front hitch on cut

[bwmarine]

Recently purchased a tractor for moving boats around the lot and landscaping/snow removal. I have aquired a 3 pt reese type hitch for the rear, but considering building a bolt on reese type hitch for the front; where it would attach to the front frame of the tractor.
The reason for the front hitch would be for putting boats into a storage building, making it much easier to navigate as we pack em in within inches of each other. Considered the idea of using the fel as an attaching point but puts the hitch too far forward.
Has anyone tried this? Seems like it would work pretty good although you would have to manually attach the trailer to the hitch, which is ok as there is always at least one other as spotter when putting boats into storage.
Thanks for any input... Dan

 

[groundcover]

Welcome to TBN! Do you have the quick-tach bucket? That would be too easy-get a plate with a receiver and you will be all set. Depends on a lot of things otherwise. size of tractor, bucket lift capacity,tongue weight of the boat,how much room there is to manevuer in the building ,etc. Could be as easy as drilling a hole in the bucket and dropping in a trailer ball.

 

[farmboy12]

Welcome to TBN! Do you have the quick-tach bucket? That would be too easy-get a plate with a receiver and you will be all set. Depends on a lot of things otherwise. size of tractor, bucket lift capacity,tongue weight of the boat,how much room there is to manevuer in the building ,etc. Could be as easy as drilling a hole in the bucket and dropping in a trailer ball.

He wants to mount it directly to the frame of the tractor.


Kyle

 

[JDeerekid]

The front hitch works great for moving boats around. At my grandparents marina we always and still do move boats around and launch boats for people that can't get down the ramp with there vehicle. We used an old Ford 8n. The only downfall was like you said you have to get off the tractor. If you had a loader it would be alot easier to hook up.

 

[groundcover]

No big deal to come up with a frame mount if he doesn't have a FEL. Could even rig one up with a remote to raise and lower the ball for easy hookup.

 

[farmboy12]

It'd be pretty easy, since he has a loader, he should have a brush guard, so that is easy to attach stuff to.


Kyle

 

[bwmarine]

Its a 7235 cub cadet with fel, and its not the quick attach bucket type either. I actually prefer it being attached to the tractor so I can maneuver in tighter areas. When the building starts to get full I need all the maneuverability as possible. Most boats have a tongue weight less than 400 pounds.

 

[bwmarine]

Thanks for the welcome!!!

 

[2manyrocks]

Please help me understand what you are planning to do.

You said you have a FEL, but you want to attach the hitch to the front of your tractor to get a tighter turning radius. Are you going to remove the FEL when you use the hitch or do you plan to raise the FEL so high that it clears whatever you are moving?

 

[bwmarine]

I plan on removing the fel, less things to worry about hitting things when putting boats into storage. But being bolted to the frame it should be able to stay on whether the fel is on or not.
We pack the boats in pretty tight, any space that a boat cant fit we squeeze in a jet ski...
As of just this past year we used a pickup or manually pushed the boats into place... depending on size :/

 

[groundcover]

BW,have you used the hitch on the rear much? I had one on the TPH that was very handy. Should turn sharper,can use the lift to hook up,easy to see,might be the answer and you already have it.

 

[JB4310]

Except for the fact you say it might be a detriment maneuvering when the building gets full, I would say the loader mounted hitch would be the best/quickest way to snatch a trailer and go. with a frame mount under the hood sight line you'll never see it and would make it difficult to engage couplers.

You could even get a simple electro coupler latch then you might not have to get out of the seat or have a second person involved (in the coupling stage anyway) A front mounted hitch is the way to go for ultimate trailer jockeying.

The only problem with the one shown here is it might be to high for boat trailers, and if you got a longer drop it might not be seen from the seat. You may be better off with a receiver mounted on the inside bottom of the bucket.

At least it would be easy to try the loader mounted hitch to see if you like it, the frame mount would be a little more involved, not much, maybe you could mount it to a weight bracket if you have one.

Good luck, JB.

