I'm pretty sure this has been covered before, but searching for "hitch washer" and things like that return a LOT of threads that don't show what I was looking for. I also know that there are quite a few people/places that sell these, but it's just too easy and cheap to make them yourself to bother buying any, IMO.
I recently had my mower fall off my quick hitch because the lynch pin bail got ripped out by some brush, so I decided to make some washers. This is just a quick little tutorial in case someone wants to make some without spending much money.
If you have a Cat1 hitch, go to Tractor supply and buy some 1 inch washers. They sell them by the pound and I got 6 for about $2.
Drill a 7/16" hole in the outer edge.
Put it in a vice with the small hole between the jaws and the edge of the middle hole flush with the top of the jaws.
Wail on it with a big hammer until you bend it over 90 degrees.
It should come out looking like this.
Test fit it to make sure the lynch pin will close all the way, otherwise you'll have to grind off a little of the washer to allow the bail to close.
Repeat the process over and over until you have enough for all of your implements.
Now take the brightest colored paint you have and paint all the washers, quick hitch bolts, pins, etc that you think could possibly fall off. The brighter the better!
All you JD folks should probably not use your touch up paint, since green and yellow aren't exactly ideal for finding parts in a pasture. :laughing: Hopefully if something does go wrong and a part comes off, you'll have a fighting chance of finding it. I'd say, all total, it took me probably 10-15 minutes to make 4 of the washers. If you don't have a drill press and have to use a hand drill to make the 7/16" holes, it may take a little longer. For 15 minutes and two bucks, I figure they didn't turn out too bad!
I kind of feel bad even putting this in the "Build it yourself" forum, because I don't really consider it "building" anything, but I guess it fits here the best.
I recently had my mower fall off my quick hitch because the lynch pin bail got ripped out by some brush, so I decided to make some washers. This is just a quick little tutorial in case someone wants to make some without spending much money.
If you have a Cat1 hitch, go to Tractor supply and buy some 1 inch washers. They sell them by the pound and I got 6 for about $2.
Drill a 7/16" hole in the outer edge.
Put it in a vice with the small hole between the jaws and the edge of the middle hole flush with the top of the jaws.
Wail on it with a big hammer until you bend it over 90 degrees.
It should come out looking like this.
Test fit it to make sure the lynch pin will close all the way, otherwise you'll have to grind off a little of the washer to allow the bail to close.
Repeat the process over and over until you have enough for all of your implements.
Now take the brightest colored paint you have and paint all the washers, quick hitch bolts, pins, etc that you think could possibly fall off. The brighter the better!
All you JD folks should probably not use your touch up paint, since green and yellow aren't exactly ideal for finding parts in a pasture. :laughing: Hopefully if something does go wrong and a part comes off, you'll have a fighting chance of finding it. I'd say, all total, it took me probably 10-15 minutes to make 4 of the washers. If you don't have a drill press and have to use a hand drill to make the 7/16" holes, it may take a little longer. For 15 minutes and two bucks, I figure they didn't turn out too bad!
I kind of feel bad even putting this in the "Build it yourself" forum, because I don't really consider it "building" anything, but I guess it fits here the best.
