Yet another ballast box question

[Fastball]

I'm trying to build some kind of 3pt ballast box for my Kubota L2900.
I've seen dozens and dozens of nice plans here, and will try to incorporate some of the ideas in my finished product. I don't weld, though. I might be able to find a guy, but would rather try to do it in house. So I'm limited to bolting, screwing, tieing rebar together with wire, and bending metal with a vise and lots of grunt.
I'm thinking about running a 26-inch drawbar through some kind of wooden box frame and filling it with cement. My problem is trying to tie into the top link. Firstly, the terminology. What is that connecting piece(s) actually called in the industry? I've seen some of those triangular 3pt hitch receivers...I'm talking about the two arms that go up to the top link and connect with the pin.
Can I get some kind of flat bar (sway bar) and bend it to fit and bolt it to one of the holes in the drawbar...and then go up to the top link?
Or if my box is not very tall, is a connection to the top link necessary? What is the cutoff in height to prevent it from swinging/swaying back and forth? I hope i'm Not being too hopelessly vague here.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

 

[Deere Dude]

There are lots of homemade plans on here and I made one myself. But it is a whole lot easier to go down to the store and buy one and save the grief and ciphering.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

You could build a concrete form around something like a 3pt trailer mover?

 

[ovrszd]

I'm with Luke. If I had zero metal working skills I'd buy a 3pt adapter or trailer mover or whatever you want to call it. Then I'd build a wooden form around it and fill it with wet concrete. Knock the wood box off and there you go.

 

[Fastball]

I'm absolutely tempted to get a trailer hitch setup and build around it. Which brings me to my latest pet peeve...which is the absolutely insanely frustrating aspect of seeing all this stuff available in the USA - and seeing that no one will ship to Canada. I can get the trailer hitch setup on Amazon, for example, for 50-70 dollars...but not a one of them will ship north of the border. On the very few places I can find this stuff in Canada, is over 200. I'm trying to find a carry all, too. Ha...good luck.
It's really gd annoying.

 

[fried1765]

It is not that shippers don't want to ship to Canada, it is that they are often unwilling to deal with absurd customs broker fees, and related shipping delay issues.
I have a summer home in Nova Scotia, and I must bring with me the major things that I expect to need.
Wish you lived closer, I could bring you the hitch.
Are you anywhere near Vancouver?
If near there, you could arrange to have items shipped to a USPS or UPS site at Point Roberts, USA, and bring them into Canada yourself.

 

[Fastball]

It is not that shippers don't want to ship to Canada, it is that they are often unwilling to deal with absurd customs broker fees, and related shipping delay issues.
I have a summer home in Nova Scotia, and I must bring with me the major things that I expect to need.
Wish you lived closer, I could bring you the hitch.
Are you anywhere near Vancouver?
If near there, you could arrange to have items shipped to a USPS or UPS site at Point Roberts, USA, and bring them into Canada yourself.

I'm about 4-5 hours from Van. I'm tempted to set something up over the border here near Oroville, WA - which is probably 2.5 hours south.
It was so much easier when I lived back East...I was 20 minutes from a border store over in Minnesota. Had tons of stuff delivered there. And had tons more snow, too.

 

[sdef]

You might also check used farm implement sellers and auctions. I am in the middle of building a weight box using a donated 3PH pallet mover and a job box after not finding anything locally pre-built. Filled 1/2 full of concrete it will weigh ~ 1250# and still leave room for storing things/adding more weight if necessary.

A friend needed help moving two old Ford tractors and some implements upstate to a buyer/reseller he deals with and we both took loaded equipment trailers. While they were discussing prices and such, I was going through three+ acres of used and new implements and discovered the perfect weight box someone had built and it was only $150 U.S., complete with heavy weight wooden, steel reinforced box mounted to a strong 3PH framework. Was probably a 10 cu.' box. Mannnnn, just my luck.

My current project. Will add concrete next week when it warms up and dries out around here.

 

[crazyal]

Just because the top link part of an attachment goes on both sides of the heim joint on the top link doesn't mean you need to. You could easily get the draw bar you talked about and pick up a piece of flat steel. Bend one end and bolt it to the draw bar. On the other end just drill a hole and use a bolt tightened up to the top link. I would use thick steel like 1/4". It's not like a pulling or ground engaging attachment so the forces on the top link will be minimal. You could even use a piece of angle iron, but it would require more cutting.

 

[Fastball]

You might also check used farm implement sellers and auctions. I am in the middle of building a weight box using a donated 3PH pallet mover and a job box after not finding anything locally pre-built. Filled 1/2 full of concrete it will weigh ~ 1250# and still leave room for storing things/adding more weight if necessary.

A friend needed help moving two old Ford tractors and some implements upstate to a buyer/reseller he deals with and we both took loaded equipment trailers. While they were discussing prices and such, I was going through three+ acres of used and new implements and discovered the perfect weight box someone had built and it was only $150 U.S., complete with heavy weight wooden, steel reinforced box mounted to a strong 3PH framework. Was probably a 10 cu.' box. Mannnnn, just my luck.

My current project. Will add concrete next week when it warms up and dries out around here.

View attachment 502273View attachment 502274

Oh, for sure....I'm hitting the local used ads and buyer/sellers forums. Plus, you can find great stuff sitting in farmers' fields, too. Lots of (rusty) gold hidden in the tall grass and shrubbery. There's a guy down the road that, believe it or not, has a older Mercedes S-series sedan being used to block an access road. Its been sitting there for years. I'd love to hear the story of that one.