Patent ID: 7347390

Claim:
A mounting assembly for supporting a hopper and a spreading mechanism on a vehicle for carrying and spreading a material, said mounting assembly comprising: a spreader frame for supporting the hopper; a pair of bumper brackets spaced from one another for attaching said spreader frame to a bumper of the vehicle; said spreader frame includes a rear member having a pair of support arms coupled thereto; a hitch support adjustable in a vertical direction relative to said spreader frame for supporting said spreader frame on a hitch receiver of the vehicle; a plate coupled to said hitch support and said spreader frame to allow vertical adjustment of said hitch support; said plate defines continuous, elongated slots that allow said hitch support to be adjusted vertically relative to said spreader frame for accommodating different hitch receiver heights of various vehicles; wherein said hitch support and said pair of bumper brackets are coupled to said spreader frame to support said spreader frame thereto.