Wanna talk hay trolleys and carriers

Farmallb

Well-known Member
IF the lower pulley that is attached to the forks ISNT the same make as the trolley carrier, does that make a big difference? Seems to me that when the bottom pulley went up to the carrier, then the carrier would head into the barn regardless of whether the lower pulley was the right one or another one off another carrier. Whats your thoughts?
 
Sounds like a definite maybe. It might work okay if correct design & close enough tolerance. Then again, it probably won't work. Has to be close enough match to engage one lock & release the other, both at the same instant. If not right, something has to give. First thing to give is the pull rope. Second thing to give is the wagon/rack as the bales come tumbling down after the rope breaks.
At start of pull, the trolley is locked in position at end of track. Otherwise pulling on the rope would pull the trolley inward instead of lifting the load.
When the lower pulley, attached to the fork or sling, hits the release on the trolley it locks in place. This is to keep the lower pulley from lowering as the trolley enters the barn. At the same instant it releases the trolley lock & allows it to roll along the track.
When pulling the trolley along the track with the trip rope you should be able to hear the trolley lock engage at the same instant that it releases the lifting pulley.
I know, clear as mud, but it covers the ground.
Willie
 
Don't remember much about them just a few horror stories about bales coming down when there not supposed to and a guy forgot the trip rope was wrapped around his leg and a ride he didn't forget but it seems to me there was a way to set them so the forks only went half way up in a drive way style barn so maybe it doesn't matter in some carrier's
 
Yeoooeee! We DIDN'T want the pulley on the forks (or slings) to go up and meet the trolley carrier! At that point you'd be locked maybe in more ways than one. The tractor or horses pulling the load up would "hit the end". Also to release and lower the hooks or slings you needed to pull up a bit and with no load the lock lever on the carrier would release. If it was tight against you'd be in trouble I'd say. We always had a large block as a stop on the drive and didn't go any farther when the front wheel touched the block. We left a few feet of "safety". Boy this brings back memories, thanks!
 
You're talking about a different set up than I grew up with. Ours pulled up in the center of the barn, then once raised there was a second set of ropes to pull the trolley to one side of the barn or the other. The way I remember the hooks picked up 2 layers of 6 bales (a dozen)-- but-- I prided myself by stacking 2 more layers of 4 (eight bales) so 20 bales went up at a time. I had no concept that it was risking the roof rafters collapsing! The rafters creaked when the raising stopped and the mechanism locked. Glad it never caused a catastrophy. Dad would say sometimes he was concerned about the track. Much safer when we started using an elevator.
 
I can see where you are right about if the carrier isn't locked outside that pulling on the rope would pull the trolley inside. BUT, I can also see where it possibly couldn't go far UNTIL the lower pulley AND HAY, HAD CLEARED the outside of the barn.
Thanks for the replys. Specially yours. Keep thinking about this. I have a carrier, AND a bottom pulley made for it, BUT I doubt IF they were made for each other. The lower pulley has the stob of iron on top of the pulley to enter and engage the carrier, but im not sure they are made for each other. The carrier is kinda rusty but free and loose.
 
gtractorfan, U got to say somma this again. I didn't get it.

(we didn't want the pulley on the forks to go up and meet the carrier) HOW DID YOU STOP THE 2 FROM MEETING?
(At that point youd be locked mayb e in more ways than one) WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT??

(The tractor or horses pulling the load would (hit the end). WHAT DOES THAT MEAN??

also (To release and lower the hooks you needed to pull up a bit? and with no load the lock lever n the carrier would release)
When I worked for my granddad Adolph and I first tripped the load, the load went till someone inside hollard whoh. The horse or tractor would stop and id trip the load. The horse or tractor would b ack up. and the weight outside on a cable hooked to the carrier would bring the carrier back outside to the stop which, at that point, the lower pulley would comeon down back to the hayrack.

(We always had a large block as a stop on the drive and didn't go any farther when the front wheel touched the block.) What do you refer to when you say THE DRIVE?? Did your dad have blocks of wood at the end of the rail. Ive seen that. IF that is what you are saying, then I can understand that the carrier wouldn't go any further after the front wheels hit the block.

(We left a few feet of safety) What does that mean??.
 
