AKfish
Super Member
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2004
- Messages
- 5,417
- Location
- Alaska
- Tractor
- JD 5115M; JD 110 TLB; JD 4720; Ford 9N; JD X300R
Since I really wanted to use the pushing in reverse feature, I ended up reinforcing my drag links. I used a couple old 3/4" thick scarifiers and welded them to the bottoms of the drag links once I straightened them out. they are welded with heavy gussets and now the links form a "T" with the reinforcement on them. They are much stronger now. I do a lot of bulldozing in reverse and since this modification, I've had no problems of bending, nor has the tractor mount (for the links) suffered any damage. I still try to watch how much force I use pushing in reverse since my tractor is 55hp and weighs about 8,000lbs loaded. I still advocate using the implements in reverse since there are great benefits from such use. Just be sure you have the reinforcement and watch what you are doing and never slam into your object pile. That goes for going forward or reverse and for FEL use as well.
Rob-
Rob - nice work!
We all do it (reverse plowing, etc.). It's really a matter of being sensible about what you're doing.
And as mentioned - you can cause damage to implements going in a forward direction, too. I bent the vertical lift arm on the draft link while using my 7' rear blade. I was down in a road ditch with narrow shoulders and caught the right corner of the blade on the shoulder while moving forward. The momentum of the tractor and the leverage of the blade "pretzled" the opposite lift arm. Lesson learned.
The great thing about this site is the opportunity to learn from the experiences of others.
P.S. Are the gussets meant to allow contraction/expansion of the shank during the welding process instead of causing distortions to the 3pt arm? Thanks.
AKfish