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He Fits "Everything" Into Receiver Hitches
“I get a lot of mileage out of receiver hitches,” says cow-calf producer Dan Ambrose of Grandview, Idaho, who recently sent FARM SHOW photos of the home-built receiver hitch brackets he uses on everything from welding trailers to shop welding tables and 3-pt. hitches.
  The L-shaped metal brackets are designed to accept a standard receiver hitch. The height of each bracket can be adjusted by changing the position of a bolt.
  “They’re darned handy and allow me to use various tools interchangeably around my farm wherever I need them,” says Ambrose. “For example, I can take the same shop tools I use on my welding table and mount them on my welding trailer so I can work in the field on my corrals or wheel line irrigation system. Tools like my drill press, pipe vise, pipe bender and anvil can be used interchangeably.
  “I don’t spend a lot of money, either. I build the L-shaped brackets myself out of 2-in. sq. tubing, and I buy the receiver hitches cheap at junk yards.”
  He welded 3 receiver hitch brackets onto the corners of his welding table and also welded 3 onto his welding trailer, one of which is used to hold a 100-lb. propane bottle that hooks up to an oxyacetylene torch. He made 2 brackets for a homemade 3-pt. hitch, using one to support a smaller propane tank that he uses with a flame burner to control weeds.
  One receiver hitch is welded onto the frame on front of his flatbed truck to accept a home-built tow bar that fits onto the ball of another receiver hitch. “It allows me to tow the truck behind my pickup. I came up with the idea a few years ago when I bought hay from a neighbor. I used the pickup to tow the truck and trailer to his place and left them there overnight. The next morning I came back, hooked up to the loaded truck and trailer, and towed them home. I’ve towed vehicles at speeds up to 55 mph with no problems.”
  The home-built 3-pt. hitch has one receiver hitch welded on at the bottom and another on top. “It lets me use a tractor to pick up my 5th wheel trailer and move it wherever I want,” says Ambrose. “I welded short metal tubes onto the sides of the 3-pt. where I store spare receiver hitch brackets. For example, if I need to move an implement that takes a pin hitch I can remove the ball and store the receiver hitch in one of the tubes.”
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dan Ambrose, 22219 River Rd., Grand View, Idaho 83624 (ph 208 834-2388 or cell 208 598-3498; pdugger@earthlink.net).


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2012 - Volume #36, Issue #5