PROLOGUE
The winter came and went. Anticipating the procurement and installation of a wood burning fireplace in the fall, I decided to harvest a fallen oak blown down in a storm a few years ago. Of course I used my 3 PT TRAILER HITCH OF DEATH (previously posted) to pull a military trailer UP STEEP INCLINES with some tools and returned with same tools and A FULL LOAD OF SPLIT FIREWOOD DOWN A STEEP grade and up the other side with a 2x4 FORD 3600 sans ROPS and *gasp* total disregard of warnings that would have been carefully worded by a committee of product liability defence attorneys in worsted wool suits having secured a hefty retainer to brainstorm a synonym for the word 'UP'.
Picture of said fabrication on this site, after which many chimed in with predictions of impending tractor looping, and being crushed, and being pulverised into tree food, entrails scatted by wild critters, and loss of erectile function, then possible arrest and incarceration in a secret CIA prison to spend the next eight years with a cellie who had removed the tag from his mattress.
A few weeks later, sitting In the warmth of oak fueled fire costing only some sweat and gas for the chainsaw, I reflected upon tree trunk sections, and other lifting chores that 3 PT TRAILER HITCH OF DEATH did with cumbersome chain positioning. Far too much effort for a man of my advanced age. The dog (who talks telepathically to me like the 1975 movie "A boy and his dog" with Don Johnson) said "Fat bearded one, you need a boom pole. You should get off your duff and make one". So to the University of YouTube I went to study the various welding offerings of a ChuckE2009 and considered my strategery to perhaps integrate THE 3 PT TRAILER HITCH OF DEATH.
CHAPTER ONE
Then....I...had......
a plan!!
I would use the 3 PT TRAILER HITCH OF DEATH and substitute the toplink with the boom. So one end of the boom connects directly to the tractor, the other connection point is the 3 PT TRAILER HITCH OF DEATH. I had some metal and a bought some more rectangular tubing. Made some measurements, tacked some welds. Dog looked at it and said "cheat a little and move the lift point back an inch or two till you max out your lift height" then the dog yawned, snapped at a buzzy insect, then proclaimed "Set the pivots deep into the supports to increase the weld length." So with those insights, I welded using some Lincoln 7018AC on DCEN. Not pretty welding but a hot root pass and good enough for an office puke.
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Above: 3 PT TRAILER HITCH OF DEATH
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Above: 90% completed BOOM OF UNLIMITED LIABILITY
Behold this extra fitment to certainly result in a meager company provided life insurance payout to my better half. Note the lack of SAFETY DECALS with stick figures getting their skulls dented by falling objects. This should guarantee the TOTAL LOSS OF TRACTOR AND BLADDER CONTROL that the 3 PT TRAILER HITCH OF DEATH has yet to achieve sua sponte.
Those round thingys will have bushings inserted to bring the ID's down to clevis pin OD. Yes, I know the left stabilizer bar is missing because the A-C5NNN455-C sold to me by A & I Products isn't really sized for the 3600, despite being advertised as such.
I wa wa wa wonder what to put on the business end of this. I thinking a 3/8" chain hook and some kind of big hook for a sling ring my neighbour gave me. Suggestions welcome, photos better still.
So there it is and now I yield the floor to include the cacophony of nattering nabobs of negativism who've not endeavoured anything enterprising since Agnew.
