SacandagaBrad
Platinum Member
A little late to ask for advice since I already ordered it today, but... has anyone bought one of the receiver hitches to go on the 3PH from Bad River? The unit bolts to a standard draw bar and comes with a safety chain to prevent problems with negative tongue weight. It thought it looked pretty good and was reasonably priced, sure easier than me spending the better part of a day welding one up.
I already have a hitch mounted cargo basket for the van which could come in handy hauling coolers down to the lake, and use a trailer hitch all the time.
I'm also thinking of building a ballast box around a piece of ball mount square tube stock to slide into the receiver. That way I can leave the hitch on the 3PH and not have to wrestle with the 3PH every time to hook up the ballast box. I figure if I build it such that the square tubing comes out of the box about 1/3 of the way up on the box, it should help center the weight and not put too much twist on it. If I build it 2'x2'x2', it should hold up to 900 lbs =/- of sand, more than I need. As far as hooking up to the tractor, I think I will be able to back up, get the tube started into the receiver, disconnect the top link and adjust the height so it slides in (remember, it will be swiveling on just the draw bar at this point), then re-connect the top link adjusted as necessary. Maybe I will place a piece of the stock in my van receiver and back the tractor up to it to try the method I just described - just to make sure before I spend all the time building a box I can't connect. Of course, I could always add the pins for a standard 3PH connection at a later time. Any thoughts?
I already have a hitch mounted cargo basket for the van which could come in handy hauling coolers down to the lake, and use a trailer hitch all the time.
I'm also thinking of building a ballast box around a piece of ball mount square tube stock to slide into the receiver. That way I can leave the hitch on the 3PH and not have to wrestle with the 3PH every time to hook up the ballast box. I figure if I build it such that the square tubing comes out of the box about 1/3 of the way up on the box, it should help center the weight and not put too much twist on it. If I build it 2'x2'x2', it should hold up to 900 lbs =/- of sand, more than I need. As far as hooking up to the tractor, I think I will be able to back up, get the tube started into the receiver, disconnect the top link and adjust the height so it slides in (remember, it will be swiveling on just the draw bar at this point), then re-connect the top link adjusted as necessary. Maybe I will place a piece of the stock in my van receiver and back the tractor up to it to try the method I just described - just to make sure before I spend all the time building a box I can't connect. Of course, I could always add the pins for a standard 3PH connection at a later time. Any thoughts?
