Quick hitch

[santa2u]

I have a Land Pride quick hitch and wouldn't be without it. However, I had a near catastrophe and thought I would share in case it may save a life.

I have a 16" low boy trailer and a Kubota L3400. I bought the trailer when I had a smaller B7510 and with the longer tractor the mower hangs off the back of the trailer nearly four feet. As I was driving to a job, the mower popped off of the quick hitch and fell off the trailer. There were several near accidents before a couple of fellas stopped and helped me push it to the side of the road. Upon thinking about it, the mower must have hung off enough to cause a negative weight on the hitch and it came unhitched.

My solution was to turn the top hook upside down on top of the implement. That way, the to hook holds it down and the lower hooks hold it up and it is impossible for it to unhitch until I remove the top hook. It is not as convenient, but much safer.

 

[kennyd]

Don't take this the wrong way...but you need to blame yourself and not the QH. You have a unsafe setup with that trailer and a mower hanging off 4 feet. If that mower was resting on the trailer and secured properly this would not have happened. If this near catastrophe isn't enough to open your eyes then what will? Causing that accident and injuring poeple?

 

[JB4310]

How did it come unhitched? did you have the latches engaged?

I've thought about those QHs not being as secure under some conditions as the old thru pins.

I would say if your hitch has the movable top hook and you can flip it, that might help. How about leaving it as it is and bolt a lock bar over the top of the open hook?

Regardless you need to strap that mower down to the trailer with it's own tie down or chain and binder. 4 feet over, I assume that still leaves a couple of feet on? strap it so it's pulled back up onto the trailer.

Or put the mower up front under the loader if you have one.

Sounds like you need a bigger trailer though.

JB.

 

[Runner]

So, how exactly did is come "unhitched"? Did the upward pressure on the implement pins break the tabs on the quick hitch?

I've wondered if it would be possible to break the pins that hold the little tabs on the lower hooks of a quick hitch when they are put in a situation like this, i.e., under upward pressure from the pins. I have a loader-mounted quick hitch, which would allow down-pressure when using something like the rear blade on the front.

They don't look very hefty.

 

[santa2u]

Kenny, I do indeed blame myself rather than the quick hitch. As I stated in my initial post, I wouldn't be without it. And yes, I added a tiedown over the mower in addition to reversing the top pin. And yes, I do wish I could afford a longer trailer. By the way, I am still in compliance with Texas law, not that that is an end all statement.

That said, I still don't think the locking device on the quick hitch should have let go with the locking levers down. There is obviously a weakness in the design, but again, I accept the responsibility, especially now that I am aware of this weakness.

Actually, nothing broke. Once we had the mower pushed over to the shoulder, I unloaded the tractor, hitched back up to the mower (with the top hook upside down this time) and off to the next job.

Don

 

[RoyJackson]

That said, I still don't think the locking device on the quick hitch should have let go with the locking levers down. There is obviously a weakness in the design, but again, I accept the responsibility, especially now that I am aware of this weakness.

Actually, the design is probably great since the quickhitch is designed to pull an implement that is supposed to be on the ground. You worked outside the design intent.
Now, if we see a spate of implements coming off the quickhitch while being transported (by the tractor), then we'd have a design/manufacturing problem.

 

[JB4310]

I'll have to check mine to see if when those levers are in the locked and closed position, that the keepers that hold the pins in place are mechanically held or just under spring tension.

I guessing for it to have become unhitched, they are just under spring tension and the constant pressure on them along with the dynamics of the way the load was, caused the latching keepers to move back and eventually release the pins.

JB.

 

[shane]

I appreciate your willingness to share this incident. We can all grow by sharing. Thank you.

 

[santa2u]

Actually, the design is probably great since the quickhitch is designed to pull an implement that is supposed to be on the ground. You worked outside the design intent.
Now, if we see a spate of implements coming off the quickhitch while being transported (by the tractor), then we'd have a design/manufacturing problem.

I respectfully disagree with your statement. When you drop the three point all the way down while using a box blade for instance, you would have the same negative force unless you set the hitch level to just touch the ground with the blade. Maybe I am wrong to run my box blade like that, but unless I am putting the finishing touches on a surface, I often drop the three point all the way.

That also begs the question of running the tractor in reverse, again using a box blade. I can easily visualize an upward force on the quick hitch. Again, I may be in error by doing that, but since my box blade has blades facing both forward and backward, I assume that is the reason for it.

So, unless the quick hitch manufacturer specifically addresses this type of operation, I have to assume there is no problem operating the equipment that way. Actually, there were no operating instructions at all enclosed with my quick hitch. Hopefully I have worded this post to correctly convey my thoughts.

All of that said, again, I am not blaming the manufacturer. I was simply trying to share my experience so that others might avoid a potentially serious accident.

 

[KennyG]

If I recall, some states require that, when trailering, all attachments be independently chained/strapped down. I guess this is why.