3-Point Hitch 3-point hitch damage

oosik · Aug 6, 2015

I've read several posts where various components of the 3-point hitch have been damaged, twisted, broken etc. My owners manual is totally silent regarding operations that could or will cause problems/damage. Likewise, I've been unable to locate any post that outline those activities that can or do cause damage. I'm wondering if a list of those activities which have or will cause damage would be helpful. I've never damaged the 3-point on either of my two tractors but I wonder if I'm just rolling the dice and its simply a matter of time. Your thoughts & experiences would be very helpful.

k0ua · Aug 6, 2015

Not from personal experience but pushing backwards with box and angle blades wads up stabilizers, both the turnbuckle and telescoping kind. 3 point backhoes break toplinks , toplink attachment points and gear cases. Having the drawpin retaining pins fall out usually results in something being bent or broken. I got lucky when my ballast barrel drawpin retaining pin was missing (oops) and skewed sideways when I was in reverse. Slightly bent the toplink. I was able to straighten it. Just stuff like that.

Wagtail · Aug 6, 2015

k0ua said:
Not from personal experience but pushing backwards

I don't have a lot of experience but I've avoided doing any 3PH implement work in reverse. It logically seemed to me that the tractor was designed to pull.

The heaviest implement I've got for the 3PH is a water-filled ballast roller (with aerating spikes). I lift it for corners or at the end of a line, make the turn, then set it down for the next straight run.

Fawken · Aug 6, 2015

k0ua said:
Not from personal experience but pushing backwards with box and angle blades wads up stabilizers, both the turnbuckle and telescoping kind. 3 point backhoes break toplinks , toplink attachment points and gear cases. Having the drawpin retaining pins fall out usually results in something being bent or broken. I got lucky when my ballast barrel drawpin retaining pin was missing (oops) and skewed sideways when I was in reverse. Slightly bent the toplink. I was able to straighten it. Just stuff like that.

Funny, but I have done all of those thinks including using a 3 point hoe and never had an issue. Maybe the older units were stronger. I cannot imagine not being able to push stuff with my box blade.

Tractor Seabee · Aug 6, 2015

Early in its 1500 HR life I bent two of the Kubota BX 25 OEM top links beyond repair somehow. They are extremely light compared to after market one which are hard to find due to the short length. No problems for the last 1000 HRs. Are the M's links as heavy or heavier than the after market ones?

Ron

xzcVAbc5 · Aug 6, 2015

On my bx25d I managed to bend my top link by just raising my box blade. What caused it was I installed it wrong. I thought the piece of metal on the top link was supposed to keep the link from rotating up into the hydro line so I put it above the link. Apparently it was for keeping the top link from dragging on the ground if leaving it attached. I bent the top link some but also popped off the piece of metal. That went in the scrap pile. I use a QH when I have on the top link so thers no way it will be dragging anyway.

Dewbie · Aug 6, 2015

I've pushed backing up with my box blade several times with no issues..maybe I'm just lucky I ain't tore nothing up yet. Not saying it can't happen just ain't happened to me..yet..

brown40 · Aug 7, 2015

I try to remember the physics and design. The 3 point was an upgrade from the drawbar way back when, so you could pick the implement right up and adjust draft on the fly... wasn't to do work pushing, but pulling. The drawbar pivoted on a single point, where the 3pt locks it in solid on three. Leverage from attachments is what damages them--sidewards forces on the pyramid created by the set-up. Turns with ground engaged creates sidewards force on it; pushing can , especially with wider or longer attachments, then having part of the 3pt come loose, puts tremendous strain on whats left attached.
Most cutters are designed to have movement in the top links and lower links so they don't act as a massive prybar on the tractor, as well as follow contours better.
I do push with the box blade, but won't ram with it, I do back the cutter over stuff, but watch the tail closely to make sure its not become an 8 foot lever in either direction, and mostly I try and remember it's designed to pull, not push, twist or turn. The longer, wider, heavier implements are the ones that generate greater forces.

oosik · Aug 7, 2015

Tractor Seabee(Ron) - I really don't know if the lower links are heavier than after market. I've done all the "bad" things with them - never damaged them - so I've never looked. I've got a FitRite hydraulic top link and its considerably heavier than OEM. The lower links are 1" x 3" by around 34" long - Class 2. I would think its all kind of relative - - bigger tractors - bigger implements - bigger links.

