Ballast ballast box and quick hitch

[rtm038]

Hello all,
How much do the JD ballast boxes usually cost? Also, has anyone bought one of those non-JD quick hitches, like the ones on Ebay? If so, how do you like it?

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[kennyd]

The JD ballast box's are about $220.00 or so now do the the price of steel. I have the real I-Match myself and wouldn't buy anything else. There are LOTS of threads about the ones from Horrible Fright and others like the Speedco unit that TSC sell if you do some searching...

 

[rtm038]

The JD ballast box's are about $220.00 or so now do the the price of steel. I have the real I-Match myself and wouldn't buy anything else. There are LOTS of threads about the ones from Horrible Fright and others like the Speedco unit that TSC sell if you do some searching...

O.K. I'll have to do some searching on the other brands of hitches

Thanks
Ryan

 

[Birdmayon]

I had a Deere I-match, sold it and bought a Speeco quick hitch from Tractor Supply. No doubt the Deere hitch is prettier, with a better quality paint job, and they cleaned the welds up nicer, however, the Speeco unit is just as stout, and ADJUSTABLE. The Speeco unit also came with the u-shaped upper link that allows you to adapt non quick-hitch ready items to your quick hitch. I've got a finish mower and a rotary cutter that I use with this upper link, they work great. For everything else, I toss the hook on. If you have an implement that has a higher or lower top pin, you can move the hook up or down. So, if everything is "I-match" compatable, no reason you can't go with the I-match. If you need some adjustability, go with the Speeco. BTW, I think the harbor freight unit is probably made by Speeco. The fitment problems folks had with them was due to the fact that they offered two units, one of which was an inch narrower, which was too narrow based on cat 1 specs.

 

[kennyd]

I had a Deere I-match, sold it and bought a Speeco quick hitch from Tractor Supply. No doubt the Deere hitch is prettier, with a better quality paint job, and they cleaned the welds up nicer, however, the Speeco unit is just as stout, and ADJUSTABLE. The Speeco unit also came with the u-shaped upper link that allows you to adapt non quick-hitch ready items to your quick hitch. I've got a finish mower and a rotary cutter that I use with this upper link, they work great. For everything else, I toss the hook on. If you have an implement that has a higher or lower top pin, you can move the hook up or down. So, if everything is "I-match" compatable, no reason you can't go with the I-match. If you need some adjustability, go with the Speeco. BTW, I think the harbor freight unit is probably made by Speeco. The fitment problems folks had with them was due to the fact that they offered two units, one of which was an inch narrower, which was too narrow based on cat 1 specs.

Not to start a war-but in my way of thinking the "adjustability" of the Speedco and the HF unit makes it not a "quick-hitch" if it needs to be adjusted to fit different implements. For me-modifying the implement once to fit the ASAE standard is a better solution, or if your starting from scratch just make sure the new implement meets it assures you won't have to adjust anything-making for a true "quick-hitch"

 

[JB4310]

I have the i-match and had to mod a few things but now they all work, also got a harbor freight unit for an older machine, fairly well built but not compatible with the bushings used for i-match mated implements, had to take 1/4" + from the lower j-hooks opening and 1/8 from the top hook. not an easy task! I wanted to be able to use all implements with both tractors.

Worst thing about the HF unit is the way that top j-hook is made adjustable, with the 2 bolts it is impossible to engage the top pin on my JD blade and my landpride rake, had to remove the bolts and just force oversize pins in their place that do not extend outside the top j-hook mounting members.

As far as that special link needed for the mowers goes I now understand the issue, it doesn't affect me but I see why some would not be able to use the i-match.

I was grinding the lower j-hooks again today, if I knew how much work I would have to do I would have just spent the extra money for the i-match.
Overall I'm OK with the HF QH as it only cost 79. I think i-matchs are close to $250. now.
JB.

 

[ScottK]

I have had the iMatch and both Harbor Freight cat 1 models. The 27.5" HF model is the best in my opinion (the original is 26.5 which is too narrow). I returned the iMatch because you have to have adapter bushings for everything and that is a pain when you have no local supplier - my dealer had none of the right width on hand for even the Frontier box blade they sold me, and the finish on it wasn't that good - lots of rust. I replaced the bolts holding the top hook on the HF with pins to make it easy to adjust, although I don't need to - and no special bushings are required.

 

[Birdmayon]

Not to start a war-but in my way of thinking the "adjustability" of the Speedco and the HF unit makes it not a "quick-hitch" if it needs to be adjusted to fit different implements. For me-modifying the implement once to fit the ASAE standard is a better solution, or if your starting from scratch just make sure the new implement meets it assures you won't have to adjust anything-making for a true "quick-hitch"

No war, you're right, it does make it non-quick hitch in a sense, however I don't have the means to modify my equipment, and I also like buying used rather than paying the bloated prices for Frontier equipment, so I have a couple of things that are not quick hitch compatable out of the box. Actually I do have a Frontier finish mower, which does not have the quick hitch kit on it (that is a $200 option by itself). With the top link adapter on the Speeco hitch, I can use that finish mower. Can't do that with the I-match because the top link adapter would hit the J-hook on the down stroke, since the hook is not removeable.

Big thing for me is the Speeco, while not truly a "quick hitch" in the sense that I need to adjust the hook, still makes life very easy, never have to adjust sway links, and with about 30 seconds of prep work I can switch between all of my implements.

 

[jdbower]

In my opinion there are two options:

1. Be prepared to modify things and use an iMatch
2. Cover the bulk of the quick hitch issues and get Pats Easy Change hooks

For me it's always been quality over price, so the iMatch would be my choice because it's built to the ASAE standards while the others usually require some fine tuning with a large sledge hammer. The Landpride clones with the adjustable toplink support are nice, but they still don't allow for different sidelink widths and if I need to make an adjustment anyway it's just as easy to hook up a hydraulic toplink (and more fun, I get to play with levers!). With Pat's I can back up to the equipment and connect the sidelinks from the seat and then I just need to connect the toplink - I don't change implements enough to bother with modifying my stuff but it's still on my list of things to do.

 

[Runner]

I have an iMatch and love it. Since I bought most of my stuff when I bought the tractor, I just made sure to get attachments that were compatible (Frontier). As for the two things I have that are not compatible (KK rake and carryall) I made an interface adapter that goes between the attachment and the iMatch.