front hitch on cut

[bwmarine]

Lot of good thoughts, appreciate the posts...

The only time I will be needing the front hitch is in the storage building when putting boats in between others that are just inches apart. The building has a concrete floor so the boats roll pretty easily... its just those with the tandom axles that are a pain when space gets tight. For moving boats around the lot the rear hitch should work just fine. Plan on getting something together within the next month or so before the boating season starts.

Dan

"I do agree with y'all though, if I had a FEL, I'd probably remove the bucket and fabricate a narrow plate to mount a hitch"

I do like this idea...

 

[farmboy12]

Lot of good thoughts, appreciate the posts...

The only time I will be needing the front hitch is in the storage building when putting boats in between others that are just inches apart. The building has a concrete floor so the boats roll pretty easily... its just those with the tandom axles that are a pain when space gets tight. For moving boats around the lot the rear hitch should work just fine. Plan on getting something together within the next month or so before the boating season starts.

Dan

"I do agree with y'all though, if I had a FEL, I'd probably remove the bucket and fabricate a narrow plate to mount a hitch"

I do like this idea...

You'd be surprised at how many people steal other people's ideas on TBN. Really is a great place!


Kyle

 

[Leejohn]

Dan I see you got the ideal. I used 1 1/2" steel for the Y and the Cyl mount I can't remenber what I used. Now one side of that Y is stright and just long enough to go into the ground so you can get under the coupler that are right on the ground. I also had about 6" bent down just alittle to help getting under the ones on the ground. The Ball is welded on. The only bad thing I ran across was on rough ground and moving to fast it could jump off the ball.
I stored 280 boats and when going in I would stage them by pulling one on the back and one on the front. Drop the one in back and go on into the warehouse with the front one.
Make the tractor bracket so that you only have to take off the Y by pulling 3 pins and change the hoses, it well not be heavy at all. Even the wife could do it.
I don't have any pictures, that was back in late 70's or early 80's.

 

[Linework]

If you had a FEL I would recomend one of these. The only thing better is one of these on a bobcat/skidsteer ! I love mine for moving trailers and the boat around. ( Also made a handy mounting point for the snowplow )

 

[Blagadan]

If you had a FEL I would recomend one of these. The only thing better is one of these on a bobcat/skidsteer ! I love mine for moving trailers and the boat around. ( Also made a handy mounting point for the snowplow )
View attachment 121489

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin about!!!


Nice setup linework!

 

[oldhippy]

I built a front bumper for my tractor that had a 2" hitch built in the middle of it. I moved trailers around with it, worked quite well. Sorry about distance from bumper this was the only picture that I had. I gave the bumper to another TBN member when I bought a FEL. big dan

 

[John D]

I built this one. I had to make it long enough so I could see it over the 5103 hood but it could be cut down.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I deal in boats also and just put a Reese Hitch on the top of my FEL Bucket. The one change I would make is to run a heavy piece of plate or a piece of 1/4" wall 2.5"x2.5" tube to stiffen up the top of the bucket. It flexes a little with a big boat like the one in my avatar on it.

Having it on the FEL helps with the tandem or triple axle trailers. You can lift up the front axle or just lighten the load on it.

Here is a picture with my boom pole in it.

Chris

 

[bwmarine]

Thanks All, what ever I come up with I will take pics and post...

Dan

 

[MossRoad]

I used to stack airplane hangars for a living, so I find this subject very interesting. Here are some thoughts I have for you...

You could put three different balls directly inside the front of your bucket, about 4" apart. The advantage of a bucket mounted ball is that you can tip it down and under a hitch and lift it up and move the trailer without ever getting off the tractor. The bad part is... you can't see it at all!

Also, the bucket is wide. That means you have to pay extra attention to the edges or your other boats will get hangar rash.

Having the balls farther out in front of the tractor will give you greater mobility side to side with less forward/backward movement of the tractor VS having them up close to the front of the tractor. Side to side movement is very important when stacking a hangar, so I imagine it would be the same with boats.

If you are going to take the loader off, why not just take the bucket off instead and have a hitch with three balls fabricated to fit in place of the bucket? Have it fabricated so that you can see the balls from the operator's seat. Then, you can use the FEL controls to lower and tilt the balls to slip under the trailer's hitch, then lift and curl to raise the front of the trailer just enough to get a little pressure off the jack stand. Then off you go, never having to get of the tractor.