Bucket mounted, class III, receiver hitch

[snooks]

I guess that is why I am an accountant and not an engineer. I really appreciate your input and will certainly rethink what I am trying to do. I have seen some of the man lifts through out the web site and I'll consider that again. I will need to either find a person to weld it for me or find a way to create it without welding.

Thanks

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Or, you could do what I'm doing and sign up for a welding class. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Then you can build your own. /w3tcompact/icons/clever.gif

 

[snooks]

Good suggestion. I coud see myself buying a welder after I get my pole barn finished. Then I would have a place to use it.

 

[BigEddy]

Personally I think that JimC's solution with the receiver sticking "up" and the ball facing backwards is the best. Then by tilting the bucket forward you can lower the ball almost to the ground, rather than having it always at least as high as the top of the bucket. And it's out of the way for bucket use.

Out comes the welder tonight. I have a nice piece of sq tubing just waiting to be put on. Will solve my problem of how to pull my trailer to the dump spot after I've loaded it with the hoe. Moving a whole trailer load is much faster than piling it then using the bucket, but not if I have to remove the hoe to pull the trailer!!.

Foolish me - I was trying to figure out how to put a ball on my hoe.

BigEddy

 

[BigEddy]

Okay - sticking the receiver up isn't as good an idea as I thought it would be. Sure I can tilt the bucket 90 degrees down and get the ball to ground level, but now I want to use the loader to dump the trailer, and when I lift the loader - well there isn't any more bucket dump available to point the ball down at the trailer and it binds.

So now I've changed my opinion -having the ball stick out front is better. However I would prefer to have it "ground level" for 2 reasons - the bucket lip is much stronger than the top edge, and I have some low trailers to pull.
Maybe I'll mount a Class 2 receiver right to the cutting edge.

Thoughts?

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Afternoon Eddy,

Let's assume that there reciever is to be used for more than one thingy dingy, alright?

Let's put it up top, maybe two if you got the time and talent.

For trailering take a piece of two inch eleven gauge square tubing. Cut it a couple of places so that when you got it welded back up it looks like a Z that someone got feeling real strong with and jerked out a whack.

The one end will fit in your reciever at the top of the bucket. The vertical part of the Z, hurt piece, comes down from the top piece to the deck of the bucket. Then the bottom piece comes out along the bottom of the bucket and holds the ball.

Your reciever is up out of the way. Your ball is down and the strongest part of your bucket is supporting it. Now if you are worried about tweak and twist then you can weld a piece of angle on the bottom piece so that when you slide the insert into the reciever you push it in level and the angle contacts the bottom of the bucket and the leading edge.

One thing I've found is if the trailering thingy dingy is off center then it's easier to guide them nasty old trailers into place. With two recievers on top you do have the option of picking your poison you might say when putting the trailer into position. Sometimes it's just easier if you are off center, sorta like life in general. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

I do believe putting a reciever on the bucket just for trailer manuevering is like buying a truck to haul groceries. It makes sense, but still a waste in a way. I mean heck you could put a winch on a reciever for the pickemup and one day you might find yourself in a place where that winch and the frontloader might be just what the doctor ordered.

I've got a skid steer. They're a tractor with a squatty body and an attitude to match. I have quick attach forks. For moving the trailers from goosenecks to single axles I have a piece of quarter wall two by six tubing about four foot long. I have a piece of round stock welded at the end, about inch and a half diameter. I drive them forks right up the tubing, well, one of them anyway. The I have this little pin contraption that's mounted permanent on the tubing. I pull the pin, turn it ninety, and it keeps the tubing from sliding off the forks.

It's about as handy as a pocket on a shirt.

 

[BigEddy]

Okay - Now you have me thinking.
Why not just weld the 2 1/4" sq tubing (receiver) to the inside of the bucket side wall? Could put on twins - one each side. Can pick either side to use, have it mounted to the bucket side which is even stronger than the lip, and I can mount it at whatever height I want! I'll have to mount the drawbar pin vertically - but my 3 in 1 ball is drilled both ways anyway. And having the receiver on the bucket side isn't going to interfere with the normal bucket function anywhere near as much as it would in the centre of the bucket lip.

Before I go back out and weld again, I need other thoughts. Is pulling from the bucket side going to be too far off-centre? Any concerns about the loader strength?
I suppose with twins I could fabricate a U shaped bar with balls mounted just about anywhere including right in the middle. Now we're cooking with gas!
wroughtn_harv - as always you have an innovative solution to every problem.

Big Eddy

 

[gerard]

I like harvs suggestion about just making the drop, also I THINK when he was talking about an off center one he was only talking a few inches. Putting one all the way on one side of the bucket may be ok for a light trailer just to move it around but I wouldn't want that as my only option. A heavy trailer would be torquing the bucket too much for my liking!