In the first major product overhaul in over a decade, DewEze unveiled the 800 and 900 series bale bed lines at the 2024 National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville. The new beds, which are available in both pivot squeeze and parallel squeeze, put an emphasis on productivity, storage, visibility and serviceability.
“We went out and talked to a bunch of our dealers and put time in with customers, going out and feeding with them,” said product manager Cameron Coady. “We also talked with farmers who run different brands to see what they like, what they dislike.”
The redesign comes on the 40th anniversary of DewEze’s first ever bale bed. The new 800 series is for standard pickup trucks, while the 900 series is made for dually pickups.
Major revamps include:
- Visibility is enhanced with an opening where a lot of newer trucks have a camera in the third brake-light spot. The previous design had that space covered up, and the change is handy for producers who want to back up with a trailer on a gooseneck.
- On the headache rack, DewEze added a panel to allow rear access to the hydraulic tank. This is a big change from the older bed, which required users to remove the entire bed, because access to the tank was from the front (cab) side.
- Storage is improved on the 800 and 900 series with the optional addition of a rear underbelly toolbox, which can easily fit tools, net wrap, and lots of other items. Previously, only front storage boxes were available.
The pricing of the new base beds will be similar to previous models, and there are opportunities for lots of durable and forward-thinking accessories and features to be added.
In one example, telescoping arms are available that can expand and retract 20 inches.
“It’s really hand for guys who feed a lot in bale rings, because they can lift the bale up and drop it in over the top,” Coady said. “It’s not a standard option, but once folks use it, they often say they can’t imagine how they’ve ever been without it.”
Rub rails can be included to provide more tie-down points for hauling things like pallets, and more tie-down spots are available at the base of the arms. The risers and spinners have been beefed up, too, including 1/8-inch thicker shafts.
“Some of these bales are getting heavier, especially guys who are feeding haylage, and they’re wet bales that weigh up to 2,000 pounds,” Coady said, who noted that the arms’ overall lifting capacity is 3,100 pounds.
A trailer plug has been added to the hidden gooseneck ball well, so that wires don’t have to be run to the tailboard, which itself has seen changes. There is now a 2.5-inch tail hitch, and the pin joints were redesigned to allow for better grease penetration.
One of the first things people familiar with Kansas-based DewEze will notice is that spikes can now be added to the arm bed, which offers flexibility for farmers who have their bales stacked end-to-end in a row.
“This will make it easier for them to pull bales out of a line, especially if they don’t want to use their tractor to stack bales into line, they can just use their truck to create a whole row,” Coady said.
The spikes have removable locking pins holding them in place, and there is a storage area for the spikes when not in use (they can’t be used while also rolling out a bale).
While DewEze still sells parallel squeeze arms (in fact, the 66th bed ever built, back in 1984, was also showcased at the farm show on an ’84 Chevy), 40 years into the business, pivot squeeze is much more popular.
The pivot squeeze was developed in the mid-2010s. The main thing about pivots are that the arms are synchronized together, so they squeeze together at the same time. On the parallel squeeze, you’ll have one arm slide in until it hits pressure, and then the other arm slides in.
Farmers tend to prefer the synchronized squeeze feature of the pivot because it provides more speed and a better grip range, which is notable for parts of the eastern U.S., where farmers feed 4-foot bales more often than 5-foot bales.
DewEze said it expects to have the 800 and 900 series beds at dealers starting around July 2024.
