Trailer Winch Helps Moves Brush

Trailer Winch Helps Moves Brush WAGONS/TRAILERS Conversions Cleaning up storm-tossed branches is easy with Marshall Berkoski’s brush grabber It uses parts salvaged from an old engine hoist a homemade trailer and a cable winch “I lay the cable down on the ground pile brush on it and hook the cable end to the engine hoist boom ” says Berkoski “As I crank the winch cable in it tightens on the brush forming a bundle before it lifts it off the ground It makes it easy to move branches large and small to the burn pile ” He made the trailer to haul his riding mower but repurposed it for the brush grabber “I used two pieces of 3-in channel iron to make a box beam for the axle and mounted hubs from the front axle of an old car to it ” says Berkoski “Front hubs are easier to work with than rear axle hubs ” After pricing tires and inner tubes Berkoski decided to go with steel tires He simply welded metal bands to the rims A 10-ft long pipe serves as the tongue To attach the engine hoist he bolted flat stock to the bottom of the hoist and the trailer frame and then bolted them together “I didn’t want to weld anything in case I wanted to make changes ” says Berkoski “I saw an engine hoist at Harbor Freight with a winch on top so I mounted one similarly on the near end of the boom ” A vertical brace from the boom housing to the axle frame combined with an angled brace from the housing to the trailer hitch reinforces the engine hoist In addition to gathering bundles of brush Berkoski has used the trailer-mounted winch for house repairs He attached a straight ladder to the end of the boom and winched it tight when he needed to put rain guards on the eaves Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Marshall R Berkoski 110 W 5th St Cantril Iowa 52542 ph 319-397-2205

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