Handy Devices

Easy-to-build ideas make your work easier.

Dan Miller
By  Dan Miller , Progressive Farmer Senior Editor
Gear Hold, Image by Ralph A. Mark Jr.

Dwight Carter, Camden, Tennessee, bolted a 1¼-inch length of round bar to the toolbox in his pickup bed. The bar created an anchor point for securing loads in the bed, and it protects the toolbox from shifting supplies and equipment.

BARREL REPLACEMENT:

When replacing a frost-proof hydrant, Joseph Barnett, Rockville, Indiana, buries a 35-gallon drum, both ends removed, around the new hydrant. He fills the inside of the drum with white rock, the size used in driveways. The rock provides drainage for water and makes replacement of the hydrant a simpler task in the future.

PTO TOW:

Calvin Smith, East Dixfield, Maine, often hauls equipment from one field to the other with his pickup. The problem is what to do with the PTO shaft. He devised a solution with two pieces of plate steel--each 11 inches long x 3 inches wide--a PTO shaft and two 5⁄8-inch lynch pins. Smith welded the two pieces of plate steel at a 90-degree angle. The PTO shaft is welded onto the vertical section of the plate steel assembly. The lynch pins are welded to the bottom of the assembly at the point where they will slide down through the bumper hitch mounts on the pickup.

WINNING IDEAS: Win $150 if your idea is chosen as the month’s “Editor’s Choice” Handy Device. Win $50 for other ideas used on this page. To submit a Handy Device, please send clear photographs, detailed drawings and a complete explanation of your idea. With each entry, include your name, address and telephone number. If your entry is chosen, you will receive in the mail a Federal Tax Form W-9. This form must be completed and returned to The Progressive Farmer before payment can be made. Send Handy Device entries to The Progressive Farmer, 2204 Lakeshore Dr., Suite 415, Birmingham, AL 35209.

Sorry, but we cannot acknowledge submissions or return photographs, drawings or documentation.

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Dan Miller