Drawbar towing.

[LouNY]

Did my first welding in ag class in school, didn't buy my first welder till I was in my later 20's. A Lincoln AC buzz box. They are much less expensive now days, get an arc welder and some scrap and go for it. As my father would have told me you can't learn any younger. The new inverter arc welders are relatively inexpensive and with u-tube and practice anything is possible.

 

[jack32008]

Yeah, I took a 3-month Welding Class onboard a Nuclear-powered Cruiser while serving in the Western-Pacific (WESTPAC) in the early '80 while deployed in the US Navy. There it was just 'stick' welding. I passed the course, but to this day I don't know how I pulled that off.

I have a nice Eastwood MIG welder w/gas setup somewhere in the shop, and I still 'suck' at welding. Now that I'm retired, I should take your advice and start practicing in my spare time.

Have a good day and THANKS for the inspiration!!!

 

[nknelsen]

Sold my BX 25 "starter" tractor and upgraded to new L6060 with cat 1 3 pt drawbar hitch supplied by dealer. Tnought I was getting a cat 2 drawbar atrachment. The cat 1 has eleven 3/4 inch holes. I want to attach both 2 inch and 2 5/16 balls for moving wood chipper, splitter, empty flatbed trailer ( approx 3000 lbs with no load ). Tractor rear wheels are loaded. 2 inch ball is available with 3/4 shaft but smallest 2 5/16 ball comes in 1 inch shaft and up. So, can I drill one of the holes up to 1 inch or will I weaken the drawbar significantly? Are there other options, perhaps a way to attach a 2 inch hitch receiver to this drawbar? I have front pallet forks that I could possibly weld a receiver hitch to. Appreciate all thoughts, comments. Thank you.

I bought one of these, it allows for any ball or pintle attachment and allows me to hook on, lift and move most any trailer without getting off the seat. I modified this unit to fit quickly onto a three point hitch quick attachment. I love the versatility it allows.

 

[troverman]

There is no limiter built into the tractors 3 point to stop the arms from lifting from an external source. The hydraulics will only lift so far but the arms can usually be forced past that point easily.

Below is a pic of my L4060 when it was brand new. How would the travel of the hydraulic cylinders not limit the ultimate travel of the 3-point lift arms? In the background you can see the gooseneck I mentioned (its also generally how I move my tractors around). Being a dovetail, even if it did lift, the dove would be digging into the ground pretty quickly. Using 4x4 also still allows braking in the event the rear wheels lifted off the ground. In my case, the rears are loaded and as I said, I wouldn't be taking this up or down a steep grade unless I figured out how to wire in a trailer brake controller.

 

[ttouring]

Sold my BX 25 "starter" tractor and upgraded to new L6060 with cat 1 3 pt drawbar hitch supplied by dealer. Tnought I was getting a cat 2 drawbar atrachment. The cat 1 has eleven 3/4 inch holes. I want to attach both 2 inch and 2 5/16 balls for moving wood chipper, splitter, empty flatbed trailer ( approx 3000 lbs with no load ). Tractor rear wheels are loaded. 2 inch ball is available with 3/4 shaft but smallest 2 5/16 ball comes in 1 inch shaft and up. So, can I drill one of the holes up to 1 inch or will I weaken the drawbar significantly? Are there other options, perhaps a way to attach a 2 inch hitch receiver to this drawbar? I have front pallet forks that I could possibly weld a receiver hitch to. Appreciate all thoughts, comments. Thank you.

Do you need the 2 5/16 ball ? Of so you considered something you can bolt on the draw bar to add a 2 5/16 ball to ?

 

[LouNY]

With just external cylinders it may, have you ever lifted it to it's max and then walked around and tried to lift a lift arm more?

 

[4Liberty]

What would you like to know. It was my second design for a three point trailer hitch.

My first was just a ball for a qooseneck on a quick hitch and we would wrap a chain around and down to the drawbar for safety
View attachment 849623

This was the second build for handling most all trailers, the yellow legs are just pined so they are easy to remove or repin with the base higher in the air. They can be removed or left on as desired and they also help hold the hitch up for hooking up to the tractor with or without a trailer attached.
View attachment 849624View attachment 849625


There is no limiter built into the tractors 3 point to stop the arms from lifting from an external source. The hydraulics will only lift so far but the arms can usually be forced past that point easily.

Which is why I always recommend a chain from the hitch down to a solid part of the tractor to prevent the three point from being lifted past it's design height.

For clarity I had a three point type mount like some have pictured. In my situation chains or not same ending, unless the chains were short enough to keep it from lifting at all. When it pushed up the ball broke when the arms slammed against the top travel of the lift arms. They stopped the trailer didn’t. The purpose of my post was simply to beware of what can happen. Chains or not I’ll still back down hills with stuff attached to the lift arms like that.

 

[LouNY]

I have not had any problems using a chain as a limiter. I normally set the chain so it is getting tight at the top of the lift travel. It would take quite a lift to go any higher as it would have to be lifting the rear of the tractor. I have spun out with the tractor while backing up hill.

 

[JBacon52]

Sold my BX 25 "starter" tractor and upgraded to new L6060 with cat 1 3 pt drawbar hitch supplied by dealer. Tnought I was getting a cat 2 drawbar atrachment. The cat 1 has eleven 3/4 inch holes. I want to attach both 2 inch and 2 5/16 balls for moving wood chipper, splitter, empty flatbed trailer ( approx 3000 lbs with no load ). Tractor rear wheels are loaded. 2 inch ball is available with 3/4 shaft but smallest 2 5/16 ball comes in 1 inch shaft and up. So, can I drill one of the holes up to 1 inch or will I weaken the drawbar significantly? Are there other options, perhaps a way to attach a 2 inch hitch receiver to this drawbar? I have front pallet forks that I could possibly weld a receiver hitch to. Appreciate all thoughts, comments. Thank you.

This is my solution..

 

[JBacon52]

I added a 2 foot long, 2" hitch draw bar to the Cat1 drawbar, along with extra steel, then built a set of forms around it, and filled the forms with concrete. No trailer I have towed has been able to lift the 1300 pound counterweight.View attachment 841552View attachment 841553

In a former life, I was a lead form carpenter, working on highway bridges, I approve of your job!