouldn't last, but I'm going on 8 years without any trouble while the experts rebuild their big fancy winches every year. There's not much fab work to it.

 

[Atimm693]

You can haul two bales with a hydraulic bed. Heck I saw someone in a Dodge dually rolling down the highway with three last week.

They're super handy for other stuff too, especially if you don't have a loader tractor. They'll lift tractor tires, mineral tubs, logs, just like a hoist. We even towed a truck with a broken ball joint once wrecker-style with it.

They are the ticket for unrolling hay as well, if you feed that way.

 

[DLD]

Spike beds should be way cheaper than $10k. Figure $4k up, depending on options and your taste I guess - CM makes one, so does J&I, Butler, Scorpion and many others.

J&I makes a very nice bed mounted spike, they're around $1200



You can pull a gooseneck with the unit in place, just have to remove the spears. It doesn't mount to the ball, the piece across the front bolts through the bed and frame, and stays in the truck. ( I have mine mounted on a flatbed using 2 square u-bolts through a bed brace, when you take it off the u-bolts drop down flat) Entire unit comes off with 4 bolts and unplugging two wires - less than 10 minutes. I've used one of these on 3 different trucks, fed 200+ bales a year for close to 10 years. I would (and most likely will) buy another one.

 

[Bigfoot]

The moving hay with a truck, intrigues me. Are you guys going from one farm to another, or feeding hay on the same farm? A truck would not go across pasture here 90% of the winter.

 

[Farm Fence Solutions]

I use mine to feed with at home, and away from home. It's a mid 90's Ford gasser, so it warms up quick and dents are no great loss. You have to plan your feeding areas around the mud, but frozen or dry ground are ideal. We run narrow mud tires around here, so when the slop has a bottom, we can still find some traction. It's been in the single digits here for the last 5 days, and they are calling for 55 and rain tomorrow. I'd say it'll be back to feeding with a tractor for a few days...

 

[J&D Cattle]

I had one welded up that uses my gooseneck ball to hold it in place. It worked great but it pi$$es me off that I can't easily then pull a gooseneck trailer. I haven't used it for a couple of years and actually my Dad put it in his old truck the other day. I would much rather have something like the one DLD posted above or a bale bumper.

 

[runningr]

We run 2 bale trucks a deweze and a cannonball before that two slid in deweze 265's.before that bale spears. The deweze is Underhood hydraulics 11gpm pump, remote all the bells and wistles. Cannonball is electric/hydraulic. Canonball might be a little slower but the pivot style arms are so much better. You can get almost any bed cheaper than a deweze Craig's list is your friend. I wouldn't feed cows without one now we feed daily using the trucks in multiple locations I'm in alabama and everyone said they wouldn't work in our clay it does. Feed only what they will eat and keeps mud down and saves hay.Any questions just ask. Just my 2 cents

 

[cowski]

about 15 years ago i was thinking about a bed or spear. i bought a TUMBLE BUG . this turned out to be a good decision for me. a tumble bug may work with your little tractor. what i like about the tumble bug is i can use it on any truck or tractor i have.in 15 years that would be 2 or 3 bed changes for me with a bed. around here the mud gets so bad my 450 flatbed will not go. but my little ranger will still pull the tumble bug.

 

[saltbranch]

DLD, do you have any links to a 4k bale bed?
Tumble bugs do not work in our sandy soil, been there and done that. I have a buggy I built, similar to a fork lift where the lift arms slide under the bail and I have a hand crank winch. This works for him but like I said, 75 yrs old and not best of shape. We have an dually that a bed mounted unit would work good for him, especially with a remote.
The goal is to get something that a 75 year old man that is not exactly the extreme mobil old guy can get out feed cattle like he loves to do.. I have found a Pierce unit for 1450.00 and B&W turn over ball have 2 units 1700-2k,
I understand it can be built and I could do it. I just don't have the time to make that happen.

