Getting draft control on MX5000

Michael Knight · Mar 7, 2008

What all is involved in getting a draft control lever installed on a tractor? There is a slot for the draft control and when I bought it the dealer said it could be installed later.

I was thinking of doing this myself since I am pretty handy with this kind of thing. Is there a kit available and are there any special tool requirements or anythign that would make this impossible for the home mechanic with a better then average set of tools.

jfay · Mar 7, 2008

I installed a draft control kit on my L3300. It was pretty simple, an hour or two of work and you are ready to go. You can get the draft control kit from your dealer, don't know what it would cost for you tractor. You can easily handle the install.

Jamie

sixdogs · Mar 8, 2008

I did it on my L4300 and it did take maybe an hour. The directions were reasonably clear and if I had a question I planned to ask a guy in the shop.
Draft control is wonderful for grading and driveway work and I love mine for use with a rock/landscape rake. My lawn and drive are flat as a pancake. Great for plowing. If more people here understood the use and importance of draft control there would be a whole section devoted to it.
Thank you Harry Ferguson for inventing it.

mcnitt · Mar 8, 2008

Neebie Question: What does draft control do that position control does not?

sixdogs · Mar 9, 2008

mcnitt said:
Neebie Question: What does draft control do that position control does not?

Draft control allows the rear toplink to sense changes in resistance on the impliment and compensates by slightly lengthening or shortening that toplink via resistance pressure. Sortof.
The effect is that the tractor, with a blade for example, does not gouge when the front wheels hit a small bump. And the blade does not dump a pile of stuff when the front wheels hit a hole. It helps whith heavier equip like plows or any ground-contact item but is most noticable and helpful on lighter equipment like blades and rakes.
It can also "hold" an item like a plow at a constant resitance pressure to adjust for ground resistance.
Threfore, I can use a rockrake to smooth my lawn or driveway or field to look like a parking lot--after successive passes. The rake can float lighter-wthout scraping-and fill holes while at the same time scraping humps with the correct pressure. Works like a charm.
Impliments can gouge and scrape and be all kinds of frustrating without the proper setup and draft control is equally important, I dare say, as the item being used for gound contact.
Can you grade a drive or use a rake, blade or boxblade and be happy? Sure and I did for years. But draft control turns a frustrating ground contact job like scraping or leveling from an OK or good job to a wow job in lots less time.

art · Mar 9, 2008

Post 5 did a great job of explaining the advantage but it has nothing to do with shortening the top link.

It does keep the resistance on the three point hitch at the same load level all the time which makes work a lot easier. Rather then you trying to move the lever the right amount to not gouge when you are driving over something in the front the tractor does it for you.

Michael Knight · Mar 10, 2008

Cool. I'll price it out then, everything I have priced from the local dealer so far has been 10 times too much, so I may end up trying to order it.

Michael Knight · Mar 11, 2008

I was quoted 395 for the kit if anyone was interested.

sixdogs · Mar 11, 2008

When you install it, be careful of the small parts. There are wavy little washers and funny clips that are hard to see when dropped. Like most successful installs, you should have no parts left.