This reminds me of "a picture is worth a thousand words". The part about "hitting the end". If you kept pulling the load up and didn't stop you'd "hit the end" where the pulley on the hooks would come against the trolley and COULD GO NO FARTHER! We used a tractor on the drive next to the barn to pull the loads up. To know where to stop dad put a large wood block. When the front wheel got to that point you had the load lifted as high as it could safely go. When you backed the tractor up the trolley had a lock that held the load up (never failed in the years I worked with it). As there was now slack in the heavy rope that lifted the load you could now pull the load (by hand) across on the trolley rail over the mow you wanted. Then a trip rope released the hooks (or slings for loose hay). Then the trolley was pulled back where the load was lifted. To let the hooks down you had to give a tug on the lift rope. With no load the release mechanism let you lower the hooks back down.
 
WELL WHAT IS YOUR THOUGHTS?? Only you could try the miss-matched parts and see if they work. I am old enough to have used that system both in a barn with a big front door and also a barn with a Alley-Way and lofts on both sides. On barns with a Alley-Way someone had to take a ladder and climb up and hook the pulley on the other end of the track when you wanted to put hay on the other side of the barn. There was only one big rope to pull the bales up and they came up and latched in the trolley and then moved over the loft and the fellow on the wagon had a small trip load to release the bales about where they needed to be.

My Mom always ran the tractor pulling the bales up and after years of doing it knew about what the routine was and where to stop. We hooked the rope hook in one of the front frame holes on the WD-Allis and it was not like she was TEXTING or something and she knew enough not to POP the clutch and just act stupid. (It may have been harder back when a team of horses were used) My experience was in the HOT July -August summers you paced your self just to get by and it was not a mad rush to get that load unloaded.

Once in a while the person sticking the forks in may might not get it right and a load would fall. We eventually got some forks that hooked in from the top (which I still Have-save from scrap truck) and that was much easier. Even a kid could do that job okay. While we were still using the rope and trolley everyone else in the neighbor-hood was switching to bale elevators which we also did in the late 1960's before leaving home and I never looked back at putting up bale hay again. They bought a Big round baler after that.

Recently I have heard them Trolley's are fairly valuable to the thieves and may bring up to $800.00 for a good set. Sometimes you drive by an old barn and they are pulled out and you just know someone was trying to get it down. My best memory of that era was the fine dust the rope made when pulled over the ground lots of time in that hot summer heat. Are you using the trolley or just curious?
cleddy
 
I suppose, just curious. I do own a trolley and the bottom pulley as I stated. My granddad had to use his trolley after everyone else was transitioning from heaving them down a board slide to the ground and people picking them up at the door and carrying them to the stack, as we did since dad nearly busted out the floor by not laying down 3 tiers then using the forks in our second story hay loft. I worked around about a doz barns, and only in 3 of them did we use a elevator that I remember, 7 or so, we heaved them to where they needed to be, and one, granddads he used the trolley. He had to, as there was a farrowing house say 20ft or less from the front of the barn. It was as long as the barn was wide. I started out outside tripping, but once went up with the rope till my cousin who was stacking grabbed me, raised me a bit and tripped the rope with his other hand. That was around 55. He had come back from korea. Later I went inside to stack. We used to ride the rope up to the top and drop down, which made a loud snapping sound. Grandpa, outside thought the rope was cutting and looked inside in time to see us hanging from the rope at the top of the barn. He cussed a lot all the time, but not as much as then. Gee id like to hear him talk again.
IF I get the place im looking at, ill have to build a barn. Its only got 5 acres for hay, and that would be wheat hay with corn following in NE Okla, so the barn wouldn't need to be big, but I got a loose and a bale loader, and could get it out of the field either way. Don't know how big the barn would need to be with it loose, but id like to build it with that intention whether I did loose or not.
Thanks for the reply.
 
Heaving and carrying is what I remember the most but the rest is all good to since we have went through it. If you are trying it for fun go for it. I think we were a little worried about breaking the barn loft floor down but then it wasn't done until the hay was stacked to the peak. Sometimes the hot steamy heat from newly cut alalfa was a concern since it could start the barn on fire and that was the last thing you wanted.

In 55 that would make me 2 years old so you may know a lot more about loose hay than I would. We had a hay sweep and dump rakes and some loose hay stacks but that was on it way out in tha late 50's in our area. Hay balers fairly common by 1956-58 when we got one.cleddy
 

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