front hitch on cut

[bwmarine]

Recently purchased a tractor for moving boats around the lot and landscaping/snow removal. I have aquired a 3 pt reese type hitch for the rear, but considering building a bolt on reese type hitch for the front; where it would attach to the front frame of the tractor.
The reason for the front hitch would be for putting boats into a storage building, making it much easier to navigate as we pack em in within inches of each other. Considered the idea of using the fel as an attaching point but puts the hitch too far forward.
Has anyone tried this? Seems like it would work pretty good although you would have to manually attach the trailer to the hitch, which is ok as there is always at least one other as spotter when putting boats into storage.
Thanks for any input... Dan

 

[groundcover]

Welcome to TBN! Do you have the quick-tach bucket? That would be too easy-get a plate with a receiver and you will be all set. Depends on a lot of things otherwise. size of tractor, bucket lift capacity,tongue weight of the boat,how much room there is to manevuer in the building ,etc. Could be as easy as drilling a hole in the bucket and dropping in a trailer ball.

 

[farmboy12]

Welcome to TBN! Do you have the quick-tach bucket? That would be too easy-get a plate with a receiver and you will be all set. Depends on a lot of things otherwise. size of tractor, bucket lift capacity,tongue weight of the boat,how much room there is to manevuer in the building ,etc. Could be as easy as drilling a hole in the bucket and dropping in a trailer ball.

He wants to mount it directly to the frame of the tractor.


Kyle

 

[JDeerekid]

The front hitch works great for moving boats around. At my grandparents marina we always and still do move boats around and launch boats for people that can't get down the ramp with there vehicle. We used an old Ford 8n. The only downfall was like you said you have to get off the tractor. If you had a loader it would be alot easier to hook up.

 

[groundcover]

No big deal to come up with a frame mount if he doesn't have a FEL. Could even rig one up with a remote to raise and lower the ball for easy hookup.

 

[farmboy12]

It'd be pretty easy, since he has a loader, he should have a brush guard, so that is easy to attach stuff to.


Kyle

 

[bwmarine]

Its a 7235 cub cadet with fel, and its not the quick attach bucket type either. I actually prefer it being attached to the tractor so I can maneuver in tighter areas. When the building starts to get full I need all the maneuverability as possible. Most boats have a tongue weight less than 400 pounds.

 

[bwmarine]

Thanks for the welcome!!!

 

[2manyrocks]

Please help me understand what you are planning to do.

You said you have a FEL, but you want to attach the hitch to the front of your tractor to get a tighter turning radius. Are you going to remove the FEL when you use the hitch or do you plan to raise the FEL so high that it clears whatever you are moving?

 

[bwmarine]

I plan on removing the fel, less things to worry about hitting things when putting boats into storage. But being bolted to the frame it should be able to stay on whether the fel is on or not.
We pack the boats in pretty tight, any space that a boat cant fit we squeeze in a jet ski...
As of just this past year we used a pickup or manually pushed the boats into place... depending on size :/