why do draw bar hitches have side-side play?

[Egon]

An unpinned swinging draw bar may be of benefit for pulling some implements.:thumbsup:

 

[RoyJackson]

You guys have got to read the OP's (dmay) post #13 on this thread. He wasn't asking about a swinging drawbar at all. Just a standard drawbar on a smaller CUT.

 

[Egon]

Uh-oh!

 

[dmay]

ditto that. less than 1/8" of play and if it gets a lil rust or imperceptable bow.. or a couple extra coats of paint over the years and it will be hard to adjust.. etc.

soundguy

Guess you have to own a 2320 to see what I'm talking about. The play is about double what a standard receiver hitch has and there is no ability to pin it solid as there is only one mount pin location. Hence my curiousity for why so much play. If it was designed with clearance similar to a receiver hitch this would make sense to me. Oh well, not a big issue, just a curious design choice in my opinion.

 

[RoyJackson]

Guess you have to own a 2320 to see what I'm talking about. The play is about double what a standard receiver hitch has and there is no ability to pin it solid as there is only one mount pin location. Hence my curiousity for why so much play. If it was designed with clearance similar to a receiver hitch this would make sense to me. Oh well, not a big issue, just a curious design choice in my opinion.

I'm guessing a "standard receiver hitch" refers to a trailer hitch (on a car or truck). On those, you wouldn't want much sway at 60-70 MPH. You could lose control of a trailer with much sway.
With a tractor, the speed might be 10 MPH (if that much) and the hook up to the drawbar might be a clevis type hook up or something similar in which a bit of sway isn't really an issue. I use a clevis type "D" ring on my tractor to rig chains or straps (for pulling). Even a pintle type hitch (for a small trailer) wouldn't be bad at the low speeds of a tractor. I've got a standard ball type hitch...never used it though (or even put it on the draw bar).

 

[Soundguy]

I'm guessing a "standard receiver hitch" refers to a trailer hitch (on a car or truck). On those, you wouldn't want much sway at 60-70 MPH. You could lose control of a trailer with much sway.
With a tractor, the speed might be 10 MPH (if that much) and the hook up to the drawbar might be a clevis type hook up or something similar in which a bit of sway isn't really an issue. I use a clevis type "D" ring on my tractor to rig chains or straps (for pulling). Even a pintle type hitch (for a small trailer) wouldn't be bad at the low speeds of a tractor. I've got a standard ball type hitch...never used it though (or even put it on the draw bar).

ditto that. I've have a very uh. relaxed fit clevis hookup for my 15' batwing mower to my tractor.. there's more than 5x the play in that hitch than the sliding drawbar on my tractor.

I tool down the road at 20mph sometimes. never had a problem yet.

my guess is the op is a bit new to tractors and such.

if it was mine and i was very worried about it I'd weld a piece of 1/8" flat to it in a couple areas, and then grind to clean up and thus bushing up the fit... hit it with some Greene & CO. paint and be done with worrying about it..

soundguy