Branson 4720Ch Drawbar strength

[LouNY]

When some of the larger and heavier manure spreaders came out broken drawbars got common for awhile.
One method that got used a bit was a heavy piece of angle iron bolted under the drawbar with chains and turn buckles
that ran up to a Y shaped tab that was pined in the top link bracket.

 

[oldnslo]

Sorry no pictures on the chain support but similar to what Lou describes above. We put a bolt thru an unused hole by the hitch end of the draw bar then run the chain behind that bolt so it doesn't slide forward. Then we made up a chain that connects to the upper lift arms when fully raised it lifts the draw bar slightly. Veed out to the upper lift arms never had a problem with hitting the PTO even when doing U-turns in the field or cow lot.

 

[RjCorazza]

Maybe consider having a new drawbar made up that only has two holes, one for the tractor side and one for the mower?
The area that broke couldn't have had a pin hole in a worse place strength wise.

 

[ceaster]

Maybe consider having a new drawbar made up that only has two holes, one for the tractor side and one for the mower?
The area that broke couldn't have had a pin hole in a worse place strength wise.

I wholeheartedly agree with you there. I'm going to try to find a different one and use a chain reinformacement to disperse the load a bit as suggested above.

 

[5030]

I wholeheartedly agree with you there. I'm going to try to find a different one and use a chain reinformacement to disperse the load a bit as suggested above.

If it was my batwing, I believe I'd shorten the pto shaft a bit. I pull both a bat wing Land Pride and a 3 point mount.

 

[Cycledude]

These new small tractors do seem to come with pretty weak looking drawbars

 

[5030]

The OP made a mention to the pto shaft contacting the stub so he had the drawbar extended out to the max so that didn't occur...

"You have to keep the drawbar out 14 inches from the end of the PTO or you can cause a catastrophic failure when making turns or sloping too much by pushing the PTO shaft into the rear housing, I suppose that's that weakness is having to extend it out so far too."

Interestingly, my Landpride bat wing has a double Cardan constant velocity joint an the end of the driveline just for turning. My owners manual also cautions about tight turns but that has to do with tire contact with the wing down when making very tight turns. MY 3 point mount 10 foot wide shredder don't of course. Just a shear pin safety and a slip clutch in the driveline.

 

[kantuckid]

I vote for a metallurgy issue-that drawbar should handle what you were doing easily. Compare to a typical PU hitch and the tractors bar is far heavier.

 

[ericm979]

The hole reduces the cross section by about 40% by visual estimate. Right where the stresses are the greatest. Also if the bar can move in the receiver, it will wear a groove at the edge of the receiver. That would be a stress riser especially if the bar got flipped over after it was worn. It looks like the bar had an extention added as well, which could put more force on it than was expected.

Not that there couldn't have also a metalurgical problem but there's already some factors making it want to break there.

I think a new one that was missing the hole where it broke would be a lot less likely to break.

 

[5030]

I vote for a metallurgy issue-that drawbar should handle what you were doing easily. Compare to a typical PU hitch and the tractors bar is far heavier.

A typical P/U hitch is much shorter and mounted much closer to the frame.

Like I said previously, the bar was sticking way out, much farther than I ever extend mine on my Kubota's when using a pulled implement. I would be cutting the pto shaft and shortening it up if that was me. I've never had a cramping issue with my bat wing shredder. I have with my disc bine but it comes with rub shields on both sides on the implement hitch just for that and yes, I regularly take the paint off them.