How to keep from dumping the trailer???

[Adam23]

Hey all,

I have a dumb question that just came up today. I know that 3ph on compact tractors do not have down pressure, so it should not have been a suprise to me today when a trailer that I had connected to my 3ph dumped on me. As you can see in the pictures (if I can figure out how to upload) that I connected a trailer to a drawbar (i think that is what it is called) and everything is fine until I go up a steep hill. When on flat or even semi-flat ground the trailer is great, but as soon as I start to go up a semi-steep hill the darn trailer will dump as the 3ph alows the load in the trailer to act as the leverage and it lifts up and dumps! The mounting point that is under the axle where a 2" ball is also mounted is too thick for my little trailer to mount to so I am stuck using this drawbar and the 3ph. Is there anyway to lock the 3ph in the down position so it will not move up? Are there any other options for me that I am not thinking about? Or do I just need to deal with this issue and find a more level route from my house to the creek?? If I am not making sense, just let me know and I will try to explain or include different pics.

 

[Berniep]

The point that you should be hooking to is where you have the ball. I don't know of any way of locking the 3ph, at least not as simply as the solution I would use. Get a piece of flat bar, maybe a half inch thick by however wide your hitch is, put three holes in it. One hole for the ball(or if the ball shaft is not long enough then a bolt) another for a bolt in that rear hole behind the ball, and another to hook the trailer through.

 

[Toolguy]

From looking at your pictures it looks like there is enough clearance to run a peice of angle iron under the center drawbar and over the 3PTH arms to keep them down. You can bolt it in the middle to the drawbar and trim the ends of the angle iron so it will clear the lift rods. A peice of 2 x 2 or 2 x 3 1/4" thick should be strong enough to hold down your trailer. If you do build something like that then just be sure not raise your 3pt or you will probably bend something. Good luck.

 

[David_Kb7uns]

You can do it two ways either use chains to hold the arms down or get the adjustable bars that go from the top three point bracket down to the two lower arm ends.

David
Kb7uns

 

[john_bud]

2 ways, use that shiny thing in the middle or chain/block the arms from going up.

The 3pt arms are NOT for trailers for the exact reason you stated. The trailers can surge forward. If you were using a ball and not the pin, the trailer can pop off the ball. It's a big deal when there is a larger trailer with a heavy load of dirt, you stop the arms go up, the hitch pops off the ball and the tongue spears the back of your head.

Very rare occurance, but still use the draw bar.

 

[Racer71]

The problem is that you have a dump trailer. The axle is in the middle and if the center of the load gets behind the axle it will dump. That is what is happening when you go up hill. Now, what can you do about it.

Move the axle back. Not simple.

Add weight to the front of the trailer toung. Can be done.

Always load the heavy stuff in front. Be careful if the load shifts.

Make an adapter for the draw bar to the trailer toung.

 

[danfromsyr]

if your 3PH back end is like my 2350 you can connect the drawbar 'uplinks' to the solid upper mounts, making it a rigid non-liftable configuration.

 

[Leejohn]

I made the tonge longer and heavier then hook onto the ball at the draw bar.
The tonge isn't very strong anyway. The one I had was made out of real thin channel iron. I had to do it because it pulled out where the axle went thru. and it also bent down. It looks like you are putting alot of weight in it like I did.
It's real easy to do and you well be safe.


Lee

 

[Skyco]

The chains to hold the drawbar down was my first thought.
If I understand you correctly the gap in the the trailer tongue is too small to go over the trailer hitch bar with the hole in it behind the ball. Can you simply use washers or a spacer under the top hitch Z plate and longer bolts to widen the gap?

 

[bigdad]

Have you considered modifying the trailer with a 2" coupler. It doesn't look like a high speed road trailer, but you could pull it with your vehicle too........At least around your place. Maybe just modify the trailer hitch to be wider to fit over that drawbar.

I had the same problem with a smaller trailer. Also had trouble with the hitch bar rotating in the lift arms. Stay with the drawbar whatever you do. Good luck.

 

[Adam23]

Thanks for all the posts and advise! I should have known better but it caught me off guard when it dumped. I think I am going to go the route of making the "mouth" of the trailer hitch bigger by using bigger bolts and spacers so that I can attach it at the fixed draw bar behind the ball. My only worry about going this route is that it will bring the trailer much closer to the rear tires making sharp turns impossible. Knowing me i will eat the side of the trailer up before I learn!

