Extended tractor mirrors

[Just for fun]

I made a set of temporary mirrors that are about 9' wide for my tractor. I have a new 8.5' enclosed car trailer and we live on hill property. My truck is a Ford F350 crew cab dually. To get the trailer into its parking spot I use the tractor. I've had to have my wife shot me to get it into place. Now it should be a lot easier. I still need to finish up the mounting bolts and some painting. Since the main tubbing is galvanized I used silicone/ bronze to weld the mounting plates on.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

great idea!
a tractor is way more maneuverable than the dually!
nice job!

 

[Aukai]

My friends race car trailer is the same way, but instead of yelling at him, the director uses his cell phone.

 

[matthewsx]

Put a ball on the front end loader bucket and you won’t need mirrors.

 

[Winegrower]

The above. As a kid, my grandfather had a trailer park, with an old war surplus jeep. He had various diameter balls at the front and my job, at about 12, was to park and pull out the trailers. Life has not been quite as great since.

 

[Just for fun]

Put a ball on the front end loader bucket and you won’t need mirrors.

I'm not sure I would still be able to see around the sides of the trailer though. I may try it someday. I know it works real well on the front of my ATV for small trailers.

 

[Just for fun]

The above. As a kid, my grandfather had a trailer park, with an old war surplus jeep. He had various diameter balls at the front and my job, at about 12, was to park and pull out the trailers. Life has not been quite as great since.

When I used to hang out at my buddies marina he had a trailer ball on the front of a fork lift for moving boat trailers around. It sure make life easy doing that way.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

i got a 1" hole in the tip of my forks for putting a 2" ball on

 

[matthewsx]

i got a 1" hole in the tip of my forks for putting a 2" ball on

That’s what I had on my forklift back when I had my shop.

That’s one tool I really miss….

John

 

[rabler]

I have a couple of gooseneck trailers, seeing around the horse trailer is not easy, putting it in front on the loader doesn't really help seeing around it, unless you drive like a taildragger taxiing on the ground (lots of swerving for lack of seeing over the nose). And if you move the trailer any distance you end up going backwards and looking over your shoulder, which can leave you with a sore neck/back.

I use a three point hitch mounted 2 5/16 ball, which can handle a bit more weight than the ~3000 lbs the loader can take. That gets to be critical as the flatbed when loaded with hay can be over 10 tons total, and with that much weight you need at least 2 tons on the hitch.