What with the news about Everything Attachments going out of business, and considering I passed on some stuff from them due to the long lead time I was quoted, I figured I might as well ask about reputations here.

I need a skid steer quick attach bale spear for large squares, and found a local welder who can put the stuff together for less than the local dealers are quoting me.  Figure I can get extra sleeves and have them welded in place specifically for spacing for some things I want to be able to move around that aren't bales, and have wide ones to move the spears to when doing the hay.

I won't be using it even once a week, so moving spears isn't much worry, though I will get forks eventually.

Looks like hayspears.com sells ones that bolt in from the rear, and hayspear.com sells the ones that have a mounting bolt through.  Either way, anyone deal with either company?

I've seen more forum chat about hayspears.com than the singular one.

nope sorry

Can't help you out, but that sucks to hear about EA.  

I've got one of the Wicked Grapples for my BX25, and its awesome.

I’m not sure what you’re looking for, but https://mastfarmservice.com/category/attachments/bale-handling/ is where my last hay spear and my bale grabber came from. A little more expensive. However very well built. And built in Ohio.

Sounds like your local welder is the place to go, if they understand and can build to the weights you will be moving.  

Shipping costs are terrible now, annoying when you need things like ballast for a tractor, or attachments.  

I bought a Haystix spear years ago to make a bale carrier and it seemed well built, but nothing to compare it to other than the no name loader/3 point carriers that seem to be at most auctions.  Large square bales aren't very common here, mostly small square for the horse people and hobby farmers, and large round bales.

Here's one I made last month. It's a backup in case our tractor goes down unexpectedly. We used the bolt through/sleved spears for this one. Our main spear (on the JD 7810) had the clamp on spears and they've been broken off due to abuse at different times.
I'd go with the through bolts over the bolt on design for sure.


https://imgur.com/a/Nl3A8Kn

ETA: I looked at your links OP. I wanted to clarify the spears we use bolt from the back. I don't know the brand though. The sleeve ID was tapered to match the spear so I had to be careful to weld them in from the correct direction. We coated them in antiseize before we cranked them down so they'd be easier to remove later.
I made the frame from 4" square tube and the headache rack from 2x4" tube. All 1/4" wall. Made our own quick attach from plate and angle iron. Took most of a 10 hour day to cut, fit and weld the thing together. Another day to prep and paint. Note the "window" on the bottom. Without the window you'd be driving in blind anytime you picked up more than one bale at a time.

I built my own spear attachment laat spring. Here is what i recommend.

#1 look into FEMA bale spears. They're made in Germany from high quality steel. Most India spears and even some USA spears are too hard or made from the wrong steel and when they fail, they fail in brittle fracture. Brittle fracture is bad for many reasons, if you want me to elaborate just ask. The German spears are rated for an insane load, and if they fail, it's by yielding. If you're lucky and don't have anyone nearby that will sell you FEMA spears FEMA (in Arkansas) will sell direct at wholesale pricing (but only if you don't have a somewhat local place to get them, they won't undercut their retailers).

#2 You're right on track with adding extra sockets. I made my spear attachment a 3-in-1 tool. I normally run 2 spears spaced the same width as pallet forks, so I can use it as pallet forks (one less attachment to buy). I have a whole row of sockets across the bottom so i can mount up 7 spears and have a manure fork for cleaning out deep bedded stalls. I mount a single socket high and centered so if I'm stacking hay in the barn i get an extra 30" of reach with my FEL. And last, i put a reese hitch receiver in for good measure. It's super handy for moving gooseneck trailers (don't have to remove the spears) but can still move bumper pull trailers with caution (best to remove the spears).

Note: taper mounted spears require proper torque, IIRC my spears require 480 ft-lb, do you have a torque wrench or a way to get to that torque?

Last advice really pay attention to the angle of the spears, nothing worse thelan not having enough tilt or curl on it. My SSQA plate is mounted to the spear attachment at 18 degrees to get the tilt right.

Thanks for the info, I need to get back to the welder, but one of the places sells a SSQA plat with a plain frame at a bit of an angle to increase rollback.  May have the welder add on additional bracing.  Was going to have him do a quote, but he seems reasonable, so I'll probably order the parts and drop them at his door with some marks on where I want the sleeves.

