Quick change link arms

cowboydoc · Jul 30, 2003

On most any of the compacts I've seen the lower lift arms adjust side to side. On your row crop tractors you don't have this because of the flex needed side to side. On every tractor I know of the telescoping lift arms are either standard or an option. On most row crop tractors they are standard. It makes hookup pretty simple. This is what MarkCt was saying when he said that the other hookup is at best a minor improvement over the setup on your tractor and those on a row crop tractor.

markct · Jul 30, 2003

yea that setup on the kioti looks almost the same as my ford 8000, i believe the newer NH compacts also have the extendable links as an option, they are very handy and realy durable, they stand up to over 100hp without a problem. i have even been thinking about making a set of lift arms with extendable ends for my fathers ford NAA

shady1701 · Jul 30, 2003

I'm thinking about buying one of the quick sets i was wondering how much does it move the arms back and how easier or not is it to hook up stuff?

rambler · Jul 31, 2003

Milkman, Even tho your mower can wobble side to side with the hooks, it is actually binding. If you repeat your experiment, push the mower all the way over to one side, and look down into the pick-up hooks. You will see that the pin is only riding on one edge of the hooks, not pulling on the full width. (The pin ends up katty-corner through the hole, and relies on wear & slop to allow side-sway.) This puts a great deal of stress on the hooks & on the pins. A ball end does not have that stress, as the ball pivots, and distributes the stress all around the ball.

Probably not a real concern for a compact mower on a 17 hp tractor, granted. But those of us with a farm background and used to 150 hp of pull on a heavy plow that needs to have free swing side to side - yes, it _is_ a concern to us. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif These fixed hooks with no side-sway movement do add stress to the whole 3-point setup.

Whether that is a concern for your particular uses is another matter. I have been considering a set for myself, as they are a lot cheaper than a cat 2 quick hitch, and are more adaptable to my many different-sized implements. But, the stress & wear of lacking that ball end joint is one of the concerns that stops me.

--->Paul

R_squared · Jul 31, 2003

Rambler has a good observation about the motions and forces exerted on the ball sockets. The box blade has put the majority of wear on my 3-point mechanism. I keep the same set of pins on the tractor and keep them lubed with SuperLube or EP Teflon grease. The same goes for the ball sockets. The pins do show wear and the sockets have loosened up. At first, you would have to insert a pin in them to move the socket - now your pinky finger is all that's needed. The force generated by plowing soil has to be great. Excessive wear on a hitch pin is cheap to fix. Excessive wear on a welded-on lift arm draw pin is another matter. Regardless, Greenwell Mfg has to be commended for a clever solution. For what it's worth, I take several oak pallets out to the work area in the FEL and level them with rocks or wood scraps. Some pallets have OSB nailed on the top to make a more stable surface. I'll move the needed implements and set them down on the pallets. It is much easier to dock the implements this way. Pallets are easy to come by.

gerard · Sep 5, 2003

I have the landpride quick hitch and am very happy with it but that was because I hadn't seen the greenwell style at the time. I would have considered them because the biggest pain is never the top link hook up but aligning the bottom holes and pins. ( I've seen really big tractors whose lower arms don't use the ball joint system, they already have the hook type system which always made a lot more sense to me.) I have implements that are just too heavy to muscle around and I don't want to screw around with pry bars to hook up. I'd highly recommend some type of quick hitch - you may not miss it if you never had one but after you've used them you'll never want to be without one!!