Making a Hay Rack

[Jason (IL)]

I was given a good 10 ton gear today and would like to make a 8' x 16' hay rack. I will not be using it for stacking bales but maybe in the future it could be. I never go cheap or take short cuts when making things. My biggest question is material sizes? I would like to use 2"x10" - 18' for the stringers. the gear spacing will be 13 to 14' so would a doubled 2x10 stringer work and be heavy enough for a possible full load of bales? Or should I go with 2x12's for stringers. I have seen both ways.

My plan is to stack a bunch of 5/4 fir lumber I am getting on them. I want to just be able to park them in the shed and move it around when I have to. I have small buildings.

Good suggestions from any of the experts?


Thanks

[Eugene]

Use lumber load tables to determine dimensions.

Use to load 100 to 120 bales on a hay rack. Average bale weight was probably around 75 lbs. So generally the hay rack load was around 9000 lbs or less.

The stringers for hay racks were usually 4 x 6's.

[Jason (IL)]

I have been doing some research as to load ratings. A 2x10 will span 14' at 60lbs per square foot at 24" spacing. So I have decided if I double them and put 3 sets across my 48" span of the gear I should be able to hold around 150 lbs psf. I have done a lot of math on this as I only want to do it once. I have seen a rack break in two before and that is my fear here that I want to avoid. I will use it for hauling lumber at first and then hauling seed corn and or hay/straw and what ever else I get myself into?

Pics to follow, painting gear and getting boards this weekend.

[jljmonky]

Far from scientific...

I received a small running gear from a friend for the best price ever (free) and needed something for hauling kids so I was thinking cheap and light. I made "beams" to run the length out of 2X8s (12 ft long) and notched them 12 inches on center 3 1/2 inches deep. Placed 8 ft 2X4s in each notch and sheeted with 1/2 inch treated plywood.

Last fall I had the pleasure of loading 89 (didn't have a 90th) bales of grass hay at ~65 lb each on the rack. just over 5,700 lb on 2X4s and plywood, held up fine and has been going strong for 5+ years now.

If I had to do it all over again I would only change two things, I would use all treated lumber (the boards under the plywood are not) and I would top it with 5/4 deck boards with a gap to encourage air flow and make it a little prettier when it gets used with my kids in 4th of July and school parades.

[jljmonky]

How did this project end up Jason?