iMatch/Quick Hitch Questions

Jsandy · Jul 10, 2015

I used my iMatch on my JD 4710 for nearly 11 years with no issues. I took delivery of a 4066r this week and went to hook up my new Woods BB720X Rotary Cutter (never used on the 4710 or the imatch) and couldn't get it on to save my life. It seems that the imatch is too short (old non adjustable model) When the bottom hooks engaged the pins, the top hook was 2 1/2" to 3 " lower than the top link. The imatch measures approximately 15 1/2" from the bottom of the bottom hook to the bottom of the top hook. On the rotary cutter it is about 17 1/2 or 18" from the bottom of the bottom pins to the bottom of the top link. I changed the top link attachment point on the tractor and adjusted the top link in and out but I couldn't get the top hook on the imatch anywhere near the top attachment point on the rotary cutter.
It appears that I have to use some sort of quick hitch because the clevis pins on the bottom of the rotary cutter look to be category 2 and the 4066r is a category 1. The woods manual says that it is compatible with both Cat 1 and Cat 2 Quick Hitches. Am I doing something wrong or do I have to buy an adjustable imatch/Quick Hitch? I've seen both the Speeco and JD adjustables and neither seemed to be the quality of my 11 year old non adjustable iMatch. Any help or recommendations is appreciated. Thanks.

Wagtail · Jul 11, 2015

Hopefully these diagrams/specifications will help below:

You may need to use a top link extender:

bcp · Jul 11, 2015

I bought a used Woods BB48 rotary cutter. It was set up for conventional 3pt hitch. The hitch had to be assembled in a different way to use a quick hitch. And there were about 3 wrong ways to assemble the parts. I downloaded a manual to find the right way, then made and bought some missing parts. Works fine now.

You can download the manual here, to see if your hitch is correctly assembled.

Rotary Cutters

Bruce

jenkinsph · Jul 11, 2015

Good link by bcp^^^

Hope you get this worked out and would add to keep the older IMatch and make everything fit it. To be "quick" you don't want to have to alter settings on any of the implements each time you decide to use them.

bigtiller · Jul 11, 2015

Here is a chart posted long ago by dmay on post #5. But you have to convert millimeters to inches.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...hf-quickhitch-vs-imatch-imatch-dimensions-jpg

Jsandy · Jul 11, 2015

It has been an incredibly frustrating day. The Woods manual sux!!! After looking at the diagrams listed above and measuring again I find the iMatch is just a hair over 14.75" (right where it should be). As the dealer put the Woods mower together it appears configured for a Cat 2 machine Quick hitch. There are 3 holes in the yoke at the top of the mast and according to the manual and schematic, the attachment point for the top hook on the QH is a sleeved 5/8" grade 5 bolt in the 2nd hole. The manual doesn't show it but there are 3 holes in the mast. The lowest hole is is a 5/8" hole (too small for a Cat 1 7/8" pin). Because the schematic showed that the attachment point was a 5/8" sleeved bolt I attempted to remove the bolt that the dealer mounted in the 2nd hole to move it to the lower hole.. They must employ gorillas because nothing that I did could get the bolt off that nut. I tried hitting it, used a "cheater" and fired up the pneumatic impact wrench, all w/o success. Having given up on budging the attachment point, I found a 5/8" hitch pin and put it through the lowest hole. That put me close to the right measurements but when I hooked the iMatch up, the bottom pins were not making full contact with the bottom hooks. I had a couple of CAT 2 to Cat 3 bushings that I slipped on the bottom pins and every seemed to line up.
I still don't like not getting the sleeved bolt apart. I don't think that the Masts line up. Everything needs to be loosened and realigned. Short of putting heat to the nut are there any suggestions. Everything feels jury rigged.

jenkinsph · Jul 11, 2015

A picture might help us help you.

From what I read in your post I should clarify that 3/4" is the correct top link size for a cat 1 hitch, 7/8" is the correct size for the lower links cat 1 hitch. If it were me and everything else fits correctly except the 5/8" bolt size I would drill it out to 3/4" and use a standard 3/4" top link pin. Add the 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 bushings to get to the cat 3 size.

The other choice is to weld in a piece of cat 3 top link pin properly centered in place of the 5/8" bolt. I have used this method on a few implements that needed the extra strength in the design. If you do this make sure everything is in alignment first as it will be frozen in place so to speak.

MinnesotaEric · Jul 12, 2015

I have a Woods BB720X. From the factory it fit right on a SpeeCo CAT2 quick hitch, which means it is too high without adjustment to fit a CAT 1 quick hitch.

Check the owners manual for the proper Cat 1 set up.

Jsandy · Jul 12, 2015

Eric, thanks for the response. At this point I think I'm going to load it up and take it back to the dealer and tell them to use whatever air gun they put it together with and loosen everything. The nuts for adjusting the height of the tail wheel are so tight that you can't even adjust the height of the cut. You sure as heck don't want your mower to come apart in the field but this is ridiculous.