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Dump Bed Turns Old ATV Into Useful Ranch Machine
When 3-wheel ATVs were deemed unsafe and replaced by 4-wheelers, most of the old machines were parked somewhere out of the way and that's where they remain today.
"Mine was a typical 3-wheeler - parked in the corner of my barn collecting dust," says Jeff Hoard, Austin, Nevada, who finally decided to extend the f
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Dump Bed Turns Old ATV Into Useful Ranch Machine ATV'S ATV'S 27-1-9 When 3-wheel ATVs were deemed unsafe and replaced by 4-wheelers, most of the old machines were parked somewhere out of the way and that's where they remain today.
"Mine was a typical 3-wheeler - parked in the corner of my barn collecting dust," says Jeff Hoard, Austin, Nevada, who finally decided to extend the frame and mount a dump bed on it. "Now I use it every day."
Hoard, owner of Hoard Manufacturing, spends a good deal of his time feeding stock at his HM Ranch. "We generally have many different animals with different needs and requiring different feeds. My modified 3-wheeler has cut my chore time in half. Besides feeding, I use it for cleaning pens. You can get into tight places to load and then dump or spread it quickly," he says. "I frequently load up to 200 lbs. in the bed and have never had a problem with it," he says.
Hoard says his modification required minimal skills, aside from the ability to weld. He cut the frame in front of the rear wheels and extended it 16 in. That meant extending the shielding over the drive chain and the chain itself.
Once he had the extended ATV back together, he built a 3 by 4-ft. box out of scrap 2 and 1-in. lumber and mounted it so it's centered just behind the rear axle. The dump hinge is in the center of the box. A manual latch in front keeps the bed from tipping accidentally. And a safety chain from the 3-wheeler frame to the box keeps it from tipping past vertical while dumping.
"The small amount of materials required can be scrounged around just about any ranch," he says. "The only thing I had to buy was the drive chain."
Hoard made notes as he progressed on the project, which took only a day and a half to complete, and then he wrote out detailed plans with diagrams and also a complete parts list. "These are written for a Honda 185 or 200, but they could be modified to other makes or sizes of 3-wheelers," he says. Hoard Manufacturing has been selling the plans for $6.50.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jeff Hoard, Hoard Manufacturing, HC 61, Box 6108, Austin, Nevada 89310.
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