Neat idea on the many spears, may have to do that for the sheep pen eventually.  Good to know about the failure mode of some spears.  Quite aware of brittle/deformation, even if I don't know the actual metallurgy.  Though for additional spears to make a manure fork, that may be low threat enough for me to play with my welder.

For the torque, how accurate does that have to be?  Don't have a torque wrench that goes that high, but I do have long breaker bars and weigh about 200 lbs.  If it's critical, I'll get a  a basic torque wrench.

That's the end idea of what I'm looking for, but I like the idea of not only finding a local welder if I am in a pinch in the future, but to make things to the dimensions I want, if that makes sense.

And, turns out he's got some awesome dogs, but I guess that's not important.  

Between shipping costs, and lead times for any complete assembly, is why I'm looking at grabbing the pieces and having a local guy assemble.

Good advice.

I've had two made, one for a tractor and one for my small articulated loader. They both had a big center spear on top and four shorter, removable spears spaced evenly on the bottom. For big rounds I pull the two outer short spears. For big squares I pull the big spear and run the four spears on the bottom. I did run the tapered spears back when I was putting up baleage, they didn't get stuck in the bale. This was 25 years ago, I don't remember the brand, but I think there was only one on the market at the time. We did break a couple of them. I sold the tractor spear. My loader spear is still going.

Definitely pay attention to the angle. I could use more on my loader. Have to pay close attention going down hill so they don't slide off.

I use these spears from Amazon:
49" Bale spear

I build them for carrying two rounds:
=AZXZIMNoA0-jh-O3HrPqhPz02LgNJSvs9rp3ghf83TaONXYaPtwZgj9AX-tcxwjUuMwy3W1_V1lXluP1pHEmDcLKbS7aKq55EWu7bYU7xrCxQOhHg6hkTTu56yE-JBp9PifdG8Xhl8ON5p0U-zdveaWgnvfqsoiuW-LfdsEgr4jX1Q&__tn__=*bH-R]Double Bale Spear

I'm gonna repeat myself....look into FEMA spears...I'm not going to post their wholesale pricing on here, but they were SO cheap you wouldn't even want to mess with trying to make your own spears for the bottom. My entire spear attachment (all the steel, 8 sockets, a reese receiver, & 7 spears) was less than $800 in materials. At least see if they have a local retailer and if not see if they will wholesale you some spears. If you want pics message me. I'll see if i can get imgur to work, I'm technologically challenged.

ETA, torque isn't super critical. As long as you understand weight x distance and can get close you should be fine. The tractor dealer up the road says he never torques his bc it makes them harder to get out. But FEMA says warranty is void if you don't torque. BTW, FEMA is a small family business, run by a guy, his wife, 2 daughters, and SIL IIRC. Super nice folks, if you have any questions they will absolutely help you out.

Yeah it’s what I went to on my Deere 5425.  


I have 3 SSQA cheapo spears. They’re all bent, they all have a tendency to pop off the SSQA plate on skid loaders and tractors.  

So the bale grabber lives on the 6410 (after market loader with SSQA) or the 333D / 317 skid loaders. And the spear is on the 5425.


(If people are wondering why I dislike SSQA. It’s because of hay spears and their tendency to pop off.)

Crap, should have updated this.  Sorry.  Got a manufactured unit two weeks ago.

Went with Haystix, because my wife was tired of my dithering, and told me to just order it.  Must be a small family operation, talked to one sales guy, then his dad the next week.  Officially you aren't supposed to use them for "non-hay" but plenty use them for all sorts of inappropriate things.  And the few they hear about getting damaged take serious work.  My hillbilly IBC tote feeders aren't going to come close to a hay bale.  Already used them to assist in reorganizing the haphazard arrangement of implements along my fenceline.  

Did end up borrowing a torque wrench, mostly so I can redo it again in a few more uses and have a repeatable frame of reference.  The hazard of being an engineer by education, and modeling & simulation guy.  Live my life by analysis paralysis and OCD.

As long as I have my flail mower, easy to stack 2 high, and a little caution to stack 3.  Means I can stock a bit over 6 months of hay under cover with my tractor.  Will add on storage eventually, but that's all in good time.  Now I can do small squares when I come across a good price, not because I don't have room for the big ones.  My back will thank me later.