OK - second dumb question: If you are not supposed to use that "drawbar" for connecting trailers for the obvious reasons that I just found out, then what is the main purpose for those?

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

In the "old days" tractors came with two rigid flat bars that went from the top link pin to each of the drawbar pins to hold the drawbar at a predetermined height. With many farm wagons, self powered balers etc the tongue will have a portion that goes both above and below the drawbar, with a pin through, such that the drawbar cannot rotate when a load or brakes are applied. If using a trailer ball, there needs to be some method of keeping the drawbar from rotating when load / brakes are applied.

 

[Harry c]

I use a tie down strap from the lower trailer hitch hole to the drawbar. Hook it in the hole, go over the drawbar, back down and hook in the hole. Pull the strap tight and you're off. Just don't forget and raise the 3 pt hitch.

 

[john_bud]

My only worry about going this route is that it will bring the trailer much closer to the rear tires making sharp turns impossible. Knowing me i will eat the side of the trailer up before I learn!

?

Some draw bars have multiple holes and can be slid out farther. Yours may be that way. Worth checking. If not either add tongue length or be careful on the turns.

jb

 

[jinman]

Thanks for all the posts and advise! I should have known better but it caught me off guard when it dumped. I think I am going to go the route of making the "mouth" of the trailer hitch bigger by using bigger bolts and spacers so that I can attach it at the fixed draw bar behind the ball. My only worry about going this route is that it will bring the trailer much closer to the rear tires making sharp turns impossible. Knowing me i will eat the side of the trailer up before I learn!

OK - second dumb question: If you are not supposed to use that "drawbar" for connecting trailers for the obvious reasons that I just found out, then what is the main purpose for those?

It used to be a common thing to pull split-tongue trailers with tractors using the 3PH drawbar, but they had the setup in the photo below. This has the drawbar stays to hold the arms down and also has the blue lock to keep the drawbar from turning. If you notice, the tractor doesn't even have a swinging drawbar.

Be careful if you chain your 3PH down or use this setup. If you move the lever to up, something is gonna bend, break, or the hydraulic pressure relief will lift.

 

[Adam23]

OK - I took a good look at the back end of my tractor last night and I think that I have come up with a plan. I am planning on using a small (1 inch wide) nylon strap to hold down the 3ph. I will tie it from the top 3ph arm to the fixed drawbar. I think this should be sufficient to hold down the 3ph with the loads that I typically place in my small trailer but would easily be the breaking point if the 3ph was accidentally raised. Any thoughts on this or anything that I minght be missing?

Thanks again for all the help and the pictures. It really brings to light stuff that is obvious to lots of folks with alot of tractor experience that is probably sometimes taken for granted. Folks like me who have only been around tractors for a year or so have never seen setups on the older stuff like the one pictured above. For all this info from everybody - I am very thankful!

 

[TGD]

I just want to point this out as nobody has yet.

I bought and use a EZMover Hitch System . It bolts to the 3ph drawbar with the top link connecting to the upper part of the hitch. There is a way to connect a piece of chain from near the top to your fixed drawbar. The advantages of this system is it is easy to adjust the height of the hitch to match the proper tounge height of a trailer, won't allow the 3ph drawbar to rotate (which could pop the ball off the trailer coupling if using a ball), won't dump a trailer if the chain is used, multiple attachments can be used as it is a standard 2" receiver hitch. It also gets the trailer further away from the tires making turns easier.

I use a hitch in the receiver without a ball for trailers (like yours only a little larger) without ball couplers, and a hitch with a ball (off my truck when needed) for the big trailer I have if I need to move it around the place.

Phil

 

[Adam23]

That is a great idea and looks like i could built that in no time at all. Thanks for the link!

 

[easytractor]

Adam23,
I would have never realized that this hookup would dump the trailer. I am such a rookie but I am learning by reading and spending time on this great site. I cannot offer any solutions but I would like to ask you how do you like that craftsman trailer? Is it a good size to haul wood, topsoil, etc. up & down sloped property? I like the EZ Mover Hitch System to solve you problem what do you think?

 

[john_bud]

The only problem with being a rookie on a tractor is the much much higher possiblity of getting injured or worse. Be careful !
jb