Swinging drawbar extension???

[Wal]

How can I fix this problem guys? I have this 4x8 trailer I got from Harbor Freight. You know, the kind that folds up /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. I got the one with 12 inch wheels for extra clearance in the woods. It works real nice except for one, teeny, tiny problem. The dang /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif front "A-frame" hits the back tires even during just a moderate turn, let alone a sharp turn. This is, as you might guess, is a major inconvenience dodging trees and such. This trailer has the ball coupler right at the end of the "A-frame", with no straight extension which would put the coupler away from the front of the trailer. Anyway, to try and make a long story short, the problem would be solved if I could: 1. Extend the ball coupler away from the "A-frame" by maybe 18 inches or so, or 2. Somehow extend the swinging drawbar out from the back of the tractor by the same 18 inches. This is a B7500, by the way. I have tried using a 3 pt hitch drawbar, but its just the same problem except then the trailer frame is hitting the left or right side of the 3 pt drawbar. Has anyone made or bought an extension for their swinging drawbar? Any details would be helpful /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Knight9]

Sorry for this goofy question Wal, but have you extended the drawbar as much as possible? I believe I have 3 options for pin placement on mine.

Kevin

 

[Wal]

Kevin,

Ah, if it was only that simple . . . . . . /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif. Yup, the drawbar is out as far as she'll go, Kevin. In case anyone has trouble deciphering my description of the problem, here is a schematic of the trailer.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Wal:
I just bought a 4' piece of 1/4" thick wall square tubing from a trailer dealer at $2 per foot. I'm sure it would be cheaper at a steel company. The trailer place also had a hitch made to go on a 2" trailer tongue. My recommendation is to buy the length of tubing you need to reach all the way to the frame cross member and weld it on as a new tongue. If you don't want to go that far back, you could also just jave it extend about two feet behind the current hitch and put a cross piece of the same tubing on top of the A frame channels. Either way, it should be plenty strong.

 

[jinman]

Walter, I'm in agreement with Charlie Iliff (if I understand what he is saying). I think you should extend your trailer tongue instead of the drawbar. If you get too far back on the drawbar and you have a heavy load on your trailer, you will get very light on your front wheels. I'd modify the trailer. ...my two cents.

 

[pennwalk]

Could you make a tongue Extention to move the A-frame farther back from the hitch? Down at the boat ramp they have a piece of 2 inch square tube with a hitch on one end and a bracket on the other end that hooks on the trailer frame there is a ball mounted to the tube that goes in the traler hitch. Lets you get the trailer far enough in to launch the boat without emerseing your car.

Chris

 

[Bird]

Wal, that's precisely why I made the contraption you see in the attached picture. It gets the hitch on the 3-point so I can easily raise or lower it, and it gets the ball back behind the drawbar so I can turn quite sharply with either of my trailers or my neighbor's trailers.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Wal:
Bird's attachment is a better idea than the trailer modification I recommended.

 

[MossRoad]

Very nice, Bird.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Wal, I made a hitch to mount on the 3pt. My trailer is also an A-frame and with the hitch I can have the trailer at almost a right angle to the tractor without it hitting. Northern sells something similar if you don't weld. You can see my hitch at:

http://www.mgsweb.com/tractor/hacker/hitch2.htm

I used it quite a bit the last few weeks hauling lumber for a fence in the woods and sharp turns were never a limiting factor. I think having the hitch ball further to the rear also makes controling the trailer easier when backing up.

Andy