Making a 3 point Quick Hitch

[MJPetersen]

I have been fascinated by the quick hitches that guys have sworn by or at here on the forum--the Harbor Freight example in its 2 versions of different widths is a favorite or a curse--depending on who you talk to.

I now have several tools that I have made and have had occasion that I wanted to swap back and forth, but the hassle has stopped me. For example I might haul a few loads of dirt with the scoop, and then want to level it out with the blade or the rollover BB.

Although I have not seen one of the QH up close, I have pictures from you all, and I have given it some thought to build one for myself, for my 15 hp Yanmar, but had not taken the time to do it. Until now--it is not finished, but I had a few hours so got started on it. I made the "J" hooks out of 3 pieces of 10mm flat stock. I used a hole saw to cut the 7/8 hole and an angle grinder to cut the slot. Then I welded the 3 pieces together. The latching mechanism will use only the weight of the metal to close the latch. The center piece was left out on the back of the "J" to allow a place for the latch.

Now if the QH does not fit I will not be able to blame manufactures of the implements or the hitch--it will be my fault. I am going to have to modify the BB toplink connection so that I can use the QH, but the other implements should work. We will see how well I conformed to standards when I made my implements!!

Mike

 

[MJPetersen]

After getting the "J" hooks like I wanted them I had to figure out a latch mechanism. I think that what I did will work well--time will tell. I attached an arm on the latch which extends inside the frame. To that arm I attached a rod that extends out the top of the frame and I capped it with a knob that I can push down on to force the latch into lock position.

The latch can be held in the open position by the little pieces of pipe that will just clear the top of the frame when the latch is fully open. It is simple and it should work--I think.

I tried it out with my simple 3 pt ball hitch for a utility trailer and it seemed to work well, so far.

Now I have to make a top hook and fabricate the tractor side. Maybe later in the week I will get to finish it.

Mike

 

[jimmer2880]

Very nice work. Nice and clean. I like your latch assembly. Hopefully it'll still work after it gets some dirt in it.

 

[JB4310]

Looks good mike, guess there's no harbor freight in Poland.
I've always followed your projects with interest partly for you resourceful work and partly because my wife's from Poland and I've been there 3 times.
She's from the Krosno area and still has her sister and father there.
I've traveled all over from Warsaw, east all the way from the north to the south. never been on the west side of the Country.

John

 

[ninefinger]

What a nice job, I would order one but the shipping would be outrageous. Must admit I am envious about the roll over, absolutly one of the best implements ever made IMHO.

 

[MJPetersen]

Thank you guys for your very kind comments. Jimmer, The tolerances are not such that a little dirt should gum it up. Although I did have to spend some time today trying to clean out some of the little splatter balls that had adhereed to the inside of the latch mechanism.

John, I have not been down in the south East corner of Poland. I have a friend who is a pastor in Bochnia and another in Nowy Sacz, but not further East. I have crossed the border at Przemysl though. It is very pretty down there with the beginnings of the mountains.

Nine, Thanks for the kind words. I do like the rollover too--but there are some real craftsman on this forum who have made some pretty awesome tools. I made it with my simple tools to prove that anyone could.

I was able to do a alittle bit on it today, maybe I will get a chance to take some pictures later today or tomorrow.

Mike

 

[ALHILLDIRT]

I bought one of these a couple of years ago from a company called Homier Distributing Company, Inc. they used to travel around the country and have portable sales. It was pretty light and I didn't give it much hope that it would hold up, but I didn't pay much for it either. Surpisingly, it has held up quite well, and has turned out to be 'THE MOST VALUABLE ATTACHMENT" I've ever owned. On the advice of others here I drilled out the holes in the top hook mounting to accept 1/2" pins to make it easy to adjust.

 

[choffman41]

If you order one online from Harbor freight, the shipping is calculated by price, not weight. I bought a hydraulic cherry picker for my pickup and the freight was 12 bucks.

