Working smarter not harder

[CCW 1,300]

Coming up in December I will be joining the new hip club.  The question in my mind was how will I get the leaves raked?  Well the lawn sweeper will scoop them up and I can then dump onto a tarp.  How will I get the tarp into the trailer a problem that fits right into my brain's wheelhouse.  In the past I would just rake into a pile and pick them up and drop them into the trailer bed.

 

My solution.  Mount the winch on the tongue of the trailer scrounge about in the shop for the pulley on the pillow blocks and voila the solution is now mounted on the trailer.  See photo.  I then proceeded to test this setup by hauling some brush into the trailer using the winch.  Tied the brush into a bundle and winched it right up the ramps.  Leaf plan is to dump the leaves from the sweeper onto a tarp, tie it up and them pull into the trailer. 

 

For those who look closely you will see that the u-bolts holding the winch mount angle iron on the trailer are not #8 bolts.  Keep in mind that 1, the leaves are light weight, 2, this is a temporary setup and 3, if there is any hint that the u-bolts are not doing the job I can replace them.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by CCW

[SylvanLakeWH 25,974]

Nice!

 

Very similar to my setup...

 

 

I've added a winch roller to the top trailer bar since this picture was taken... like this:  

 

 

@Pullstart may recognize this load... 

Edited September 26, 2023 by SylvanLakeWH

[ebinmaine 68,452]

Nice work! 

[8ntruck 7,102]

Good modification on that trailer.  With careful rigging of the winch to the tarp, you should be able to get the rope to close the front of the tarp, making it easier to get into the trailer.

 

The trailer for our Dolphin sail boat has a pin that can be pulled to allow the trailer to 'break' in the middle and help launch or load the boat.  

 

I'm looking at adding a fair lead to the edge of the rear section of the trailer to make a smooth surface for the winch line to rub against when loading the boat.  The current rope is kind of ragged.  I suspect it has been rubbed against the sheared edge of the trailer frame repeatedly.

[CCW 1,300]

@8ntruck Good idea about pulling the tarp shut.  I'll work on that one. Currently the wire rope just clears the top board on the front.  If need be I can raise the pulley a bit higher.