Video System Makes Stock Trailer Easy To Handle

Video System Makes Stock Trailer Easy To Handle WAGONS/TRAILERS Miscellaneous 28-3-33 "I don't know how I got along without it," says Clendon Nichols, Union, Ky., about the video system he set up on his pickup and gooseneck livestock trailer. Using components he picked up at Circuit City, Best Buy and Radio Shack, Nichols mounted two cameras in back of his pickup, trained on the gooseneck hitch from two different angles. The cameras feed into a fold-down video screen mounted in the cab of the pickup. The split screen picture, showing the gooseneck hookup from two different angles, lets him hook up the first time every time. What's more, Nichols also mounted two cameras inside his stock trailer and two on the back of the trailer for easy backing up, even in the dead of night, thanks to backup lights mounted at the rear of the trailer. He has a bank of toggle switches in the cab that lets him switch between cameras and between a single screen picture and a split screen. He can also flip a switch to turn lights on inside the trailer and at the back of trailer. "Some of the stockyards don't have any lights and I often pull up in the middle of the night. This system makes it easy to back up at any time," says Nichols. One camera mounts right behind the cab, focused down on the gooseneck in the middle of the pickup box. The other camera is down at eye level, pointed right at the ball. Inside the trailer, he has a camera in each compartment, along with floodlights, so he can check on the animals at any time from the cab. And the lights on back of the trailer give a wide range of view, for easy backup. "I spent about $1,000 on various components. Cameras and flip down TV's have gotten much cheaper in recent years and you can do just about anything with them," says Nichols. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Clendon Nichols, 12226 Kite Lane, Union, Ky. 41091 (ph 859 485-7676).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.