L3400 FEL reciever hitch

LanceT18 · Oct 20, 2004

Hello everyone. I've been lurking on TBN for quite awhile and gained a lot of valuable info from you guys. I purchased an L3400 with a LA463 FEL last spring and I would like to mount a hitch on top of the bucket to move my trailers around for cleanup and mowing. My question is that I want to mount it about 10 inches left of center so it can be seen from the seat and will this put too much stress on the one side that might damage anything. Any help is appreciated. Sorry for the long first post.

sandyc · Oct 20, 2004

I would place the receiver hitch in the center to keep everything balanced. I tried using my FEL as a hitch and have found that the 3pt is far superior for my application. The one drawback with the 3pt is that there is nothing holding the tongue of the trailer down except the tongue weight. If you have a lite trailer you can get the trailer hitch raising at the most embarasssing times unless you use a safety chain. The cost of the 3pt set up is higher but you aren't welding anything to the fel that you might regret later on.
If you are moving a heavy weight trailer the 3pt is the way to go as the lifting capacity on the 3pt is much higher than the fel and the tractor usually doesn't require a counterweight.

Bird · Oct 20, 2004

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( will this put too much stress on the one side )</font>

Welcome to TBN. As for your question, it depends on how much weight you try to lift. I'd say you probably wouldn't damage the tractor, but personally, I'd put it in the middle. I always try to center my load. That not only reduces the liklihood of damage to the front end loader, but also reduces the liklihood of turning the tractor over.

engineer · Oct 20, 2004

Another option could be the clamp on reciever from Payne's Forks. Have been using this on the BX2200 for a while now and it is very handy. The one draw back, like any of the clamp on implements, is it can cause some deflection in the bottom of the bucket. Have been able to solve this by setting a metal plate in the bottom of the bucket, to stiffen, before clamping on the reciever.

Just my thought.

engineer