Hydraulically-Operated Pickup Ball Hitch

Hydraulically-Operated Pickup Ball Hitch HITCHES Hitches 22-1-6 "As a gooseneck trailer dealer I have to hitch trailers to pickups all the time. My hydraulically-operated, pickup-mounted ball guide takes all the work out of the job," says Larry Persinger, Jamestown, Ohio. Persinger first mounted an aluminum flatbed on back of his Dodge Ram 3500 1-ton pickup and then proceeded to modify the deck. He cut a 16-in. wide, 7-in. deep trough in it from front to back and then cut a rectangular hole in the trough where he installed an aluminum plate that rides up or down with the ball. The ball mounts on a pivoting steel arm assembly that's attached to a hydraulic cylinder. An enclosed 12-volt electric motor at the back of the trough is used to operate a hydraulic pump that controls the cylinder. To hook up the trailer, Persinger backs the pickup up so that the bed is under the trailer hitch, then flips a switch to raise or lower the ball hitch to the proper hook-up position. After the trailer is hooked up he re-turns the ball hitch flush with the bottom of the trough. "I cut the trough into the flat deck because the deck is quite high off the ground," says Persinger. "The trough puts the ball at a height that's closer to the normal height of the hitch on most trailers. The ball has about 13 in. of up and down movement. I incorporated a Schuck shock hitch into the pivot arm assembly to reduce towing shocks." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Larry Persinger, 7320 U.S. Route 35 East, Jamestown, Ohio 45335 (ph 937 675-2395; fax 2231).

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