Can I fit a towball to a transport box?

[RichardDLee]

I have a transport box on the back of my Yanmar1610D, it's used to throw stuff in and also to offset the weight of the FEL on the front.

I want to be able to tow a trailer and don't want to have to remove the transport box as I will be towing the trailer to somewhere I will then unhook it, fill it using the FEL and will need the transport box to help with balance, hook it back up and take it back.

Has anyone else done this? Will the transport box be strong enough? Anyone any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[Groo]

it all depends on how it is built

 

[bcp]

Not familiar with your tractor, but perhaps you could extend the drawbar and hitch the trailer to the extension.

hitch extensions

Bruce

 

[RichardDLee]

Groo - this is a link to the page that shows the transport box and describes the fabrication, can take loads of 250kg it says but that is spread out not through a towball.

bcp - I could do it like that but it would mean removing the transport box, I could just get an A frame with towball but it means giving up the counterbalance to the FEL.

Thanks.

 

[bcp]

Do you have a drawbar like the one I added in black? That is what I was thinking of extending. Not part of the 3 point system.



The hitch extension could go under the raised transport box when pulling the trailer. Remove it when using the box.

Bruce

 

[RichardDLee]

bcp- oh I see. I will raise the box and see if I can get something to pass underneath. Great idea.

In the UK we don't seem to have hitch receivers in any great volume which makes buying one expensive. Might just make one.

Thanks.

 

[franklin2]

Groo - this is a link to the page that shows the transport box and describes the fabrication, can take loads of 250kg it says but that is spread out not through a towball.

bcp - I could do it like that but it would mean removing the transport box, I could just get an A frame with towball but it means giving up the counterbalance to the FEL.

Thanks.

Where's the link? If the box is sheetmetal, you probably can't weld anything to it without it cracking eventually.

 

[RichardDLee]

Hi,

its 3mm sheet metal and I wouldn't want to weld to it unless I weld a thicker piece where I drill the hole to take a bolt on towball.

Here is the link, not sure what happened there.... Beaconsfield Products (Halesowen) Ltd - Agriculture, Tipping transport boxes

I still need to see if I can get something to pass underneath from the drawbar, how thick would a piece of rectangle or square tube have to be to support a trailer 3-4ft away from the connection to the drawbar? Or I could support it by attaching it to the back of the box as well maybe.

Thanks.

 

[ace10]

That's going to be some wonky geometry, regardless of how you try to solve the problem.

The hitch ball is going to be several feet behind the tractor which will make turning an adventure. Then you're talking about loading a trailer (presumably with a heavy payload) which is going to create quite a lever on your rear axle, regardless of whether the hitch is connected to the tractor frame or the 3 Pt via the accessory.

$0.02

 

[RichardDLee]

ace10 - trailers always have a lever affect on the towball, its usually about 10% of the trailers gross weight according to what I have read. Being 3 feet behind the tractor with regards to turning shouldn't be a problem as I have lots of room to turn around without reversing, the trailer is only 3ft wide and 5ft long so not massive.

I don't mind a bit of wonky geometry and if it really isn't possible to do it I wont, but people with a FEL must have towed trailers to fill before and have solved the problem of balancing the tractor for loading the trailer surely?

I don't think I have a good solution yet, just possible solutions, a reinforced section on the transport box might be best, it says it takes 250kg load so it isn't fragile.