 

[farmboy12]

I agree with JB, try it on the loader first. Then if that doesn't work, try the 3ph mounted hitch. With either the loader, or 3pt, you can just go up to the trailer, landing gear still down, pick it up, and take it.


Kyle

 

[Leejohn]

I had a JD955 that I put a front hitch on it that is the way to go, with out the loader. like you said, you need every inch you can get. I had mine off set to the right. It looked like it was not to strong, but I moved 32ft boats around with it. It looked something like a Y. one leg of the Y just keep it stright and the other one I hooked the cyl.and ball to it. And it was just alittle past the hood of the tractor so I could see the ball. This way you can spot them a 1" apart.

 

[farmboy12]

I had a JD955 that I put a front hitch on it that is the way to go, with out the loader. like you said, you need every inch you can get. I had mine off set to the right. It looked like it was not to strong, but I moved 32ft boats around with it. It looked something like a Y. one leg of the Y just keep it stright and the other one I hooked the cyl.and ball to it. And it was just alittle past the hood of the tractor so I could see the ball. This way you can spot them a 1" apart.

Got any pics?


Kyle

 

[jinman]

I'm thinking that the productivity gain you could achieve with a single tractor operator would justify getting a fixture fabricated for the front of the tractor. I believe a simple pivoting rack attached to a hydraulic cylinder would do the trick. By using your current remotes/joystick for the loader, you could have an attachment you could easily operate. With a little creative work, you cold build a stand for the fixture that would allow you to easily attach and remove it when you want to use the FEL.

I've included a rough sketch of what I have it mind. Something like this would be fine for doing the kind of moving you describe. When you extend the blue cylinder, the trailer ball goes down. Retracting the cylinder raises the ball. Keep the mechanism lightweight considering the 400 lb tongue weight.

 

[J_J]

Have you seen the tow setup on a mobile home mover. It is a hydraulic operated ball that moves up and down, hooks up and does his thing. You could build a smaller version.

If you have forks, this will work. or put a ball on the end of your sork.

 

[Blagadan]

I have a ball hitch mounted on the front of my kubota and I am so glad I mounted one on there. I rarely use the rear 3pt ball hitch. The amount of maneuvering that can be achieved with the hitch on the front is remarkable. The only down side I have found is trying to get traction on loose surfaces. And only if you are trying to push hard at an angle to the trailer. Even with 4wd engaged, sometimes the light front end of the tractor just slides away in the wrong direction. On hard surface, I have not had a problem.

I assume you are going to move all these boats on level surface? If there are slopes, I would recommend a bigger tractor than a CUT.

 

[J_J]

I have a ball hitch mounted on the front of my kubota and I am so glad I mounted one on there. I rarely use the rear 3pt ball hitch. The amount of maneuvering that can be achieved with the hitch on the front is remarkable. The only down side I have found is trying to get traction on loose surfaces. And only if you are trying to push hard at an angle to the trailer. Even with 4wd engaged, sometimes the light front end of the tractor just slides away in the wrong direction. On hard surface, I have not had a problem.

I assume you are going to move all these boats on level surface? If there are slopes, I would recommend a bigger tractor than a CUT.

How did you move different trailers with different trailer tongue heights, or did you lift the tongue and set it on the hitch? You need something that can raise and lower the ball by electric or hydraulic. A single fork with a ball would seem to work best, especially in moving boats

 

[Blagadan]

How did you move different trailers with different trailer tongue heights, or did you lift the tongue and set it on the hitch? You need something that can raise and lower the ball by electric or hydraulic. A single fork with a ball would seem to work best, especially in moving boats

All my trailers have jockey wheels which allow me to raise the tongues to hitch up. Before I mounted the hitch on the tractor, I took a tape measure and found the optimum height on all the trailers was 18 inches from the ground so that is where the hitch is mounted on the tractor.

I do agree with y'all though, if I had a FEL, I'd probably remove the bucket and fabricate a narrow plate to mount a hitch.