Lower Link Drawbars...Whats the point?

[Farmwithjunk]

3-point drawbars are a carry-over from the beginnings of the 3-point hitch. When Harry Ferguson got together with Henry Ford to build the first mass produced 3-point hitch equipped tractors, they wanted to eliminate the option of farmers continuing to use their old drawn implements as much as possible. The tractors weren't even equipped with a fixed drawbar (under the belly). Just the 3-point hitch. If early Ford/Ferguson owners wanted to pull anything that wasn't 3-point mounted, they needed one of those drawbars.

They have their uses. (Mine is used to keep the shop door from blowing open on windy days ) One advantage they offer is the holes spaced across their width gives you some flexability to pull implements "off-set" from the tractors center line. Being on the 3-point hitch, you have almost infinite height adjustability. But beware, as mentioned, raising your "pulling point" can (and WILL) tend to make the tractor want to lift the front end towards the sky in a hard pull.

 

[daTeacha]

I used mine with a ball and a stabilizer bar back to the fixed drawbar to keep it from tilting, but it still tilted some and made it kind of tough to unhook sometimes. Finally got fed up and welded some arms on it to make a 3 point arrangement with the hitch ball in the drawbar. Now I can lift the trailer tongue as needed without getting things jammed up.

You can also put bolts or lynch pins through the holes to limit where your chain can move along the drawbar. If you put too big a side load on it, you will bend the lift arms -- ask the guy who's been there.

 

[Jim2]

Hey guys,

I'm new here. I was raised on a farm, so I have some familiarity with tractors, etc.

But, I've wondered about using a drawbar that's mounted on the 3-point, myself. My tractor doesn't have down-pressure on the 3-point. I've noticed in the past that the front end gets awful light on a medium/heavy pull when I'm going uphill. That can't be safe! There's nothing to stop the tractor from tipping right over backwards if there's no vertical limit on drawbar travel. . . . I would think twice about what I'm doing with those 3-point drawbars.

I made my own drawbar for the little tractor I've got. Of course I added a FEL at the same time, so not a very good test--but the front-end isn't light any more!

Jim

 

[skipmarcy]

I have one for my tractor too, don't use it much, it's much easier to use my loader bucket w/hook to move things around. To move my trailers around I just slip one of the safety chains on the bucket hook and go. I welded a 2" and a 2 5/16" ball on my 3pt drawbar and set doublewide mobile homes in place down in Florida after hurricanes Francis and Jeanne in 2004 - not really a good, safe operation but it worked. Had to keep a bucket of sand to keep the front wheels on the ground and my hitch had just barely enough power to raise the tongue on the 52' halves of the homes. And yes, I did bend one of my lower link arms when the trailer wheels started bogging in sand one time while backing up. Luckily a local machine shop had a 60 ton hydraulic press to straighten it out for me. I quit moving mobile homes after that. As mentioned already, the drawbar would be plenty safe to drag logs as long as you keep the height as low as possible, lower than the height of your rear axles anyway. If you do your chain real short you can still raise the end of the log off the ground slightly for an easier pull.

 

[Jhiphop72]

lower link drawbars drawbars do searve a purpose depending on how your lift arms are lifted. a draw bar can ghelp distribute weight from heavy objects you may be lifting such as logs. I have a 54 super M that has a 3 point conversion with 2 way pressure. the cat II drawbar I'm using helps greatly in driving fence posts and logging. In both instances, the drawbar helps keep equal force on what ever im doing so the hitch itself does not twist. (yes a LiftAll is that strong that you can bend cat II lift arms)