Pallet fork trailer mover

[Johndeere3720]

I have been wanting to weld lately and came up with a little project for moving uhaul trailers with the CT322 and all the trailers at home. I saw one one one of the forklifts at united rentals so i figured why not make one? I started with one long piece of 3"x5" steel square stock and cut them at 2 1/2'. I wire brushed the ends and got two chains which are also 2 1/2' in length and welded them to the square stock ends. I have had very little welding time lately so my welds aren't to pretty.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Next step was to weld caps to the ends of my trailer mover to prevent dirt from getting packed inside it and off of the fork. After welding on the 5"x3"x1/4" piece to the ends I grinded off the edges and smoothed out the corners a bit. Made it sure look nice. :laughing: Once I had got this done I decided that I might as well put skid plates on the bottom to help keep the paint on these since i know they will be skidded across pavement when attaching to trailers.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Here are a few pictures on the grinding process. The nut represents the nut I will be using for attaching the trailer ball.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Next thing was I went down to Harbor freight and got some trailer balls, saved $20 vs. buying them at napa and I got a new pipe wrench too. To attach the trailer ball to the trailer mover i had to cut out some holes so the thread can go though the square stock. My next problem was if left When the fork would be put in it would destroy the trhreads and make it impossible to remove the ball so I cut two pieces of steel tubing that set in the hole and protect the thread. Next I welded the tube to the square stock and welded the nut to the end of the tube. Seems like a perfect fit, the ball fits just right.

 

[Johndeere3720]

And the final step, paint. I had some of my favorite paint, the stuff that dries in 15 minutes. So I painted them blue.:thumbsup: enjoy!

 

[Runner]

Looks good. Very simple, elegant solution. I've been meaning to make one of those myself, but haven't gotten around to it. Yours looks like the best design I've seen yet.

May have to steal it...

Thanks for posting.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Looks good. Very simple, elegant solution. I've been meaning to make one of those myself, but haven't gotten around to it. Yours looks like the best design I've seen yet.

May have to steal it...

Thanks for posting.

Your welcome, go right ahead, I just plan to put one right to work and the other on craigslist. :thumbsup:

 

[Johndeere3720]

Well Today I got the chain painted up. I also screwed in the trailer balls and for the one I am keeping put a protective sleeve on it to protect the thread and keep it up a little higher since It will be used in many ways, I know for a fact not only trailers and I will probably have to swap different size trailer balls for different trailers since we have some smaller trailers as well as larger ones. For the one i am selling, i screwed it all the way in. Runner, one other idea for it i almost did was weld a receiver to the trailer mover so i could swap the trailer balls a little easier but then I would have had to have the ball on the hitch so you could see it when hooking up to a trailer. Thats why I went this route.:thumbsup:

 

[Johndeere3720]

Well today I think i got a buyer for the trailer mover I have for sale. Crossing my fingers to sell it, then I can start my next project. Wish me luck guys!:thumbsup:

 

[mjncad]

Jacob:

You could have used those convert-a-balls I've seen to save the hassle of changing balls.

That blue looks like a color that Cardinal offers in its powder coating line.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Jacob:

You could have used those convert-a-balls I've seen to save the hassle of changing balls.

That blue looks like a color that Cardinal offers in its powder coating line.

Are you meaning those trailer balls mounted on a receiver with 3 different ball sizes? That would have been nice, to late now. I like the blue color, it kinda goes with the yellow on the CT322. I managed to put the trailer mover on the CT322 a few days ago but haven't tried it. the chain was a little short so i am debating whether i keep it the way it is or add some links so it can be used on both forks rather than just the one next to the step.

 

[grsthegreat]

Ive seen these used before, and they do work just fine.

i was considering making one of these for a loader mounted pallet fork that I'm going to buy from "quick attach". but the other option i was thinking about was simply adding a receiver to a set of pallet forks, similar to that pictured, then just removing the forks when i need to move a trailer. see, my problem is the goose-neck trailer I'm needing to move has a tongue weight of 1500 pounds. now my tractor can lift 2700, but I'm not sure what would happen if i placed all that weight way out on the end of a 48" fork.

thats why i was thinking of adding the receiver close-up to the skid mount plate on a set of forks.

still not totality convinced though

 

[mjncad]

Are you meaning those trailer balls mounted on a receiver with 3 different ball sizes?

This is what I had in mind.

Hitch Ball Interchangeable Ball Set Balls | etrailer.com

 

[D33r3 6r33N]

This is what I had in mind.

Hitch Ball Interchangeable Ball Set Balls | etrailer.com

I put those on the wife's Durango after I realized the receiver was froze (rusted) to the hitch. Works great!

 

[jayste]

Jacob, nice job and good thinking of building a second one and selling it! Show us some pics of it in use. Have you sold the second one yet?

 

[Johndeere3720]

Jacob, nice job and good thinking of building a second one and selling it! Show us some pics of it in use. Have you sold the second one yet?

Thanks! I havent sold it yet, my email has been acting up lately so it wont send anything. I am probably going to relist it on craigslist today. I will try to get action pictures soon as it stops raining.

 

[Johndeere3720]

This is what I had in mind.

Hitch Ball Interchangeable Ball Set Balls | etrailer.com

That would have worked too, Maybe next time.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Ive seen these used before, and they do work just fine.

i was considering making one of these for a loader mounted pallet fork that I'm going to buy from "quick attach". but the other option i was thinking about was simply adding a receiver to a set of pallet forks, similar to that pictured, then just removing the forks when i need to move a trailer. see, my problem is the goose-neck trailer I'm needing to move has a tongue weight of 1500 pounds. now my tractor can lift 2700, but I'm not sure what would happen if i placed all that weight way out on the end of a 48" fork.

thats why i was thinking of adding the receiver close-up to the skid mount plate on a set of forks.

still not totality convinced though

That seems like a good idea, but removing the individual forks would be kinda a pain.

 

[grsthegreat]

That seems like a good idea, but removing the individual forks would be kinda a pain.

i agree, but i can save about $400 by not buying an individual hitch mounted skid plate.....so its all about $$$ as usual.

 

[fixit]

OK this all looks ok but i can't see why

I just drove the forklift over to the piller drill and bored a hole in the fork 3 inchs from the end :thumbsup:

Then we just screw in the ball handtight when we move trailers around in the yard and pop the ball behind the seat when we are moving pallets been used for 5 years now like that no problems and we have slide on extentions and we havn't bent the end across the hole so it is doing no harm

It just seems like hard work and an extra item to store