There is always a "weak link" in any system(pun intended) and I really don't want to find out that I'm doing something really stupid and mess things up.

The problem is - you put on heavier lower links and the point of attachment to the tractor may become the weak link.

From this site - quite a while back - I learned its best to lift any ground engagement implement at the end of a row - before making a turn. Its info, such as that, that is important to know about and understand.

I really appreciate hearing what others have to say about this situation - their experiences, their understanding, their knowledge.

RDrancher · Aug 7, 2015

I've bent my share of sway links, all of them with the brush hog attached while mowing for customers. All of the junk that wasn't there (according to the landowner) seems to magically show up when I arrive. The key to not bending sway links seems to be having extras in the toolbox. Haven't bent a link since I put them there three years ago.

I cut drainage swales in reverse all the time, but shift into 2WD. The tires will slip before any damage is done.

kebo · Aug 7, 2015

You can also damage 3pt hitch parts (and attachments themselves) by trying to make fairly sharp turns with ground engaging attachments. For instance, turning too sharp with a big disc harrow in the ground can bend/break something.

boggen · Aug 7, 2015

--how many folks can remember seeing a picture of someone loading up there vehicle to the point were the frame "bent" in the middle and was dragging on the ground in the middle?
--how many folks can remember looking at a vehicle frame, were the vehicle got T-boned in the middle? and the frame and entire side was just crushed in?
--how many folks have used say a 2x6 or 2x8 as a couple ramps to load say a riding lawn mower or something else into bed of pickup truck or onto a trailer, and watched those boards just bend!

to many folks are use to seeing force going down. but perhaps folks have not thought out scenarios of side ways forces. more so with ground engagement equipment.

--i have had rear blades. steer the tractor. due to so much dirt / ground engagement built up. and/or snow built up on the blade.
--i have had bottom plow / moldboard plows steer the tractor due to getting into harder compact dirt or hitting a larger rock or root.
--i have had FEL general duty bucket and trying to push a down tree into a pile. steer the tractor side ways.

--i have bent wrenches, pry bars, various shovels and metal rakes.
--i have destroyed chains, cables, ropes. by trying to pull more than they can handle. and many times wanting to wipe back at me. (thankfully missing me and not killing me)

i am not sure i would want brackets on back of tractor braking, if they brake / crack / come off you are talking a large costly repair bill (just in parts alone)
--if a pin brakes / sheers off / comes off, i would be tearing them up all the time. and more likely looking back behind me and suddenly seeing a garbled up mess of equipment that is all mangled up and stuck up in a rear tire to boot.
--if top link / side link bends. they hold the equipment granted in an ugly way and maybe up into a tire. but still holds it and does not let it come loose dragging behind tractor.
--if a top link fails. / come loose (turn buckle comes undone somehow) at most the 3pt hitch implement comes back and smacks you in back of your head. or causes implement back side to flop up and down.

using the old manual shovel / rake. and trying to dig through hard compacted dirt. and jumping up and down on shovel to get it to go into dirt 1/2" at a time. then breaking out the tractor with 3pt hitch equipment... how much force ya gotta wonder is the equipment actually taking? its no longer a couple hundred lbs but most likely thousands of pounds of pressure.

how many times have you bent a piece of metal back and forth. to point it would break in half? some folks due it to tabs on beer cans, to metal pipe hanger rolls, to tabs on 110v electrical outlets, to split the 2 plug'ins up on the outlet. most of the time if you put your finger near point of were it is bending, your fingers get warmed up fairly quickly maybe evened burned.
--i have had discs, to even a bottom plow, to rear blade, to FEL general duty straight edge. get rather burning yourself hot to touch. due to friction alone and running down into the ground.
--i would imagine lower side link arms. getting hot from simple constant bending forces being placed on it. ((NOT A CLUE on this rambling)) but i would think 3 pt hitch links due heat up to some extent and possibly allowing them to bend per-maturely. though i am guessing this is a very low situation. i would think running into things backwards / pushing stuff would cause lower links to get damaged first along with ground engagment stuff and taking sharp turns cause more issues than anything.

