Quick Hitch or 3 point extendable arms?

[Industrial Toys]

On such a small tractor with small implements, it's not a big deal either way. On larger equipment that you can't budge by hand, the quick hitch is the ONLY way to go.

Once when I was shopping for a sickle mower, I was told about one called the family model, because apparently it took the whole family to mount it on the 3ph! I HATE stuff like that being here mostly alone!

 

[California]

Those are smaller tractors, 25 hp 2000 lbs? They can't destroy a QH like some have noted a larger tractor would.

My preference would be get the extendable arms now. Then look at Harbor Freight's QH, around $100 when on sale occasionally. It seems to be identical to Tractor Supply etc offerings at 2~3 times the price. All of these are rated 40 hp maximum. A 25 hp tractor isn't going to destroy them.

Most of my implements fit this QH after some one-time mods, ie washers to move the 3-point pins outward a little. (photo) I put slide-in pins in place of the upper hook bolts on my QH to adjust for various heights at the top of implements and there's one implement where I pull the top hook and reinstall it upside down to engage the implement.

The thing I like about the QH is I can use it to shove the implement around to align it for hooking up, then just lift and go. No muscle power aligning anything, no sway chain (or link) adjustment ever.

Need extreme range of the top link length to mow uneven ground? In place of the top hook I have a circle of chain thrown over the mower's mast and the top hook. (photo showing extreme range)

Here's a different application of the QH, as the base for an instant-attach pallet fork assembly I made. I use this all the time, it's handy to mount it so easily. Just back into it.
Photo - also illustrating those slide-in pins for the top hook. This looks light but 10 years use at all the weight I can lift hasn't hurt it. Another photo.


So I would get the extendable arms first so you have it for some implement that's impossible to match to a QH. Then get the QH (and a $20 PTO extender if needed), for more convenient swapping among the implements you use all the time.

 

[Industrial Toys]

My quick hitch is garbage and light weight, got at a Richie Sale.





I had to modify it for width. But despite my lift capacity of something like 6000# and using it on my 8' Harley Rake, I have not managed to break it yet. Plus I guess, lighter makes it easier to put on and take off.

Oh, and the extendible arms were very useful, again, for implements you cannot move by hand. Sometimes though, getting them to lock back in is difficult.

 

[varmint]

Never tried a quick hitch, but I have had extendable arms, and thought they were much easier to use than the fixed type. Much.

 

[rScotty]

Never tried a quick hitch, but I have had extendable arms, and thought they were much easier to use than the fixed type. Much.

Another vote for extendable arms. Once you use them you'll wonder why they aren't standard.
rScotty

 

[Fallon]

I've gone through 4 cheap QHes. 1 ran off on my old L3200, 1 got welded to a SSQA plate (pivot for the plow mount) & ran off with the L3200, 3rd went to a friend with a different L3200, 4th is on my L4060. I had to grind some or most to make hooks fit & welded a 2" extension to the back of all the top hooks. But they have all done well & not come apart. At least 1 northern tool, 1 harbor freight, 1 some other no name. Might have another HF on the L4060 now.

My subsoiler would occasionally stop my L3200 dead when it hit concrete or ice. Never messed up the QH. I jammed my box blade against my wheels on my L3200 so bad it too a Tacoma & F250 to pull things apart (never drive slowly back to the barn to adjust the improperly fitting toplink by the way). Again no damage from a 5,000lbs & tractor being abused to the cheapest QH money can buy.

My L4060 has the extendable lift links on my L4060 & they are useless. I can hitch up with just the QH & TnT without getting off the machine. Extendable lift arms might be great if you hitch up without a QH & I can see why people would like them over solid lift arms. But they don't do anything for you if you've drank the QH KoolAid.

 

[FTG-05]

I have the extendable arms on my L4330 and I just bought a QH. I used it exactly once, for my EA grader blade, and I'm hooked.

 

[rScotty]

I have the extendable arms on my L4330 and I just bought a QH. I used it exactly once, for my EA grader blade, and I'm hooked.

I realize I never did say why I liked the extendable arms - I call them telescoping arms - better than the quick hitch. It's not that I have anything against quick hitches. I have a skid steer style quick attach for the bucket on the front end loader and a selection of special purpose buckets to use with it. The backhoe has a quick attach to enable easier changing buckets.

But for my uses, a towed implement is different. Often it requires PTO power, and that means you have to get off and hook that part up manually anyway. And because our land differs so much from place to place - sometimes rocks, sometimes treees, sometimes gravel, and all too rarely is it good dirt....well, that means that the 3pt implement itself is probably going to need some adjustment for engagement. Plus I just generally like to look things over before I put tractor power to them. It avoids mistakes.

So while I am back there anyway, I might as well hook up and adjust the 3 pt. And doing that is sure a lot less strain if instead of wrestling a heavy implement into position so that its pins match the length of the lower 3 pt arms, all I have to do is extend the arms themselves, clip them in, and then once I'm back on the tractor I can use tractor power to adjust the connection.

That's the way I like to do things. But then I don't look on tractor work - or any work - as being something that is primarily a race with time. It's important to me to enjoy the process. That's just my personal way of doing things and someone else's way may well be different. It often is.... not better, just different.
rScotty

 

[ericm979]

I have the telescoping arms on my Branson. They have about 3" travel and also allow some up and down movement (when extended). This gives you some play to line up the pin. Also get the telescoping stabilizers. They are much easier to use than turnbuckles. Between the two, hooking up takes much less time. You don't have to horse the implement around.

If I didn't have telescoping arms and stabilizers I'd get a quick hitch. With them there's a lot less advantage for the quick hitch but the drawbacks remain. One that has not been mentioned is that the QH moves the implement back about 4". That will make your tractor+implement that much longer which may be an issue when operating in small spaces. If you're converting an existing setup, short PTO shafts will need to be replaced with longer ones to have enough engagement. Longer shafts like on rotary cutters are more likely to be ok.

 

[stoyan79]

Bought a QH from Harbor Freight about 5 years ago for about $70. It is the most useful accessory you can buy. Mine never gets taken off.
It has taken quite a beating and its still as good as day one. 1,400 pound ballast box is constantly attached to it.
90% of all new 3 point attachments are QH compatible.