 

[MJPetersen]

If you order one online from Harbor freight, the shipping is calculated by price, not weight. I bought a hydraulic cherry picker for my pickup and the freight was 12 bucks.

That would not hold true for shipping to Poland!! If I had the possibility to buy one at harbor freight I would have and just modified it to suit, but alas such an option in not available to me. But it does give me an excuse--errr reason to make it myself.

I believe that I am going to enjoy the QH very much--not so much because my implements are so heavy that I cannot move them, as that is not true--well the rollover is a real strain, but because I want to be able to quickly change from one implement to another. Even if it is to just move them around so that I can mow the grass around where they sit.

Mike

 

[ALHILLDIRT]

I believe that I am going to enjoy the QH very much--not so much because my implements are so heavy that I cannot move them, as that is not true--well the rollover is a real strain, but because I want to be able to quickly change from one implement to another. Even if it is to just move them around so that I can mow the grass around where they sit.

Once you get used to it, you'll wonder how you ever did without it.

 

[PineRidge]

Your project fascinates me. I have always thought about putting one of these on our New Holland but was hesitant because I was afraid the drive shafts on my existing power implements might not be long enough.

Still it looks like you know your way with steel.

 

[MJPetersen]

I really did not want to get implements any further behind the rear wheels than what I had already--because with heavy implements--ie. the rollover--the front end get very light even with 66 lbs on the front bumper. Of course if I am able to make a FEL for my little tractor--but I digress.

BUT--I have a second set of lift arms that are about 4 inches shorter than the ones I normally use that I will use with the QH. I do not have any pto driven implements--yet, except for the tiller and that is 2 pt hook up.

I got a MIG welder this past summer and i have been getting VERY used to hot gluing things. I really like it and it makes some unorthodox things doable. For example, I needed a piece of steel that was 20 mm thick by 35 wide and 10 mm long. I did not have it and did not want to run to the shop so I cut 2 pieces that were 8 mm thick and put a small 4 mm between them to make a combined 20 mm. Then I just hot glued it all together and filled it in with the mig wire on high heat. It was fun and would have been so tedious with stick if even possible trying to strike an arc an inch into a 3/16 gap. It was easy with the thin wire to just fill it in. I know that the strength will not be that of a truly solid piece, but it will be more than adequate for my use and saved me a lot of time. Kind of fun too!!

Oh my debate was not 220 or 110, but rather 220 or 380 3 phase. I went 380 volts and 3 phase Esab 170 amp. Nice welder in my opinion.

Mike

 

[MJPetersen]

I wanted to add a couple more pics of the hitch pretty much finished--I am still in debate whether I want to attach the toplink hook with 1/2 inch bolts so that it can be adaptable a bit up and down, but my thinking is that if I do that I might as well not have a QH and just hook up directly to the lift arms. Therefore, my thinking is that I ought to just MAKE my implements conform to THIS standard. Did you catch the implication that they do not at this time? Since I made them I cannot blame it on anyone else.

In these pics (much better quality) I have made and attached the top link "J" hook, the tractor side connections for the lift arms and toplink, and cleaned things up a bit by boxing in the tubing etc.

Since it is a bit cool to really paint, I will just spray some rattle can primer and wait for spring. I should mount it on the tractor and start conforming the implements to the STANDARD tomorrow.

Mike

 

[2manyrocks]

How much time do you suppose you have invested?

I have more optimism for what you're building than in the hitch they sell at the
Chinese import places.

 

[MJPetersen]

How much time do you suppose you have invested?

It is really hard to say as I worked on it when I had an hour here and there. Plus I do not have the tools to make things really efficient, so my methods and materials often use more time, than if you had all the machinery and materials that you needed. I probably have 10 hours in it. Looking at it, it does not seem like it should have that much, but there is the fun in the building aspect for me too.

I am going to spray some primer on it and hook it up today. And try to get my RB conformed to THE STANDARD!!