GManBart · Aug 8, 2015

3 point parts are meant primarily for pulling things....they're very strong in that application. Side loads, like making a sharp turn, or turning, and bouncing a mower off a stump, can bend the arms or stabilizers pretty easily. Backing up can produce similar forces that bend or twist parts. You can back up and push with a blade, but it can cause damage.

Think of it this way....it's hard to hurt a piece of straight steel (lift arm) by pulling on it straight back (normal load), but pretty easy when you push from the side, or from the ends (compression).

s219 · Aug 8, 2015

Almost all the posts I can remember on here with 3-pt damage were due to someone pushing in reverse with a box blade. I do that to spread soft material with no concerns, but it should not be done to dig or get the cutting edges down into hard soil. The 3-pt is just not made for that. If you hit an immovable object -- even a tree root -- when pushing in reverse, something has to give and it's usually the 3-pt.

The other posts I remember were from people who had the top link way to short, and an implement jammed up into the back of the tractor when raised. It was obvious these folks had the top link screwed in all the way and had no idea it could/should be adjusted.

Other than stuff like that, I think a 3-pt is pretty tough. Just remember to have an appropriate amount of slack in the turnbuckles or telescoping arms for the task at hand.

oosik · Aug 11, 2015

Thanks for everyones comments. I guess damage is caused by - pretty much - what I thought. Nothing crazy - sneaking up on you.

JRobyn · Aug 11, 2015

I was dragging the driveway with my boxblade with the rippers just slightly below grade and at a too-fast speed when I caught one on a VERY large rock with a "ledge" in it. Mayhem ensued. Big BANG as the ripper caught, then tore out and enlarged its groove in the BB frame, then slipped OFF the rock and launched the entire BB about a foot high. I was astonished that I didn't break anything other than the tear in the BB frame. Lucky.

I have often pushed with the BB, but slowly and carefully, keeping in mind that it and the lower arms are not intended to be used that way.

- Jay

sd455dan · Aug 11, 2015

JRobyn said:
I was dragging the driveway with my boxblade with the rippers just slightly below grade and at a too-fast speed when I caught one on a VERY large rock with a "ledge" in it. Mayhem ensued. Big BANG as the ripper caught, then tore out and enlarged its groove in the BB frame, then slipped OFF the rock and launched the entire BB about a foot high. I was astonished that I didn't break anything other than the tear in the BB frame. Lucky.

I have often pushed with the BB, but slowly and carefully, keeping in mind that it and the lower arms are not intended to be used that way.

- Jay

Pushed with mine the other day and caught a root- wife said the left rear tire (14.9x28) was almost 2 feet off the ground and almost backed over the left side of my old gannon boxblade:ashamed:

Luckily i jammed the clutch in and the tractor rolled forward and dropped down. Had to look and thought I had mangled the 3 point.
Turned out it actually broke the welds the previous owner of the box blade had modified for pin placement on his 90 hp Case.

Had to grind out the welds and weld the mount back on .
Was happy to see there was no damage to the 3 point and will try to be more careful in reverse with the box blade.

rd_macgregor · Aug 11, 2015

JRobyn said:
... the ripper caught, then tore out and enlarged its groove in the BB frame, then slipped OFF the rock and launched the entire BB about a foot high.
- Jay

I tore a ripper slot the same way (but on a big tree root). Some welding fixed up the slot better than new, but I also bent/twisted two of the ripper teeth, which was a bit tougher to fix...and involved a neighbor's hydraulic press.

Bob