My leaf vacuum trailer requires an offset hitch ball due to the hose routing. Last year when I built it, I didn't yet have the three-point hitch on my tractor. So last year I built a temporary offset ball hitch just to get me through the season.
But leaf time is here again, so it was time this morning to whip up a ball hitch adapter complete with offset holes.
Nothing special. Mostly just scrap materials left over from the loader build. A few minutes on the lathe to turn the 7/8 in pins that go into the lift arms. And a piece of 3/4-in EMT conduit doing the diagonal brace to keep everything from sliding left to right.
"Never be afraid to try something new. How hard can it be?"
Nicely done! A couple of things though you might consider. Enough weight for what you are moving? Is the angle and height appropriate when at the highest position. I am happy with the one I got on the weight box, regarding these two points. Moving the flatbed trailer with ease.
Yes, I think it'll be fine for anything I do around here. I can easily and have stand on it, so that's supporting a 200 lb tongue weight without an issue. I would guess it could do up around 400 tongue weight before I would be concerned. The tongue wait on my trailer turns out to be about 50 lb when it's empty and something like negative 150 when I'm dumping it. So I'm comfortable with both of those.
As far as the angle and the height goes, it can go to whatever height I care to put it within reason. It can certainly can go up or down four inches from here. It's current height is around the same height as the ball hitch on my 4wd truck, so I don't think it'll need to be any higher. It may need to drop down a little bit for my little 4x8 trailer, but that's still well within 4 inches.
"Never be afraid to try something new. How hard can it be?"
Just finished mowing/vacuuming. Ball hitch worked like a charm. The only difficulty was when pulling a full trailer up a steep hill, the front wheels came off the ground. I have a front weight bracket, might have to install it.
Hooray for me!
I even stress tested it when I tried to pull the trailer under a too-low tree branch. The top of the trailer snagged on the branch and It stopped me on a dime, throwing me up onto the steering wheel.
No real harm done, other than a bruised ego.
"Never be afraid to try something new. How hard can it be?"