Mike

 

[ninefinger]

What a nice job. The only problem that may rear its ugly head is the hook not being adjustable. My box requires an adapter instead of the hook, the pulverizer and carry all use different positions of the hook. On second thought with your talent this will not be a problem. Don't read past "nice job".

 

[sixdogs]

Nice work...very nice. What is the agricultural equipment situation in Poland? Tell us more

 

[MJPetersen]

The only problem that may rear its ugly head is the hook not being adjustable.

I debated in my mind about the adjustable top hook, but then I decided that I truly wanted snatch and go and you cannot do that if you have to adjust the tophook. I also considered the flip over style top link connector, but in the end I decided that, "No I am making the Standard for me and everything WILL conform to this standard." I am now in the process of conforming everything. I guess the manufacturer did not have the standard in mind when the implements were built. (The fingers all are pointing at me!!!!!) Oh well I have an excuse to spend some shop time. I need to put a wood stove in there though it is getting cold.

I have the RB conformed, and the scoop, and the trailer hitch, and I am working on the rollover. When I made the implements, since the arms were adjustable, I did not work too hard at fitting the Standard for CAT 1. If it was close it was good enough. But now I need tighter tolerances and have had to modify a 1/2 inch here and a 1/4 inch there.

With the rollover, I had a "tent" toplink tower, but since I had to modify it (1 1/2 inches too tall), I decided to make a new toplink which is more "Gannon-like" as that better fits my imitation Gannon.

Tomorrow, I will try to get to the Rollover and then will post come pics.

Mike

 

[MJPetersen]

What is the agricultural equipment situation in Poland? Tell us more

Thank you for the kind words. There really is a motivaiton and pleasure to finish things when you have such an appreciative audience.

Here in Poland there are most of the standard farming implements, but this year is the first that i had not seen someone cutting his hay with a sickle, sometimes large fields. The tractors are mostly Ursus--a Polish company. And there is no such thing as a standard Cat 1 or 2 for the hitches. I even saw some smaller tractors imported from itally and the lift arms had Cat 1 on the tractor end and "Polish standard" on the other end, the Cat 1 had been cut off and the other end welded on. It may be Cat 2, but it is a lot bigger than Cat 1. With the opening of the EU in 2004 Poland has rapidly moved to modernize the farming methods and machines. So in the late summer you can often see the combines working the wheat, oat, rye, and barley fields.

One tool that fascinates me is a tedder rake that looks like a chicken scratching the ground. interesting motion to the thing. Most of the farms are smaller so you do not see the HUGE tractors that can pull 48 feet of plow, but rather the mid sized tractors in the 50-100 hp range.

Until the last couple of years I saw no imported tractors from Japan, but the last couple of years has really seen them popping up. Kubota has dealerships here now. On the lower end things are VERY much more expensive than in the states, but you can now get Craftsman, Murray, and some other brands in the larger box stores for building supplies--parts are still hard to find, but the lawn and garden style tractors are coming available.

The thing that makes things more expensive here is that we have a VAT (value added Tax) of 22% and that adds significantly to end price.

Mike

 

[sixdogs]

One tool that fascinates me is a tedder rake that looks like a chicken scratching the ground. interesting motion to the thing.

Mike

A tedder is valuable for putting up grass hay fast. It works not by touching the ground but by almost touching the ground and gently fluffing the crop. If used in alfalfa or clover when too dry it will knock the leaves off. You could grow timothy hay, for example, mow it in the evening, tedd it the next morning plus lightly later that day and bale the next day. I did lots of hay that way and sprayed the clover out with 2-4-D herbicide. Kuhn is the best brand but the Italian ones work fine.
What kind of farm work do you do? Your english and mannerisms are very good--are you a native? Are farm products like meat, grains and milk in big demand? Can you make a good profit? What is the scenery like?
In many ways it must be exciting to experience the birth of mechanized agriculture in that country. Fifty years from now the old folks will tell tall tales of the "good old days" of 2008.