Quick Hitches Quick change drawbar ball hitch

CraigM · Oct 21, 2008

I use my B2150 a lot for hauling things. One day I might be moving my utility trailer with a load of firewood from the fence row to the wood shed. The next day I might need to move a farm wagon with a pin and clevis hitch. No matter what I needed to move, the drawbar was set up wrong, and the socket wrench was halfway across the farm in the other shed. I needed a quick way to change the drawbar from having a hitch ball to just a plain hole quickly, and without tools. Here's my solution.

The top and bottom plates are 1/2x3. The sides are 1/4x2. There are a pair of scraps in the front end that are fitted to the width of the drawbar (see bottom left picture). This allows the front end of the adapter to fit the drawbar closely, but not have the entire length of the unit dragging along while mounting and dismounting it. To weld it, I clamped it to a wooden model of the drawbar that was sawed 1/16 thicker and wider than the actual measurements.

radioman · Oct 21, 2008

Pretty nifty idea!

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MarkLeininger · Oct 21, 2008

You should patent that, very clever. Looks strong enough to pull a battleship.

JB4310 · Oct 21, 2008

Yup looks like a great idea, you know what they say about necessity being the mother of invention.
I like the fact that it stowes right there where you need, I have a similar problem with my garden tractor, I drilled a hole in a standard receiver type ball insert tube and slide it over the small draw bar of the Wheel Horse, so it quick pins in like yours but I never thought about stowing out of the way like you did, I'll have to take another look at it, end up leaving it lying around and searching for it next time I need it.
Smart using the larger wood mock up to give you some tolerance, but why do you need 2 pins?
JB.

CraigM · Oct 21, 2008

Why two pins? The drawbar has a big hole in the end, and a few smaller ones forward of the end one. All the holes in the adapter are the same size as the end hole in the drawbar. The shiny pin will go through the smaller drawbar holes to pin the adapter in the storage postion. A little slop here won't hurt any thing. The bigger, ugly pin fits the end hole in the drawbar. I wanted a reasonable fit between the holes and pin when using the ball hitch for strength, and to minimize things slopping around.