Round bale feeder

[dun]

If you take apart one of the 3 section metal round bale feeders, don;t expect it to go back togther as easily as a new one or more that matter as easily as it came apart.

 

[MistyMorning]

If you take apart one of the 3 section metal round bale feeders, don;t expect it to go back togther as easily as a new one or more that matter as easily as it came apart.

Care to elaborate a bit more? Like why did you take it apart in the first place?

 

[dun]

If you take apart one of the 3 section metal round bale feeders, don;t expect it to go back togther as easily as a new one or more that matter as easily as it came apart.

Care to elaborate a bit more? Like why did you take it apart in the first place?

It was like new and I bought it at an auction. Didn;t want to take the time to come home and pick up the trailer.
No matter how new they look, if a cow has fed from it you can bet that it has some little tweaks that will keep it froming lining up right when you try to put it back togehter

 

[cfpinz]

You just didn't want to scratch the Pimpmobile!

 

[hayray]

I had a bull that made one of those 3 section round feeders into a triangle. So I attempted to take out the now straight section to put back in a curved section and you are right, they just don't seem to go back together like when they are new.

 

[Jogeephus]

Have you experience the ones that come with the lock nuts that you can't hardly take off to assemble them. I must have worked an hour trying to take six measely bolts off a feeder I bought. What I do now is tack some flat iron to the joints instead of relying solely on the bolts. takes the shake out of them and they seem to last longer.

 

[jka300]

We bought acouple of feeders about 5 years ago. A local welder made them out of 3/4 inch rod and boy did they look nice. Well they lasted the first year with out any trouble but the next was as great. The feeders just fell apart, just garbage but I guess the bright side is, they were easier to move!!

We also got a bunch of one peice feeders that we bought from UFA. They are about 15 years old now, so alot of them are sitting in the scrape iron pile. But recently I started to take peices from these feeders and put them together, not a easy task. They are all different shapes from the cows but in the end I have some semi-new feeders.

 

[dun]

Have you experience the ones that come with the lock nuts that you can't hardly take off to assemble them. I must have worked an hour trying to take six measely bolts off a feeder I bought. What I do now is tack some flat iron to the joints instead of relying solely on the bolts. takes the shake out of them and they seem to last longer.

I use grade 5 or 8 bolts and tack weld the nut to the bolt after tightening. Haven;t had any come lose.

 

[Jogeephus]

Have you experience the ones that come with the lock nuts that you can't hardly take off to assemble them. I must have worked an hour trying to take six measely bolts off a feeder I bought. What I do now is tack some flat iron to the joints instead of relying solely on the bolts. takes the shake out of them and they seem to last longer.

I use grade 5 or 8 bolts and tack weld the nut to the bolt after tightening. Haven;t had any come lose.

I think securing them in this manner is a lot easier than having to try to put the rubiks cube together later once they get warped a bit. Piecing together a warped hay ring single handedly is about as fun as building an octagonal gazeebo. Since my joints now stay put, I'm now seeing problems with the pipe just breaking in two. Haven't figured out a fix for this yet.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Have you experience the ones that come with the lock nuts that you can't hardly take off to assemble them. I must have worked an hour trying to take six measely bolts off a feeder I bought. What I do now is tack some flat iron to the joints instead of relying solely on the bolts. takes the shake out of them and they seem to last longer.

I use grade 5 or 8 bolts and tack weld the nut to the bolt after tightening. Haven;t had any come lose.

The bolts either broke in half or else the nuts came off.

I welded the outside of the angles together. About an inch weld on top and bottom. If they every need to come apart again, I am going to have to grind the welds off. Since welding them together, I have had no problems. I only use them for the calves now since going to the hay cradles for the main herd.

Edit: Just remembering that I used a C clamp to pull the one together that was sprung really bad, before welding it.

 

[msscamp]

If you take apart one of the 3 section metal round bale feeders, don;t expect it to go back togther as easily as a new one or more that matter as easily as it came apart.

Sounds like Murphy's Law to me, especially if the bale feed was bought used. Amazing how well cattle can "re-align" supposedly indestructible things, isn't it? :lol: :lol: On a side note, my goats have proven to be even better at destroying "indestructible" objects - such as steel gated panels, aluminum panels, and cattle panels - than cattle ever thought about being! :roll: Beats anything I've ever seen.

 

[jcummins]

If you take apart one of the 3 section metal round bale feeders, don;t expect it to go back togther as easily as a new one or more that matter as easily as it came apart.

Care to elaborate a bit more? Like why did you take it apart in the first place?

It was like new and I bought it at an auction. Didn;t want to take the time to come home and pick up the trailer.
No matter how new they look, if a cow has fed from it you can bet that it has some little tweaks that will keep it froming lining up right when you try to put it back togehter

You can haul one...assembled in the bed of a pickup...short bed at that, which also had a large tool box.

 

[JoeDirt]

Hey Dun, I bought several at an auction one time and had to take them apart to haul them all on one load. I used ratchet straps and a come along to get the bolt holes lined back up. It took some time but I was able to get them all back together.
I also used one long bolt about 5 inches long to pull the holes together, once they where together I clamped them, removed the long bolt and replace it with the original bolts.

 

[dun]

Hey Dun, I bought several at an auction one time and had to take them apart to haul them all on one load. I used ratchet straps and a come along to get the bolt holes lined back up. It took some time but I was able to get them all back together.
I also used one long bolt about 5 inches long to pull the holes together, once they where together I clamped them, removed the long bolt and replace it with the original bolts.

That's how I did it, but it took a whole lot longer then a new one and it made the time I would have spent coming home for the trailer seem like it would have been a better investment.

Like a lot of things "Seemed like a good idea at the time"

 

[novatech]

Hey Dun, I bought several at an auction one time and had to take them apart to haul them all on one load. I used ratchet straps and a come along to get the bolt holes lined back up. It took some time but I was able to get them all back together.
I also used one long bolt about 5 inches long to pull the holes together, once they where together I clamped them, removed the long bolt and replace it with the original bolts.

Add a set of spud bars/wrenches to your set of tools for lining up holes. Sure helps.

 

[bigbull338]

ive began to notice that the bolt togather round bale feeders are about all you can get here.an i know they are higher than catsback.

 

[dun]

ive began to notice that the bolt togather round bale feeders are about all you can get here.an i know they are higher than catsback.

I haven;t priced new ones lately. The one I picked up at the sale was still freshly painted with no rust. Got it for 35 bucks, couldn;t believe I finally found a good deal on something at an auction that I could actually use