3pt. Reese Rcvr

[jinman]

Hey, DFB. Do you ever find that when you have a load that is on the rear of your trailer (or whatever is attached to your ball) that there is nothing to keep the lift arms down? I remember using some stabilizer arms that went from the lift arms up to the toplink hitch on the tractor, making it a rigid affair which wouldn't raise if the tongue of the trailer become light from having too much in the rear of the trailer. Just curious...

JimI

 

[DFB]

Jinman, its good that you point that out. Already been lookin' at doin' something along those lines too! Seems that's exactly what happened when towing my single axle camper out of the backyard over some rough ground. After bouncing around some moved up a little from where I had originally set it.
No problems so far with moving my unloaded dual axle car hauler around the place, better load distribution and plenty of tongue weight I guess. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif It's really great for towing my log splitter. That also has a 2" ball coupler.

Definitely some type of fixed lockdown should be utilized for safety's sake. A check chain from the toplink to the drawbar should suffice. You could have the same effect with just a drawbar/towball hookup or even with the drop pin/ clevis hitch setup too. That's where the "wagon style" trailer with zero tongue weight sometimes becomes the better choice after you factor in load and terrain.

Jim, here's one for ya to consider. I'm lookin at gettin' a 2 ton hydraulic dump trailer. Gonna pull it with a drawbar as it only comes with a drop pin style tongue. Makes one wonder some about how much the dumping action will contribute if any to that uplift. I'm partial to the dual axle design for easier manuvering (read as backing up) and with the floating axle is better for rough ground. I really like a dual axle setup over a single for heavy loading. Otherwise the wagon style could dump with no effect on the drawbar and also better to stand alone for loading with somewhat quicker tongue hookup after its loaded. The wifes' steppappy has had several low budget wagon style frames in the past and the tie rod ends are the first thing to go everytime.

DFB

 

[jinman]

DFB, I had several folks send me emails asking me to be more specific about my drawbar comments, so I've included an attachment with this post. As you could tell, I was a bit surprised by your receiver setup for the square adapter and ball like the one I have on my truck. Anyhow, At first I thought if I wanted one like that, I'd just install it on my drawbar with an adapter plate. Suddenly it dawned on me that all that really wasn't necessary unless you just liked building widgets because the price of a ball installed on my drawbar is a lot cheaper. Again, I guess there are arguments for and against doing things several different ways, but I have to rely on what I've seen in the past and so the drawbar wins out for me. I've attached a photo showing a drawbar stay which keeps the drawbar from rotating with a ball attached. Also notice that additional stays run from the drawbar to the toplink adapter on the tractor. This gives you a rigid adapter which won't let the tongue "get loose" and suddenly lift if you lose tongue-weight. Of course, you lose the use of your hydraulic lift using this method. If you use the lift, it could bend your stays if it is stong enough. I think lots of folks want an adapter like yours to be able to raise the front of the trailer for easy unloading or ???.

I remember when I was a kid (in the dark ages) that my dad had a trailer with a split tongue which went over-under the drawbar with a drop in pin. Being lazy, I would skip putting in the stays and often when I applied the brakes going downhill, the tongue would lift and the trailer would try to get into the seat with me./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif Luckily the lift arms only allowed it to come just so far, but I've had it actuall lift the rear of the tractor and that's not good./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif I like your idea of using a tandom axle flatbed trailer with a zero-weight swinging tongue. Actually, unless I had a very big tractor, I'd be very cautious about the hydraulic dumpbeds. If you are going to use them on flat ground only, you would probably be okay, but my personal opinion is that compact tractors are made for pulling and most are not too good at stopping/braking heavy loads, especially going downhill. My rule-of-thumb is to keep my load less than my tractor's weight. I could be wrong, but having been pushed around by my load, I'm a scaredy-cat./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

JimI<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by jinman on 11/24/01 09:55 AM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[DFB]

Jinman, like ya say there's all kinds of ways to do it. Your setup ends up doin' the same thing. Good way to utilize what you already had. I looked at different ways to do it. Using a drawbar/ drawbar lock/ ball/ brace combo is the first setup that comes to mind. I need to change ball sizes, the drawbar hole had to be drilled out for the larger ball size. Had to get a drawbar lock too. Already had all the different 2 " receiver ball mounts to utilize.

Getting a 2 " receiver tube welded to a drilled out piece of steel to use for a mounting bracket then bolted to a drawbar along with drawbar lock would work too. Like you point out, the stays would and should be utilized on a drawbar/ drawbar lock/ball setup. With a clevis/pin hitch drawbar shouldn't rotate much still would need a stay though.

Got an inexpensive electric winch I'm gonna bolt up to steel plate an attach it to another 2" ball mount like in the image.

Oh ya ain't nothin' wrong with being a conservative on towing. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

DFB

 

[Fullthrottle]

Mounted mine to the draw bar. Can't raise or lower, but I can live with that.

 

[Fullthrottle]

Another pic.

Over bored existing holes in draw bar so I could use 3/4" bolts. Welded a piece of pipe to the receiver tube that fits down into the larger hole at the end of the draw bar. This keeps it from shifting from side to side.

 

[DFB]

Fullthrottle,

Looks to be a nice solid setup.

Now that's got me to wonderin'. Is the height of fixed drawbars all the same? Mine is about 12".

DFB

 

[jinman]

Good idea for the winch mount. You can take it off or put it on as needed. Will it be an electric winch? What kind of load do you expect it to draw and what kind of electrical quick connectors will you use? I know, I know... too many questions. I can't help it./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif The many good ways to use a tractor are endless. Good stuff!

JimI

 

[jinman]

I think that will work just fine. In most instances, you wouldn't want to raise the drawbar anyway. I like the details of the way you mounted the receiver so it wouldn't move from side to side. You can still swing the drawbar to the left or right if needed. That would sure work on my TC45D too.

JimI

 

[Fullthrottle]

Mine is 16.5" to the top of the drawbar, 17.5" to center of receiver hitch.