Trailer yard spotter

[Orchard Ex]

I'm trying to teach myself some welding and one of the things I put together is a trailer spotter that clamps to the loader bucket. I copied the idea/design from one I saw in Equipment Trader, but I saved $90+ this way.
It worked pretty good for both my enclosed 2" ball trailer and the pintle ring (empty). In case anybody wants an afternoon project this winter.
(and yes I'm a spaz 'cause I painted it to match the Kubota! :spaz )

 

[Dwan Hall]

Orchard; cool looking work. you will find you will use it more then you think.
When using 1 of these I clamp it close to the side of the bucket insted of the center so it ofsets the trailer so I can see around it when putting it in a parking place.
I did mount a recever on the quick atach so when the bucket is removed I can insert a ball or pindle on the machine when needed.

 

[Jeff D.]

Looks good Orchard!:thumbsup

I could really use one of them also.:yup

 

[thejdman04]

I made an attachment like that once, however I found whne backing up and moving units that were probably too big and too much for the tractor etc (you know how that goes) i could never get it "clamped" tight enough to the bucket to not have the hitching unit slide off. I adopted a different method of moving trailers around hoever I would imagine you could drill a hole to run the screw through (but migh ben that thin screw (a bolt or pin could be used in place) or you could build up a bit of a ridge with a welder so it wont slide off if you have that problem.

 

[Orchard Ex]

i could never get it "clamped" tight enough to the bucket to not have the hitching unit slide off.

It might not show well in the pic but the more forward of the two chunks of bar welded on the back catches the cutting edge to keep it from pulling off the front. (It's a bolt on edge and hangs down more than normal) The weight of the trailer really keeps it in place. The screw doesn't do as much as it would seem. I'll probably have to be careful about how much weight I can put on that piece of pipe though. I don't plan on moving anything heavy with it, only light or empty trailers - Oh course we all know how that will go, eventually I'll try something too heavy and have to weld up the pieces...:yup
Dwan, good idea about putting it to the side too!