3-Point Hitch New MF 202 owner - with draw arm questions

[marc202]

I'm a first time tractor owner with a 58 MF 202 Work Bull, so I'll apologise in advance for some newbie questions. The tractor came with only the standard arm linkage for the 3 pt hitch. I purchased a drawbar to tow a small (6x10) trailer for firewood and now have a few questions.
1) the manual says that I shouldn't use the drawbar without stay links. Is the purpose of the stay link to hold the drawbar at a certain height or another purpose? Are they needed? And were would I get them if they are?
2) I picked up a couple of stabilizer bars from the local tractor supply store. Looking under the tractor there is only one pin on the left fender mount, none on the right fender mount. The one that is already mounted has probably been there since the tractor was build and does not look like it is going to be fun to remove, so I was thinking of adding two new ones to the center holes on each side. Are there any problems doing that that I should be aware of?
3) The stabilizer bars have one end with a slight angle, the other straight. Does it matter which end goes where? It doesn't seem to be an easy fit either way.

Any other suggestions for getting this set up?

Thanks

marc

 

[Sportsman762]

I'm a first time tractor owner with a 58 MF 202 Work Bull, so I'll apologise in advance for some newbie questions. The tractor came with only the standard arm linkage for the 3 pt hitch. I purchased a drawbar to tow a small (6x10) trailer for firewood and now have a few questions.
1) the manual says that I shouldn't use the drawbar without stay links. Is the purpose of the stay link to hold the drawbar at a certain height or another purpose? Are they needed? And were would I get them if they are?
The stay links are to prevent the drawbar from riding up when the trailer hits a bump, gets negative tongue weight, or any other reason.
2) I picked up a couple of stabilizer bars from the local tractor supply store. Looking under the tractor there is only one pin on the left fender mount, none on the right fender mount. The one that is already mounted has probably been there since the tractor was build and does not look like it is going to be fun to remove, so I was thinking of adding two new ones to the center holes on each side. Are there any problems doing that that I should be aware of?
I would mount the stabilizer pins in the factory location. They will be the same level as the pin for the lift arms. If the stabilizer pins are not in the same plane as the lift arm pins it will cause a bind and possible br
3) The stabilizer bars have one end with a slight angle, the other straight. Does it matter which end goes where? It doesn't seem to be an easy fit either way.
Most of the stabilizers that I have seen are bent on both ends. I would definitely make sure that the bent end is out if there is only one bend as this will make it easier to hook up.
Any other suggestions for getting this set up?

Thanks

marc

Hope this helps

 

[marc202]

Thanks!