Simple Drawbar question...

[Mcourchesne]

I wanted to use a Class 1 Cross Drawbar for my tractor and attach a Ball Hitch to tow around a utility trailer and to bring my pop-up around the yard. Looking at it now, I'm not sure the ball hitch will be useful because of the drawbar is free spinning. Is this safe or maybe I'm not using the drawbar correctly?

Thanks for helping the newbie...and hey, we all started somewhere.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[SPYDERLK]

YES> A very useful addition. There are devices sold that are made to prevent the drawbar spin. I fashioned one on mine from scratch - not hard. Maybe others have a line on the purchaseable product.
larry

 

[jdfire]

I think you need one (or two) of these to keep the drawbar from spinning. We had an old Ford 8N that had a ball on the drawbar that worked great. I think it had something like this locking it in place. Hope this helps.

 

[BarryinMN]

To answer the second part of your question the 3pt hitch has no upward restraint and should be chained to the tractors solid drawbar to limit movement. 2 wheel trailers are more fussy than 4 wheel in my experience.

 

[kthompson]

A good job for a fixed draw bar. Many tractors have those. Does not mean your tractor came with one but they are not generic as the 3 pth ones are.

There is those hitches built to use on the pth and sold many places. Don't miss Barry's safety point. Fixed draw bar solves that also.

 

[Mcourchesne]

Thanks everyone! This is exactly what I needed...

 

[Mcourchesne]

Well just when I thought it was easy..it got more difficult. I took your advice and went to TSC in town and bought the drawbar lock but it doesn't fit. I'm not sure if it's because I have a Massey 2400 and the subcompact are smaller than the other tractors but you can see where (i think it's called) the check chain bolt bracket interferes with the drawbar lock. Should I be looking for a swinging drawbar hanger? Or does anyone on the site sell those small drawbar locks that fit at the end?

I know the drawbar lock bracket is supposed to be brought up from underneath but wanted to show my dilemma in the pics.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[studor]

I had a similar dilema so I bought a bumper hitch receiver for $20 and had uprights welded to it for the toplink and bolted it to my existing drawbar.Or you could take your drawbar to a weld shop and have them weld a tab on the stop it from spinning. If you search on here for trailer hitches you will find pictures of many that the resourcefull TBN'ers have created

 

[LD1]

You can make something similar to these EZmover Tractor Hitch-Drawbar Hitch

Or what we did on an old 8n was take two peices of 2 x 2 angle and bolt them from the toplink attachment point on the tractor and them bolted them to the drawbar out toward the lower links. This kept it from spinning and also kept it from comming up.

I wouldn't reccomend welding anything to the drawbar. They are usually pretty hard steel and cause the welds to fail in no-time

 

[suncoast]

I had the same problem with my JD 4720.(My configuration is a bit diferent, but was still in the way.) LD1 showed and option that there a many similar items to that one or possibly cut off the lower portion of the wrap around, ( you would still have the upper tab to control the rotation)?

 

[radioman]

Well just when I thought it was easy..it got more difficult. I took your advice and went to TSC in town and bought the drawbar lock but it doesn't fit. I'm not sure if it's because I have a Massey 2400 and the subcompact are smaller than the other tractors but you can see where (i think it's called) the check chain bolt bracket interferes with the drawbar lock. Should I be looking for a swinging drawbar hanger? Or does anyone on the site sell those small drawbar locks that fit at the end?

I know the drawbar lock bracket is supposed to be brought up from underneath but wanted to show my dilemma in the pics.

Thanks,
Mike

I did the exact same thing as you did. I found the drawbar lock from TSC too and found it wont fit due to the pinnings of the turnbuckels. Took it back and stewed on it for a week. I ended up making a 3 pt hitch drawbar stablizer instead. Here my pic of what i did. Luckly I had scrap metal laying around and built this. It did exactly what I wanted to do.

 

[iplumb]

What else is a draw bar used for? I have one but don't reall know what all its for

 

[Mcourchesne]

So by the time I get the material, drill the holes, weld the pieces and paint it, I might be better off buying something like this from N-tool? It looks very similiar to the items posted and described.

Thanks guys for your advice and help...

Mike

 

[pat32rf]

Looks like exactly what you need!
If you use the anti-spin device the ball will tilt as you raise it, which could cause damage to the trailer coupler. With the upper link style the ball stays level (within reason). Plus you can change the insert in the receiver to anything you wish, (such as a small carry-all box).
Just remember to keep tonque weight on your trailer and you can just back up to it, lift the 3pth and drive away, probably won't even have to latch the hitch for short moves.
My trailers have 1 7/8, 2, and 2 5/16 balls. All get moved with a 1 7/8 ball on tractor. Its only when I am working (hauling firewood, dirt, etc) that I change to the correct ball size.

 

[robertm]

On my original B7500, I just took some simple 1/8" X 2" flat stock and drilled a hole in it to fit the rear bolt that goes through the lower 3pt arm from the stabilizer. Then, I just bolted it on at the stabilizer attachment location with the long leg of the bar standing straight up. Then, I manually pulled the bar back on an angle and bent the bar toward the drawbar in line with a hole on the standard drawbar. After, to finish it off, I put the bar into a vice and bent the bar more "finished" and tapped it with a hammer into a skewed "L". Then, after cutting the "wild" end off the bar and drilling another hole to bolt through the drawbar, I ground off all sharp edges and I was done. This lasted for about seven years until I finally bought a 3pt trailer hitch type set-up, and all it cost was about $3.00.

I'm not sure if this link will work, but on an old lawn striping attachment thread I started a few years ago, the picture I included http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...54-lawn-striping-attachment-432752-lawn-3.jpg shows the bent bar bolted in place on the left side 3pt arm. Take a look.

 

[kevindsingleton]

So by the time I get the material, drill the holes, weld the pieces and paint it, I might be better off buying something like this from N-tool? It looks very similiar to the items posted and described.

Thanks guys for your advice and help...

Mike

Mike,

If you don't have access to a welder, that's what I'd do. It doesn't get any easier.