Building a 3 point hitch

[tessiers]

I've got a 1941 Farmall H and I am thinking of building a 3 point hitch for it. I have a set of draft arms and a top link off of a John deere and I have looked at several versions for sale on E-bay. With shipping cost to buy is about $1000 and I think I can build one for less than half of that. I work for a large steel building erector and fabricator and I can get the steel basicly at scrap price. Only thing I will need to buy is hydraulic system.

Anyone else done this, and if so how did it work out for you?

What did you like?

What would you do different?

I am thinking an old belt drive plow hydraulic pump off the engine, and 2 - 2" x 8" or 10" rams. Simple power up and float down.

Thanks.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I put one of the Ebay ones on a John Deere A Un-Stlyed. It already had a lift built in for cultivators and such and that is what it used for the power. Went on very easy and made the tractor much more usable. He keep the tractor for 5 or so years and just traded it on John Deere Gator. Kind of made me sad to see it go but he has a 8N to take care of all the 3 point stuff now.

Chris

 

[GE222]

Check out some of the aftermarket 3-point kits for a Farmall. I believe they were around 500-600 some years ago. If you build your own, they would be a great reference for design.

 

[CWL]

I built one using pictures of worksaver brand aftermarket hitch as a pattern. The tractor also has a Woods belly mower so I had to get a little creative on the build. I also made a drawbar from scratch and tied the bottom of the hitch to it for extra strength. It works pretty decent. It has two 2"x8" cylinders for lifting. We used the belly pump for the hydraulics and the low pressure of that system limits the lifting ability some. It will lift blades and mowers easily though.

 

[CWL]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/7364/size/big/cat/
http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/7363
http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/7362

 

[tessiers]

Does the system handle 2-2x8 cylinders? I read somewhere that it would only handle 1-2x8 cylinder. I would much rather use the existing system if possible, especially because it is all working with a quick connect for a trailing mower. All I would have to do is buy a quick connect fitting. that cylinder is a 2x12 so it is really not too much bigger to go to 2-2x8. I don't plan to do a whole lot with it mostly rake my dirt road and maybe run my wood chipper, or grader blade. Primary use is running a NH 67 baler.

 

[CWL]

We've never had any issues with the oil capacity in the factory pump using two 2x8 cylinders. There's enough lifting force to make the back tires squash down some, but not quite enough to lift the front end of the tractor. A older neighbor that has farmed primarily with International tractors his whole life told me that it would have better lifting ability with 30wt non-detergent oil. It has regular hydraulic oil in it now.

The way I built this it doesn't have power down. I just put vent plugs in the top port on the cylinders. I have seen an M set up with a very similar 3-point that was power up and down using the factory pump. It had an open center spool valve mounted on the fender. The input of the valve came from the pressure port on the factory system and the return line from the valve went to the drain plug for the hydraulics. The factory hydraulic control valve was tied back so it was activated all the time. That way the pump was delivering oil to the spool valve all the time. The main drawback to using the factory hydraulics is that everytime you push in the clutch the pump quits.

 

[tessiers]

I'm going to try the factory pump. I don't think I need down pressure, I never had it on any other tractors. The clutch thing sounds a little inconvenient but I think I can get used to it. I am running 30 wt oil anyway.
The worst that can happen is I decide to add a hydraulic pump later.

Thanks a lot for your input.