Deere 148 Loader w/ Custom-Made Bale Spear - Rollback Issue?

I have a new-to-me Deere 2950 with a Deere 148 loader. As you can see from the pics below, When the cylinders are "rolled all the way back", the spear doesn't come "up"--it sticks straight out.





It looks to me like this is a custom-built bale spear, or at least the pinhole brackets are (based on the welds and cuts and such). It looks like the brackets they've fabricated for the two sets of pinholes (2 lower ones--one for each loader arm, and 2 upper ones--one for each cylinder) have them spaced too far apart after looking at pictures of 148s online. In my reasoning, if the pinholes were closer together, the whole unit could "roll" back further, pointing the spear upwards at an angle to "hold on" to the bale better. In addition, having those holes spaced too far apart would limit the angle in degrees that the spear can "roll" as the cylinder extends and retracts (an issue with stacking bales).

Is that an accurate assessment?

I ask because our 2550 has a 245 loader, and the pinholes that connect to the "Quick Attach" arms appear to be closer together. We plan on fabricating a bracket to convert the pin attachment on the 148 to a Quick Attach receiver so we can interchange our loader implements between the two machines.

Could a body disconnect the bale spear, lay the cylinder down on the loader body (with a small temporary spacer to keep it up off the loader body a bit), fully retract it, measure center to center on the holes for the loader arm and cylinder connection, and make the holes in his bracket that length? As I see it, that would make for maximum "roll" upwards, and maximum "angular travel" of the spear.

I also just considered the possible loss in mechanical advantage of having the holes closer together, but I wouldn't think with the size of these cylinders and the pressures involved in the hydraulic system that that would be of a huge concern...

Thank you all for your time!

What's the distance between mounting holes(center to center)? The holes appear to be too far apart. Bring holes closer together & spear will tilt at higher angle

As has been posted bring the pins closer together. When you do that watch out for interference between the elbows, welded to the top of the bucket cylinders, and the spear's carrier frame. You may need to modify the frame, you don't want to elbows making contact with the frame or you could damage the elbows or the cylinders.

Unpin the bucket cylinders from the spear and block them parallel to the boom arm. then with the cylinders retracted, tip the spear back by hand. That will give you an idea of where the holes should be. Again make sure there is no contact between the cylinders and frame.