Mule Ears

[jinman]

That's what I call my contraption I built for the bed on our Kawasaki Mule. It's shown in the pictures below. Does anyone want to venture a guess what these "Mule Ears" are used for? I'm going to start a little guessing game by showing pictures of my ears without showing what they are for. After a few guesses or if someone guesses correctly, I'll show the ears in use. I can assure you that these are an extremely handy and labor saving device. That's the first clue. The second clue is that they get used twice a week. What are they for?

 

[TBSUT]

Where I live I only have to take the garbage can out once a week. That is my guess.

 

[RobS]

Yeah, I'll go with trash can toter as well, the "twice a week" clue seems like a gimme.

 

[jinman]

Okay, I guess I made it too easy with my clues. Both of you got it right on the first guess. Here's "the rest of the story...."

The holes in the aluminum barstock against the carrriage bolt heads make a very good indent to hold the ears while hooking the garbage can. Also, the springs let the ears flex without bending if I get too close to the can before raising the bed to hook up. Sometimes simple works the best. This is easy to use and folds away easily. I think it took me all of 20 minutes to do once I decided how to do it.

 

[jinman]

Where I live I only have to take the garbage can out once a week. That is my guess.

Wow! Your first post and you got the answer right. Welcome to TBN!

I only take garbage out once a week, but I use this on the full can and then again on the empty can; therefore, twice a week.

 

[GeneD14]

Wow, that is an excellent idea. I have a Kawasaki Mule also. I may start volunteering to take out the garbage from now on.

 

[greenmule]

I got a mule too,a green one.

Those wouldn't help me one bit,I got a box out at end of drive way,but do also use mule to take trash out to it,just I put the bags in the bed.

They are handy little things.

 

[RobS]

Okay, I guess I made it too easy with my clues. Both of you got it right on the first guess. Here's "the rest of the story...."

The rest of my story is I've thought about something very similar for my FEL bucket. Good to see your design in action Jim. Any worrries about bending your tailgate?

 

[DMF]

Nice idea!

 

[billbill1]

Nice job Jim!! Just thinking out loud, if you took a piece of thin wall pipe-bent into a u-shape-about a foot long, flattened the ends and drilled the mounting holes. Leave it in place and you have an instant tiedown. No sharp corners sticking up and would maybe serve the same purpose.

 

[jinman]

Any worrries about bending your tailgate?

Rob, the tailgate is really tough and there's no worry at all about bending. If I did not have a hydraulic bedlift, I might have a hard time getting the bed down if the garbage can was stuffed and weighed over 250 lb. I don't think I've ever seen it that full of anything approaching that weight. Anyhow, the ears" on the inside of the tailgate cause the trashcan lip to actually sit on top of the tailgate. most of the weight is straight down rather than twisting. even so, i'd bet those 1/4" bolts would shear off before the tailgate bends. What I didn't show is that I've got some 3/4" diameter washers under the nuts on the back side of the carriage bolts. That spreads any load over a large area. I guess if you have a plastic bed and/or tailgate, you'd want to be cautious, but I don't think I'll ever come close to bending the gate.

Billbill: I never thought of using a pipe because one of my first thoughts was that I wanted to be able to fold this down out of the way and take away the temptation for someone to use it as a handle. The Mule bed has a lip on each side that makes an easy job of hooking bungee cords or any S-hook under that lip. I've never been in a situation where I was short of tie-down points. The round heads on the carriage bolts and the rounded edges I made on the aluminum stock should prevent any scratching or snag points for clothes. At least that's my hope.

 

[PILOON]

I leave a short length of chain on my trash box handles and flip the chain over my trailor hitch ball to haul my trash to the roadside.

Also coonproof my trash box using an appropriate length of bungee cord, pass cord in handles and hook under the bin lip.

 

[prosumequipment]

Like DaVinci said: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

Well done! That is slick.

 

[mjncad]

A nice elegant solution Jim.