3pt Receiver hitch

[3930dave]

Needed to be able to shunt non-farm trailers with my tractor.

Picked up some forged eye bolts the right size, chopped the bolts off, and had my buddy (ace welder) weld 'em on to a standard bolt-on receiver housing.

Little bit of black rust paint to finish..... came in real handy last evening.

Rgds, D.

 

[Leejohn]

Does it move up and down ok?

 

[Ken45101]

Does it move up and down ok?

^^^What he said. That looks scary to me. I could be wrong but it seems that if one inadvertently hit the 3pt control lever, something has to give and it may not be pretty!


Ken

 

[3930dave]

Good Morning LJ.

The assembled mechanism moves up and down fine, it's just my thinking that needed some adjustment.

I have an adjust-by-hand toplink, nothing fancy. So, as you lift the 3pt the hitch ball moves through an arc. Not a problem, just different, and actually useful for the trailer hitch in the picture. Being able to rotate the ball through the arc helps to seat it in this trailer hitch, once you have the basic position right.

Worth doing ? Definitely in my case. (My tractor is 5x more flexible in tight quarters than my tow vehicle).

Learning curve for hitching up ? Yep, just a little one. I think most people with a little practice would find this easy to use.

I wouldn't try this maneuver for the first time if you where in an extreme hurry/panic to move something (ex. out of control grass fire heading for the valued travel trailer). But, given a bit of time (or in my case, at least 2 cups of coffee ) I think most people would find this easy to use.

Hi Ken - I understand your concern. It doesn't show in the pictures, but my heavy duty shield on the PTO would prevent the toplink from dropping too far, IF I happened to drop the 3pt hitch control lever accidentally. The toplink might get a little beat up, if I didn't notice right away, but in my case there is no significant safety issues for my application.

GENERAL DISCLAIMER - my application is for shunting on my property - I would NOT suggest that someone build this and haul their trailer down a public roadway with it. Safe or not, I have no idea if this contravenes any local (public roadway) transport regulations.

Build components:

Off the shelf bolt on receiver - rated for higher load (at highway speeds) than my trailers.

Eye bolts, to weld on - forged, each one can carry much more load than the tongue weight I have.

Welding: - not a novice level weld, just because of the safety aspect.

To re-state - in my application, the only safety risk would be from shoddy welding of the eye-bolt eyes, onto the receiver.

(My buddy that welded it for me came up building tube frame race cars. I would bet my life on anything he welds, as I know he has actually done that (bet his life), countless times).

To wrap up, the only other engineering consideration is that the 3pt has to have the lift capacity for the tongue weight you are dealing with. Huge safety margin, in my case.

But, yes, if you are not comfortable with these type of modifications, it is not a project I'd recommend.

Rgds, D.

 

[Ken45101]

Okay, yes, I can see now that it would rotate instead of breaking something.

BTW, I have bent/broken a couple of toplinks over the years including a heavy duty one.

Ken

 

[3930dave]

I hear you Ken, I will be keeping an eye on the top-link.

I'm usually pretty easy on equipment, but I do have a old friend who wouldn't surprise me if he broke an anvil ! :confused2:

(You guessed right, he does not get to use my tractor).

Rgds, D.

 

[LD1]

Thats got to be a record for the LOWEST toplink mount U have ever seen:confused2:

With it mounted that low, As you mention, causes the hitch to rotate. With it that low, I bet it rotates a GOOD bit.

I have to ask, why did you not have your friend weld a vertical peice on there and raise that TL mount hole ~12" or so?? Not trying to critique the design, but the way you have it now alot more stress on the TL AND on those eyebolts. And whith the geometry of it, it looks like the eye-bolts will see more load than just tongue weight due to leverage. IE...1000lb tongue might be 1500lb on the TL mount. Still probabally okay if you sized them for the tongue weight, because there are 2:thumbsup:

But hey, if it works for you it works. Just havent seen it done before. Either way though, its better than just the drawbar:thumbsup:

 

[Ted Summey]

Upon raising the hitch the ball end will rotate downward in an arc to the point where the receiver hitch comes in contact with the top link. THEN it will get ugly. While the hitch is a great idea and it is well made extra care will need to be used so the top link doesn't bend. The hitch will only rotate so far with the top link that long. Believe me I built something similar and later modified it to have the more conventional inverted "T".

As long as the lift isn't raised very high there is no problem. I found that I wanted to raise my hitch higher than my original design allowed. By doing the redesign I don't always have to raise the tongue jack to move a trailer.

 

[Ken Pike]

I have used exactly the same bolt-on receiver to make trailer hitches for my Ford 8N & my Kubota B7100, only I did as another reply suggested & welded a vertical 2" sq. tube (Cat 1 height) with a top link attachment point that extends front & back. Works great & also makes a great log skidding attachment, & my home made gardening implements attach to the receiver also.

 

[3930dave]

Right track, wrong direction guys.

"Gee Honey, see how much that moves - I really need one of those hydraulic top links". (Just kidding).

Points are well taken. I have no problem with well reasoned critique; that is one of the reasons I posted here. It can help me improve my design, and also highlight key points for other people considering this project.

I expected the rotation, and find the lift range is adequate for what I need. One of the things I wanted was a compact design, as this modified receiver will be stored most of the time and only pulled off the shelf as needed.

I will be careful with lift vs. interference. Presently the heaviest trailer I'm moving is about 5,000# - heavier than that and I will get a stronger top-link and monitor the forged eyes closely.

Nice job Ken, your pics illustrate well what the other guys are describing.

Rgds, D.