Handy Cycle Carrier For Trucks, Tractors

Handy Cycle Carrier For Trucks, Tractors TRACTORS Miscellaneous 5-1-15 Roger Foster, Tower Hill, Ill., farms land at several locations separated by 10 miles or so. Since; like a lot of other farms, his is a one-man operation, moving both planter and truck from one location to another requires either another driver, or unwieldly and time-consuming hookups. Roger came up with this simple solution: He carries a motorcycle right to the field on either his tractor or his truck. "There is nothing fancy about the carriers I built for either the tractor or the truck," he points out. "The carriers are easy to put on or take off. They don't weigh much so I can easily handle them myself." Each carrier is made of 4-in. channel iron which provides a grooved footing for the tires. At one end, a portion of the channel iron is hinged so it can drop down and become a small ramp for loading the cycle. An arm at the upper end of the carrier arcs outward. It's equipped with a small clevis-type clamp which grips the motorcycle frame. A pin is dropped into the clamp to hold the cycle in place. A strap holds the machine down, preventing it from bouncing up and out of the channel iron frame. One bolt holds the carrier in place on the tractor. The carrier on the truck is secured by the same connections on the front bumper which hold a tow bar. "We have several motorcycles but the one that works best is our Honda XL 100," says Foster. "You could use other sizes, too, up to the XL 175. The carriers haven't interfered at all when using the tractor for planting or other field work."

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