 

[DLD]

Saltbranch, I can't figure out how to link the page on my IPad, but go to leviathaninc.com (Scorpion beds), somewhere in between the pics 2/3 or 3/4 down the home page, there's a clickable link for pricing - their spike beds start at $4500 msrp. Chevy dealer I trade with priced it at $4200 installed. J&I doesn't have a bed price list online, but you can look online at jitruckbeds.com Give them a call, they priced me a basic NS bed with bale spike 3-4 months ago for $4200 installed. A local dealer priced me a Butler spike bed for $4400 installed.

Unless you really need a full empty flatbed often, you could go with a plain flatbed for $2000'ish, and the J&I spike I pictured above for $1129 and come in well under $4k. (the spike does come with a remote for operation from the truck cab - it isn't cordless though) But I know most prefer the bed with the spikes built in - me too.

Granted, I was pricing beds for a short bed single wheel truck. I'm sure a full length dually will be higher, but still half or less of a new Dew Eze. I've since traded that 3/4 ton for a one ton that has a CM flatbed (no bale mover). I was really looking for the accessibility of the flatbed most, we have a couple of older trucks we feed with, so I'll cross that bridge when I get there with the this truck.

 

[cowski]

have you actually used a factory tumble bug .you never get out of the truck. a good mud tired 4wd truck can load a bale in knee deep mud.i have sand in the bottoms along the creek , never saw much difference.

 

[saltbranch]

have you actually used a factory tumble bug .you never get out of the truck. a good mud tired 4wd truck can load a bale in knee deep mud.i have sand in the bottoms along the creek , never saw much difference.

Yes I have use a tumble bug. You back up to bale, push/flip it over and the arm falls over bale. Hit electric brake switch and in theory you pull forward and the TB breaks over. The brakes to lock up but the tires will drag in the sand. I would use cut mesquite logs cut to place in front of the tire to make it flip over. I used this trailer for many years and it sucked. THis is what I am thinking when you say tumble bug https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llfqM_nWr8c

DLD I will check those out.

Right now the Pierce unit is in the lead unless you know of a problem?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ-pbpx9aoY

 

[cowski]

i did put mud tires on mine. we just have different environments ,hope the bale bed works for you.

 

[saltbranch]

I checked with J&I, they had the best price of all I found. The only problem is they would not ship, so OK. to South Texas was not going to work. My next option was the Pierce unit I spoke about and I found a dealer in Halletsville selling for 1450.00 and thats a 100 mile ride to pick up. The MFG is in Henrietta Tx and would only refer me to dealers, which is good and I understand. I found another Pierce dealer via the net...out of Montana. Price of 1279.00, no tax and drop shipping from MFG. in Henrietta,Tx.. Shipping cost me 75.00.
Kind of crazy, but I got my tracking # and its showing to arrive Thursday.

 

[DLD]

Sorry, I guess I forget how regional these things tend to be. There's a dealer 15 miles from me that sells J&I now, but I did have to drive to Madill to get mine several years ago.

It surprises me that no one else has adopted a similar design that still allows for pulling a gooseneck without taking out the bale mover - maybe they have it patented. I do remember seeing one that you could unhook from the gooseneck ball and slide that part back, and you could hook up a gooseneck while the rest of the bale mover remained bolted in, but I don't have a clue by who or where it was built.

 

[saltbranch]

Sorry, I guess I forget how regional these things tend to be. There's a dealer 15 miles from me that sells J&I now, but I did have to drive to Madill to get mine several years ago.

It surprises me that no one else has adopted a similar design that still allows for pulling a gooseneck without taking out the bale mover - maybe they have it patented. I do remember seeing one that you could unhook from the gooseneck ball and slide that part back, and you could hook up a gooseneck while the rest of the bale mover remained bolted in, but I don't have a clue by who or where it was built.

I was really surprised that the J&I Spears were not dealer items. There are J&I truck bed dealers all over my area, none carry the spear unit. Pierce makes a similar bolt in to the J&I, very, very close in design. Right now we have 4 trucks with G/N hitchs and the GN mounted unit will pretty much be a dedicated mount to this one truck until it goes to the scrapper and we will move it on to the next one. I am going to mount this week and get pics and post. It appears to be well built. I was let down that J&I would not ship. I have had thier truck beds and as a matter of fact one my trucks has a J&I FB on it now. Good bed for the $$