Bucket mounted, class III, receiver hitch

[Mark_in_NH]

Has anybody considered or actually followed through mounting a Class III receiver hitch to the top of the bucket ?

I was moving my equipment trailer around the yard the other day and was thinking that it would alot easier if I had a balll mounted to the bucket. But then how often would I really need it. THEN, I got to thinking that if I mounted, (either bolted or welded) a receiver hitch to the top of the bucket, I could use a varity of attachments, differant size balls for moving differant trailers. A pintle hook if necessary, or I could set up one with a hook on it, you could even use one of those receiver mounted electric winches.
So what do you guys think ? Does this sound feasible to you and has anybody already done it ?

 

[dgood1]

Mark,

I have one on my bucket. What I did was take a receiver from a full sized Chevy Van that I had laying around and cut the mounting ends off. I then had my son weld the assembly on upside down on the bucket. The upside down part was to allow the maximum contact of the cross piece on the bucket and give clearance for the receiver from the lip.

I also had my son weld a hook on each end of the cross member.

I have purchased 4' of 2" square tube to cut up and make a hitch that will be down near the cutting blade of the bucket as a regular hitch is too high on the top of the bucket. Haven't had the time to make that yet. Too much OT and other obligations, also seat time takes precedence.

If I can get the camera from my wife I will try to take a picture and post it. You will have to excuse the fact that my bucket is not clean and a lot of the paint is missing. My machine is for work, not show.

I hope this helps,

Don

 

[ns_in_tex]

Mark,
I have used one like this for years. Put one on the bucket & one on a 3 point lift for the rear of the tractor. I started this way because I had an old 2-5/16 ball already welded to a piece of solid square steel with hole through it for pin. It came off of an old mobile home toter.
I normally leave the ball in the hitch of my goose neck trailer & can drive up to the trailer with front loader or rear hitch & hitch up without getting out of tractor, if no pin is needed.

Don't do hay any more but used to use bale spear on front & this type hitch on rear, pull the trailer to field, drop it, load with round bales, pick up one last bale with spear, back up to trailer, lift three point, & away we go to the hay shed. Never get out of the tractor to load or unload.

This is not very closeup, but notice the small cuts on the lower side. Makes it a lot easier to keep clean inside as well as not hold water.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

That is slick!

Another idea stolen by wroughtn harv and in a couple of years I'll have someone look at that on my tractor and be convinced that I really am smart!!!!!

Seriously I've got two things welded all over everything I've got. One is reciever hitches and the other is floating D rings. You can never have too many of either or one in the wrong place.

 

[richh]

Hey this is a good idea!!! Have to see if it will work on my 4in1
Will that make it a 5in1????
Rich

 

[wroughtn_harv]

<font color=blue>Will that make it a 5in1????</font color=blue>

I'm not sure about that. But it will be one in a thousand which might even be better./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Harv, I'm also a big fan of D rings but haven't gotten into the receiver tubes like you have as yet (too bad, too, as I have a great source for them-my inventory /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif ).

I do intend to give this a long look for my 61" standard duty Deere bucket on my 4200. My first concern is whether that portion of my bucket would be strong enough to handle something like manuevering a heavy trailer around uneven terrain. Any thoughts?

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Morning Gary, gotta make this quick. Hard work's at the door and I think she's upset. Gonna be a long day. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I'll see if I can get some pic's of the thingy dingy I've made for moving trailers around my place. I've moved dual tandem goosenecks to single axle little trailers with ease. I've been told it's so slick it makes WD40 look like glue. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[gmason]

Just looking at your picture of your receiver hitch here and notice that because of the angle of the bucket you had to cut the receiver at about 45 degrees. And unless you cut a square hole in your bucket, the hitch that your ball is on had better have the hole pretty close to the end or else the hole won't line-up for you. I'm not 100% sure but it seems like the holes on my hitch are 2-3" from the end and would bottom out before the holes lined up.
Of course, I'm sure you measured this long before you cut the receiver and I'm totally wrong, but I thought I'd just make a note of this for anyone thinking of mounting it on their bucket.

gary

 

[JimC]

Mark, I mounted one on my BX2200 bota and it is one of the handiest additions I have done.

It is so handy to just drive up, pick up the trailer and put it where you need it.

I don't even have to pull the hitch out of the receiver if I think I will need it a little later, it doesn't bother any thing or get in the way .

Makes me wish I had hitches on my implements so I could move them as easy as a trailer.