Anyone moving round bales with an MX? Do you need additional rear weight?

[mcmxi]

Just wondering about rear weight since a friend called this evening to ask me if I'd be able to unload and stack a bunch of round bales at his place this weekend. He just had a new barn built and has something like 30 to 40 bales to offload and stack in the barn, the 5ft round variety I think. He has a stunning property on 70 acres with a big hay field but I'm not sure if the hay is coming from that field or not.

He's made a verbal commitment to buy my current MX when the new one shows up. He thought he'd be getting some implements too but I told him just the tractor plus any extras that I added to the tractor such as remotes, top-n-tilt, 3rd function etc. I also suggested that he think about and order implements now and that he should buy a bale spike sooner rather than later. He doesn't mess around so already has the bale spike paid for and I'll be picking it up this Friday on my way back from picking up the grading scraper/land leveler from Everything Attachments. I'll then head over to his place on Saturday with his bale spike on the FEL.

So my thoughts are that I could buy the 600lb of wheel weights that I ordered for the new MX and install them on the current tractor but only if I'm going to need them. Those 5ft round bales are what, maybe 1,000lb at most? I'm not sure if I'll need rear weights for this job. Any advice from those moving bales around with an MX or similar?

 

[B737]

im in for the pictures

 

[Fladogman]

I think you're going to want some added weight for that load. The easiest this is hook up an attachment to the rear for a quick fix. I have water in my tires but usually grab my blade for any heavy lifting.

 

[jyoutz]

Loaded tires and an implement should be sufficient counterweight.

 

[SDT]

Just wondering about rear weight since a friend called this evening to ask me if I'd be able to unload and stack a bunch of round bales at his place this weekend. He just had a new barn built and has something like 30 to 40 bales to offload and stack in the barn, the 5ft round variety I think. He has a stunning property on 70 acres with a big hay field but I'm not sure if the hay is coming from that field or not.

He's made a verbal commitment to buy my current MX when the new one shows up. He thought he'd be getting some implements too but I told him just the tractor plus any extras that I added to the tractor such as remotes, top-n-tilt, 3rd function etc. I also suggested that he think about and order implements now and that he should buy a bale spike sooner rather than later. He doesn't mess around so already has the bale spike paid for and I'll be picking it up this Friday on my way back from picking up the grading scraper/land leveler from Everything Attachments. I'll then head over to his place on Saturday with his bale spike on the FEL.

So my thoughts are that I could buy the 600lb of wheel weights that I ordered for the new MX and install them on the current tractor but only if I'm going to need them. Those 5ft round bales are what, maybe 1,000lb at most? I'm not sure if I'll need rear weights for this job. Any advice from those moving bales around with an MX or similar?

You will certainly need rear ballast of some sort.

SDT

 

[jimh406]

I don’t think you’ll need more than a heavy attachment on the rear. I think you are right on the max of about 1000lbs depending on how tight they bale it. 6ft ones are quite a bit heavier. Probably more like 1400 lbs and up.

I wouldn’t install the weights on the rims of the MX you are selling. There isn’t any reason to take a chance on scratching those rims up.

 

[Creature Meadow]

My cousin has a MX5400 and uses it to unload round bales that are delivered to his farm on 18 wheelers with no ballast.

I've suggested to him while his tractor does fine and it is flat ground sticking the box blade at least on the rear would make it more stable and easier on the front end. He still uses no ballast cause it want fit under the shelter with the box blade on.

So will it do it yes might it be better with ballast I would say probably so.

Good day my friends.

Jay

 

[mcmxi]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I did call the local dealer and they don't have any wheel weights in stock so that option is out. I'll do what you all have suggested and head over with the box blade on the back. Sure wish I had a compact ballast box ... that's something I'll have to look into making or buying.

 

[mcmxi]

im in for the pictures

This will get you started. I took these in April of this year when I was out at his place. It's a stunning 70 acre property bordered by lots of forestry land. He has grizzly and black bears wandering around, although not when I'm there it seems. I was supposed to go over last weekend for a moose barbecue but couldn't make it. He's a really good cook and will be making something good for this weekend.

 

[jyoutz]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I did call the local dealer and they don't have any wheel weights in stock so that option is out. I'll do what you all have suggested and head over with the box blade on the back. Sure wish I had a compact ballast box ... that's something I'll have to look into making or buying.

Any reason why you didn’t liquid fill your tires?

 

[mcmxi]

Any reason why you didn’t liquid fill your tires?

They're filled with bio ballast beet juice. My local dealer always fills the rear tires unless the purchaser specifically asks them not to do so.

 

[Fladogman]

The problem with no counter weight is you can overload your front axles pretty easy and start having problems like leaking seals or worse. I always felt if I needed 4x4 to move a load because the rear tires lost traction, I needed more counter ballast. Just my simple mind at work lol

 

[tractorX]

This will get you started. I took these in April of this year when I was out at his place. It's a stunning 70 acre property bordered by lots of forestry land. He has grizzly and black bears wandering around, although not when I'm there it seems. I was supposed to go over last weekend for a moose barbecue but couldn't make it. He's a really good cook and will be making something good for this weekend.

