2019 - Volume #43, Issue #4, Page #11
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Tricycle Converted To Trailer Dolly
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“I own a 1-acre lot but we have a homeowner’s association, so I can’t keep the trailer on my driveway,” says Shaw. “With my homemade dolly I can drive the trailer into my back yard and out of sight behind a shed. I could have used my car to pull the trailer into my back yard, but I didn’t want to drive over the lawn and risk damaging our automatic sprinkler system. And I didn’t want to spend the money for a commercial dolly or a ball hitch for the tractor. I already had the tricycle, which had a bad front wheel.”
He removed the wheel, fork, and handlebars, keeping a short metal yoke that connected the handlebars to the fork. He also removed the drive axle, which was connected to one of the pedal arms, and uses it as a drawbar pin. “A standard drawbar pin would have been too short and narrow to work with the yoke. The pedal arm prevents the axle from falling through,” explains Shaw.
To install the ball hitch he drilled a hole through the plastic seat, then inserted the ball and screwed a nut on underneath the seat. “The ball hitch is screwed onto plastic, not metal, but it has enough holding power for what I need,” says Shaw. “The empty trailer weighs 300 lbs., but has a tongue weight of only about 20 lbs. so there isn’t a lot of pressure on the ball. I could probably reinforce the hitch somehow if I ever wanted to haul a load on the trailer.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Edward Shaw, 2849 Singletree Cove, Cedar Hill, Texas 75104 (ph 316 393-6294; big_ed075@hotmail.com).
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