Implement transport dollies

[roxynoodle]

Being a woman I sometimes really struggle with hooking and unhooking my attachments. So today I made some dollies for them out of 2x6s and caster wheels and now I'm so happy!!! No more struggling with those lift arms! Unhooked the box blade (hardest thing for me to unhook for some reason) in less than 1 minute. Whoo hoo! I was close to getting a quick hitch but heck, these dollies didn't cost me anything to make. Took the wood from my barn that came down in a storm last month and a neighbor had the wheels (she gets them free from work, just had to cut them off metal rods they were attached to).

Thought anyone else who has the same trouble might benefit from the idea.

 

[Pooh_Bear]

I have seriously considered this for my bush hog.
That thing used to be a nightmare to hook up.
Now I just use a 6 foot T post as a pry bar and can move it side to side.
I have it sitting facing slightly downhill. So I back up to it a few extra inches.
Then I lower the lift arms to sit on the pins, and with the engine off
I can just hit the clutch and let it slowly roll forward to where I need it.
I can get it hooked up in just a few minutes now.

Pooh Bear

 

[roxynoodle]

I put the rotary cutter on one too. My finish mower is not so bad because it has 4 wheels that swivel. What I had found is that I would back my tractor to the implement and have one lift arm about perfect but not the other. I would attach one arm then have to back a little more to get the other in the right place. Now I can attach one arm and move the dolly instead to get it right. Even though my attachments are small they still weigh over 300lbs each, something I can't really budge. At any rate it is working out well for me and thought others might be able to use the idea.

 

[PineRidge]

Roxy our New Holland has lower lift arms that extend/retract which makes implement hook-up much easier.

The backhoe however was a problem in itself since it doesn't make a connection with the lift arms, but we managed to handle that by making this dolly.

I think your dolly solution is a good alternative to an otherwise difficult job.

 

[Pooh_Bear]

Yeah, the finish mower is easy to hook up since it has four wheels.
And most of my other stuff I can just man handle it into position.
But my rotary cutter is way WAY too heavy.

It would help greatly if I could learn to back up to implements straight.

Pooh Bear

 

[roxynoodle]

Same here! Almost always I am off by an inch on one side!

 

[cisco]

I constructed dollies (2X6, 4" heavy duty wheels) for my box blade and brush cutter, once I'd a level, smooth surface - which was about 4 years after I'd purchased the tractor and implements, and finally had the cash to construct a garage/apartment on my country property. I've continued to use the dolly for the brush cutter (a 72" Woods), as it can be a bear to move that last inch or so to line up the 3pt. I've abandoned the dolly for the box blade, and just leave it outside on cement blocks. It's light enough that I can slide it a bit on the blocks and get the 3pt hooked properly, and the dolly wasn't worth the space it took in the garage.
Now, when you've a solution to hooking up the pto shaft on heavier duty brush cutters, let me know - it can take major effort.

 

[roxynoodle]

Now, when you've a solution to hooking up the pto shaft on heavier duty brush cutters, let me know - it can take major effort.

That I will have to get back to you on when I have an answer. Actually I have more trouble getting the PTO shaft off than getting it on. Seems I push and push that little button and it doesn't want to release for me.

As for the size of the dollies I made them barely bigger than the implements so they don't take up more space than the attachments themselves do. They are just higher now. I do have an old barn with a cement floor. The floor is very uneven with big chuncks of cement sticking up but the dollies seem to be working ok on that surface. I am not planning to be pushing them across the floor; just back up tractor best I can and use dolly to align implement better for quicker attaching/unattaching. The old barn also provides my tractor with a house

Do all the NHs come with telescoping arms on the 3ph?

 

[RalphVa]

I've dollies or castors underneath every implement that isn't relatively easy to move. I've a 1 by 6 just wider than the brush hog fitted with low, 3 wheel dollies at each end, that I use to slide underneath it before removing the 3 ph. My chipper/shredder sits on a little cart made out of 2 by 4s reinforcing a piece of plywood with dollies at each corner. I put dollies underneath the pallet that I used as a bottom for my carryall. The back blade and soil ripper are relatively easy to move around: back blade on 2 bys in the grass, soil ripper on concrete floor.

Ralph

 

[jinman]

Do all the NHs come with telescoping arms on the 3ph?

No, just the ones called "Deluxe" models and those that have them ordered as a stand-alone option. They are habit forming once you have them.