View attachment 69459

View attachment 69460

View attachment 69461

isn't that John Dutton's (Kevin Costner) ranch on the hit series Yellowstone?
man what a view!

 

[mcmxi]

isn't that John Dutton's (Kevin Costner) ranch on the hit series Yellowstone?
man what a view!

That ranch is in Darby, MT which is about a 3 hours drive from here. It's a beautiful drive though.

 

[Tx Jim]

The problem with no counter weight is you can overload your front axles pretty easy and start having problems like leaking seals or worse. I always felt if I needed 4x4 to move a load because the rear tires lost traction, I needed more counter ballast. Just my simple mind at work lol

Adding ballast to rear tires gives tractor more stability when handling loads with FEL but doesn't relieve stress on frt axle/tires such as rear counterbalance accomplishes.
Several yrs ago I weighed only the tires on frt axle of my M7040/FEL/rd bale with & without a 1000 # round bale on 3 pt fork for counter balance. The results are as follows with 610# less weight exerted on scales by frt tires with counter balance in place.
Frt axle with bale on frt and bale on the rear 5380#s
Frt axle with bale on frt nothing on the rear 5990#s

Less weight exerted on scales by frt axle=less wear/tear on frt axle/tires

 

[JerryMT]

Just wondering about rear weight since a friend called this evening to ask me if I'd be able to unload and stack a bunch of round bales at his place this weekend. He just had a new barn built and has something like 30 to 40 bales to offload and stack in the barn, the 5ft round variety I think. He has a stunning property on 70 acres with a big hay field but I'm not sure if the hay is coming from that field or not.

He's made a verbal commitment to buy my current MX when the new one shows up. He thought he'd be getting some implements too but I told him just the tractor plus any extras that I added to the tractor such as remotes, top-n-tilt, 3rd function etc. I also suggested that he think about and order implements now and that he should buy a bale spike sooner rather than later. He doesn't mess around so already has the bale spike paid for and I'll be picking it up this Friday on my way back from picking up the grading scraper/land leveler from Everything Attachments. I'll then head over to his place on Saturday with his bale spike on the FEL.

So my thoughts are that I could buy the 600lb of wheel weights that I ordered for the new MX and install them on the current tractor but only if I'm going to need them. Those 5ft round bales are what, maybe 1,000lb at most? I'm not sure if I'll need rear weights for this job. Any advice from those moving bales around with an MX or similar?

5 ft wide bales can be anywhere from < 1000 lbs to 2000 lbs depending on diameter and bale density. Our NH688 made a 1200 lb bale at 52 inches in diameter. When I loaded them with an un-ballasted tractor I used a bale on the 3 point the spinner spear for ballast. It allowed me to maintain traction on muddy ground around bale feeders. So in my opinion you should have some form of ballast, loaded tires, wheel weights, or three point ballast weight; your choice.

 

[McBuck]

Ironic that you posted this question. I know you’re in a different class machine but for what it’s worth......I just bought a new 3560LE and will be using it for round bales....4x5’s to be exact.
If I listened to my teacher well enough, here’s what I learned; If it’s a little green a 4x5 should weigh about 900-1000, once on the barn for a little bit it might get to 800
I tested my 3550 less than an hour ago and had zero problems getting a 4x5 up three high...and I was just on idle and it literally flew up. Beet juices tires and just a bush hog on for ballast. I will be using a ballast box next spring.

 

[mcmxi]

I got off to a bit of a late start this morning but did manage to get over to my friend's place and unload the first trailer, then go with him to pick up more bales, and he unloaded the second trailer. He's keeping the tractor overnight since he needs to pick up five more bales tomorrow morning. It was very dry in MT this summer and hay production suffered so bales were trucked in from Wyoming. I think my friend mentioned paying $250/ton from an individual that raises longhorns. He was the one that had a lot of hay trucked up to the Flathead Valley.

These bales were 6 ft in diameter and about 5-1/2 ft tall and they were HEAVY! 1,400 lb was mentioned and the bales make the MX look small. You can see from the photo that the bales on the top row were at about max FEL height for a center spike. To be honest, there wasn't enough roll back force to rotate the bale off the stack when removing the top bales. Also, I could have used another 600lb or more out back.

 

[Tx Jim]

[/quote]These bales were 6 ft in diameter and about 5-1/2 ft tall[/quote]
Rd bales can either be 6' in diameter or 5-1/2 ft tall but not both 5 ft wide bales extend 1 ft farther from FEL accessories attachment pins than 4 ft wide bales so the extra ft adds to load lifting stress.

 

[mcmxi]

Rd bales can either be 6' in diameter or 5-1/2 ft tall but not both 5 ft wide bales extend 1 ft farther from FEL accessories attachment pins than 4 ft wide bales so the extra ft adds to load lifting stress.

Thanks for the clarification. Technically the bales are 5'x6' then which would make sense given the supposed weight of 1,400 lb.

The shed they had built for square bales isn't ideal but it'll have to do. They're having a steel building put up next year big enough for kids to do barrel racing and enough storage for all manner of things including hay.

Thanks for the advice. We were able to get it done without any drama, in large part due to the advice offered in this thread. It's much appreciated.