Modified My Carter & Sons EZ-Hitch

[nikdfish]

I had the JD folks pick up my 3038e to check out the loader cylinders (things seem to be leaking down a little too quickly for a machine < a year old) & decided to use this down time to make a little change to the EZ-Hitch I got from Carter & Sons.

I do like the EZ-Hitch, it has made hooking up much easier as a one man task. One peeve, though, has been their tendancy to flop to one side or the other after the plastic rings provided to keep them upright wore out/got mashed up. It has occasionally sprung a lynch pin on the implement draw pin.

On each EZ-Hitch I drilled & tapped 4 holes for 3/8" bolts. I intend to use 3/4" long bolts to center the hitch on the arm. As the EZ-Hitch is 2" across and the arms are 5/8" thick, the bolts should snug up pretty close. I figure a little Locktite should keep things in adjustment.

We'll see after I get things back together ...

Nick

 

[k0ua]

good idea, mine still work ok, but as you have pointed out the PVC does wear out and they flop more and more. I made a mod to mine also right away after I got them , the head of their supplied 7/8 pin for the hitch balls (If I remember it had a roll pin crossways in it) always seemed to hang up on my rotary cutter, so I made my own out of 3/4 black pipe and welded a washer on the end to make it slim enough to not hang up on the implement when you are either trying to back into it or get away from it when you have dropped the hitch. Other than a couple of things like that they work pretty good. thanks for the tip.

James K0UA

 

[k0ua]

Took another look at your pix, and though, hmm.. those bolt heads might hang up on my rotary cutter, upright braces just like those original 7/8 pins with the roll pin in them..:shocked::shocked: let me know how it works out. I might just get some 1 1/4 black pipe and make my own spacers out of steel, I have the bandsaw!

James K0UA

 

[nikdfish]

That amount of the 7/8" pin beyond the roll pin makes for a close fit with my Frontier rotary cutter also. I think the bolt heads will be a hair closer than that once tightened & being at the rear may reduce the clearance issue as well. I've been debating welding a washer to the 7/8" pin in place of the roll pin stop to reduce that profile, but haven't decided yet...

Nick

 

[k0ua]

That amount of the 7/8" pin beyond the roll pin makes for a close fit with my Frontier rotary cutter also. I think the bolt heads will be a hair closer than that once tightened & being at the rear may reduce the clearance issue as well. I've been debating welding a washer to the 7/8" pin in place of the roll pin stop to reduce that profile, but haven't decided yet...

Nick

The welded on washers fixed my problem. And by the way that is a really nice looking cat.

James K0UA

 

[nikdfish]

Yeah, Arnold is my little (18 lb.) buddy...

Nick

 

[k0ua]

Well he sure is a good looking cat, I really like his coloring.

James K0UA

 

[nikdfish]

Thought I'd resurrect this thread for an update. Over the years the bolts wore down & floppiness returned, so I finally got around to a redo.

This time around I went with 3/8" grade 8 nuts and bolts with the nuts getting tack welded on (outside) after drilling out the previously threaded holes. I felt like that would let me crank down more without worrying about wringing off a bolt or stripping threads. I also tacked in some shim plates at the lower rear interior to reduce play (a 3/16" exterior reinforcement had been applied at the bottom rear a couple of years back after correcting some rounding that had started). I'll update as I get some time under my belt on the rework.

BTW, don't take this as a dis on the ez-hitch. They have always been worth having on the machine. Even when "floppy" they still made hooking up easier than doing it the old way...

Nick

 

[DK35vince]

I went with the weld on version of the Carter EZ hitch.
Welded them on right above the eyes of the lift arms.
I use the Carter hitch or the standard lift arm hookup, whichever is easier at the time.