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WY, OK | On my second one, sold the truck that had the first one. It was around a '09/'10 model. Only major issue I ever had was a broken arm at the forward pivot point, was an easy fix we did ourselves. Since then they have beefed up the design, my current one is built better at that spot. Also had the motor burn out once, one contact switch go bad and replaced the solenoid once in the 7 years we had it. My "new" one is still a C-ball but I am guessing is the last design before they went to a Chisholm Bed. I blame the arm breaking on the old one on hauling 3-- 1800lb bales at a time out of the hay field hundreds of times. the third bale would be maybe 3' off the ground so gives an idea how far back the arms were while carrying it. Anyway they have an engine pump kit as a option, no idea what it takes to install one. Had a hydra bed first before any of the C-ball's. I'm not sure where all the passion comes for them, ours had to have headache rack bracing because it kept getting bent forward. Had at least one pump failure on the engine, I liked the speed and ability to warm the fluid up with the engine drive but that was it.
I wouldn't buy a C-ball just for the trailer hookup ease. You can't see what you are doing backing in and you are suppose to bolt the bed down if you tow with it so it is far easier to jack a trailer up and down than mess with all that other stuff while the trailer is hooked up. Best thing about the dump, other than easily unloading a second bale is the ease of cleaning everything under the bed. There is a safety latch, just like every dump has to keep it safe. From what I remember the guys who died did exactly what gets everyone killed under a dump, didn't have the safety latch engaged and did something stupid. One I heard had the bed up and decided to let the arms out and had the electric safety contact switches wired together that normally wouldn't allow such a thing. The arms are how the bed is supported when dumped and that was the end of that.
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Cannonball bale bed
