Protecting tractor paint around hitch hole

[sgoldste01]

All, thanks for the feedback. I know I'm being ****, but I hate seeing things rust.

Here's a product that would do the job. It's a bit spendy and more elaborate than I had in mind, but would provide the protection I'm looking for.

Amazon.com: Good Vibrations 170 Hitchin' Lawn Mower Post Ball Connector

The advice to not use the hitch hole isn't the solution I'm after. I **want** to pull attachments with this tractor. But I want the tractor to stay in nice condition too. I would think that a product like above would give me the best of both worlds. Yes, then the add-on product would get abused. But that's OK; it's sacrificing itself to protect the tractor.

 

[Ford tractor]

I'm so cheap I can squeeze a nickle out of a penny!

How about using a couple chunks of cut up gallong milk jugs and some 2 sided tape on that part? Don't make a HOLE in them, just an X and push the pin through. Won't be perfect, but it will help a ton and is as close to free as you can get.

 

[sgoldste01]

...This is where you drill a hole and use to mount trailer balls or just pin a trailer to it. I've seen a picture on here somewhere that another forum member did that to his garden tractor....

If you locate that picture, I'd sure like to see it. I haven't been able to find it yet.

 

[sgoldste01]

I'm so cheap I can squeeze a nickle out of a penny!

How about using a couple chunks of cut up gallong milk jugs and some 2 sided tape on that part? Don't make a HOLE in them, just an X and push the pin through. Won't be perfect, but it will help a ton and is as close to free as you can get.

Hmmm, I think I'm looking for a more durable, long lasting solution.

 

[Tenn_Blue]

I use an LX176 lawn tractor to move trailers around at our Florida house. (We use a ball in one of the forks on the skidsteer to move trailers at our place in Tennessee). I was concerned about that weak looking little metal flap on the back of the lawn tractor bending - had an old Craftsman that bent under the same type of hitch over many long years of pulling boats and such around..., so I welded up a "t" bracket out of rectangular stock (scrap I had laying around) to better distribute the load - bracket then bolts onto the sheet metal back of the garden tractor frame for a stronger attachment point.

We take the attitude that tractors are tools and get dirty and chipped/scratched from time to time - all part of using them. I keep a couple cans of spray paint (deere green, yellow, and gloss black) in the barn where we keep the equipment. If something comes back in with a "boo-boo" that goes down to bare metal, we steel wool the scratch and spray a rattle can bandaid on the metal to keep it from rusting. Since the paint matches the original color, the touchup doesn't show too bad.

I usually end up putting something in the paintbooth to spray green at least once a quarter, and can usually mix a little extra paint to do more permanant paint repairs to cover buckets, mower decks and such as-needed while the paint gun is loaded. But mostly I repaint to protect from rust.

 

[sgoldste01]

I welded up a "t" bracket out of rectangular stock (scrap I had laying around) to better distribute the load - bracket then bolts onto the sheet metal back of the garden tractor frame for a stronger attachment point.

If you get a chance to take a picture of this bracket on the tractor, I'd like to see it.

Thanks!

 

[Tenn_Blue]

I'll brave our Florida cold tomorrow and take a few pictures. Then gotta figure out how to upload them here, but will do.

We came south to spend the holiday with daughters and Florida family, also thinking we could get away from the cold for a few days - Tenn. has had a comparatively snowy/cold winter this year already, but even here in central Florida it has been cold - and this is a damp, wet cold that seems to feel worse than back home...

 

[mjncad]

It's a working tractor, not a trailer queen. The advice given by others to touch up the paint is solid.

 

[Tenn_Blue]

As requested, here are a couple shots of the lawn tractor trailer hitch I built. It bolts/fits onto the back plate of the LX 178. I fabbed it out of scrap metal I had laying around. It's a little bigger than it needs to be - I built it to be able to add a carry bucket and some other stuf onto the bracket later.
Weak point is still the tongue that the ball mounts on, but it is much heavier (1/4" bar) than the thin sheet steel of the tractor....

Since it mounts on a LAWN tractor, I built it light duty, but you could add a couple gussets to stiffen it up substantially.

 

[sgoldste01]

As requested, here are a couple shots of the lawn tractor trailer hitch I built. It bolts/fits onto the back plate of the LX 178. I fabbed it out of scrap metal I had laying around. It's a little bigger than it needs to be - I built it to be able to add a carry bucket and some other stuf onto the bracket later.
Weak point is still the tongue that the ball mounts on, but it is much heavier (1/4" bar) than the thin sheet steel of the tractor....

Since it mounts on a LAWN tractor, I built it light duty, but you could add a couple gussets to stiffen it up substantially.

Wow, that looks like it'll do a nice job for you. Thanks for posting the pics!